Three Percent Of Their Weight To Dehydration example essay topic

375 words
The Creep and the Danger it Creates The amount of sweat secreted varies from individual to individual; however, everyone becomes more adapt at sweating with extended exposure to hot and humid climates. This process of heat is not unlike acclimatization to altitude. The longer you are exposed to a situation, the better your body will adapt to it. In the case of heat, it takes about two weeks to complete the acclimatization process. This is why it is often so difficult to run in hot weather races early in the spring or summer. As our bodies adjust to running in a hot environment, our sweat volume increases and our sweat becomes more dilute.

Along with the increase in sweat volume comes an increase in fluid loss. The more sweat we secrete, the more we become dehydrated. It is estimated that a runner loses up to 2 liters of sweat per hour on a hot day. That is a lot fluid loss that must be replaced.

Drinking often (every 15 or 20 minutes) is critical to maintaining sufficient hydration. If you wait until you are thirsty, it is too late. For most runners, it is not possible to consume as much fluid as they are losing during the run, however, sufficient fluid replacement should not be difficult after the run. Most runners will not experience problems related to dehydration until they have lost two percent to four percent of their body weight due to fluid depletion. Of equal or greater concern is progressive dehydration.

Day one our runner loses three percent of their weight to dehydration. They experience no problems and drinks as their thirst dictates. Since thirst is a poor indicator of fluid loss, our runner does not completely rehydrate and starts day two one percent dehydrated. This pattern of incomplete fluid replacement continues for a couple of days until our runner starts a day three or four percent down. This day can even be a bit cooler but our runner can't understand why they are feeling so poorly. Their pattern of incomplete rehydration has progressively gotten worse and finally resulted in a dangerous situation.