Couple years ago on a Rim To Rim hike at the Grand Canyon I allowed my electrolyte level to drop. Big mistake. Don’t want to do this again next month on another trip. So, other than plain water in my camel back, any suggestions as to better options?
What doctors and nurses have suggested to me is Pedialyte. It comes in bottles and powder packs and is much easier to drink than sports drinks like Gatorade. It is sold in almost all large pharmacies or you can order it online. Hospitals use it for kids so it is safe and deemed effective if you need electrolytes.
Carrying premixed electrolyte drinks is obviously impractical for backpacking. Take electrolyte tablets or powder.
Also, hiking in the Grand Canyon from June through August is insane.
Why not just mix salt and sugar into plain water?
There are also products like “Gu Energy Gel” which are intermediate between eating and drinking.
My understanding is that most commonly hyponatremia in these circumstances is the result of well intended over-hydration, people believing the in fact dangerous mantra that you should drink before you are thirsty, keep drinking, and make sure your pee is clear. Let your thirst be your guide to how much water you take in, keep snacking on some salty foods along the way (e.g. salted pretzels, salted nuts, beef jerky), and the risk of hyponatremia is pretty small.
Shagnasty, have you actually tried the Pedialyte? By two most parents have a hard time forcing kids to drink it. It’s pretty vile stuff.
I have several times. It doesn’t taste bad at all and is easy to drink. Many kids are picky but I found it much easier to drink than most sports drinks which are overly sweet IMO. Try it yourself. I think it is mild and tastes just fine like really watered down Kool-Aid. I prefer it over Gatorade for taste.
When the paddler died of hyponatremia during the Texas Water Safari a few years ago, there was a lot of talk about drinking Gatorade cut with water.
Variety is also a healthy thing; give yourself a chance to mix things up.
Do it in the winter. I used to hit the top of the rim in below freezing temps but still wearing shorts and a t-shirt.
Just mixing salt into water will not get you the other important electrolyte: potassium. If you sweat, you’re going to lose both sodium and potassium.
Drinks that have electrolytes often taste pretty bad if you don’t need them, but taste much better when you do. I expect that applies to Pedialyte. Personally, I drink Cytomax, which comes in a powder which you can mix to whatever strength you think you need. You can get it at many bicycle shops or even (as I just discovered) Walmart. There are other similar powdered sports drinks out there if you don’t care for that one.
I tried it years ago, and it was awful. They’ve since improved the flavor, I can drink it now. My mother drinks it often, its preferable to even the half-watered down gatorade/powerade trck people are using to insure they get enough salts.
No way we’d hike the Grand Canyon next month. Our previous trip was early October. Warm, but not at all oppressive. Mid August we’re heading up to Mineral King in Sequoia.
Or, one can simply drink water when thirsty… It’s worked for thousands (perhaps millions) of years.
The advent of scary sounding pseudo science advertisements that are prompted by those in the “hydration businesses” doesn’t alter basic human physiology.
Thirsty? Drink water. Simple.
If there is some form of terrible metabolic deficiency in ones body chemistry related to exercise that coincides with a reasonable ingestion of food and water , one needs serious medical intervention…
Otherwise, one should not seek help from a corporate sponsored gimmick selling magic water when one is thirsty.
Really? IME, if you are really thirsty, Pedialyte is awesome stuff.
Yeah, and most of those people had a life expectancy of 30 or 40 years. So the idea that we don’t now know more about how to look after the human body is misguided.
And none of them were undergoing strenuous exertion at the extremely high temperatures found in the Inner Canyon. Advising people that they do not need to pay careful attention to hydration and electrolyte levels when hiking the Grand Canyon is ignorant and dangerous advice.
The best electrolyte drinks I’ve had are the Japanese ones. They’re in vending machines everywhere (train stations, street corners) and in a couple of brutally hot and humid Japanese summers they were a lifesaver. They’re mild and slightly salty. The original, Pocari Sweat, admittedly has an off-putting name but it has a really refreshing citrus flavor and I prefer it to its major competitor, Aquarius, made by Coca-cola.
Powder for both is available on amazon:
Several of the reviews say that they work well for rehydration and hangovers.
I can’t find an ingredient list for Aquarius but here’s the ingredients and nutrition info for Pocari Sweat
Take some Thermotabs with you, but DO NOT take more than 1 or 2 at a time, and not on an empty stomach. (Plenty of water is OK.) They contain sodium, chloride, and potassium.
I need extra sodium, and take them during the summer when I can feel my levels getting too low, and believe me, I can tell.
And much of the advice given that tells people to hydrate hydrate hydrate is ignorant and dangerous advice.
Thirst is by far the safest and most reliable way to judge how much water you need. Replacing the salt you lose in sweat is in comparison a minor factor. By far, very far exercise associate hyponatremia (EAH) is a dilutional overhydration issue, exacerbated by exercise inducing antidiuretic hormone levels inappropriately high for the circumstance and apparently NSAID use possibly interfering with kidney function.
There is some actual evidence based consensus on this but many instead rely on bro-science.
So yeah the science is clear. Drink when thirsty. Stop drinking when not.
For sweaty summer bike rides I’ve been usingLyteShow Electrolyte Concentrate; no sugars, artificial sweeteners, artificial flavors, etc. To lessen the slightly salty taste I mix it about half strength. I don’t really know if it works or not and the info from DSeid goes a long way to confirm my suspicion that Performance Drinks may be more woo than reality.
good advice from all…thank you DSeid for your advice. I seem to be having calve cramp issue, if I sweat too much in the heat. I’ve never paid much attention to anything other than my bodies needs, ie drink water, but as I’ve gotten older, I realize maybe there are “some” things it might not be telling about…like that salt craving I ignore:smack:
Oddly enough, my last backpacking trip was up Mineral King, where I cramped up at higher altitudes, and pretty much had to flounder on home with a stick/crutch.
I did gain ALOT of empathy for those who suffer other ailments walking, which I didnt really have before…you know, just “walk it off”.
SanDiegoTim, check your pms:cool:
Ok, but if someone is very very thirsty and so drinking a lot and not eating enough to satisfy hunger (as might well happen when backpacking the Grand Canyon), then should they worry about salt/potassium? I totally concur that under all normal circumstances it’s silly to worry about hydration, but summer through-hiking is not normal. You’re sweating a lot for many days and you’re eating a constricted diet.