rehydrating your bodies

Hey folks,we are having some brutal warm weather up here where im from(1 hour east of Toronto)33 degrees plus the humidity,(feels like 40 celcius).I was wondering what type of liquid do you drink to cool you down and rehydrate your bodies?

Water is definitely your best bet,

You don’t want to drink to much ice cold water, it can send your body into shock if you drink to much to fast (seen this happen to a few of my guys on the roof)

Try to drink room temperature water if possible

Stay safe

bump

roofrat Said: PatChap,Im from Port Hope but work out of whitby.Yes sir it was warm today 45 with the humidity.Today was 6 men laying 720 patio stones on an inverted torch on roof.We all had enough at 2 pm,but we got it done.I find that ice water,gatorade and a water-ice tea mixture 60-40 works.If anybody has any other suggestions im all ears.

I use almost exactly the same. I buy powdered gatorade and powdered Arnold Palmer Half n Half, by Arizona Tea, and mix it 2 parts gatorade to 1 part tea, to the taste I'm looking for. It's very watered down from the recommended dosages.

Don't just consume piles of water thinking it's the best. All you're doing is diluting your salts and sugar levels. This leads to muscle cramping (lack of salt) and low energy levels (lack of sugar).

In a 4 litre (1 gallon) jug I use 1 TSP of Sea Salt (don't use iodized table salt) and 3 TBSP of sugar (cane sugar is the best) and then add 1 packet of old fashioned Kool-Aid for a touch of flavour. Basically home-made gatorade.

only 720 i would hope you would have that done before you needed water

Mr. Wright. I stumbled across your site last week and thought it was pretty sweet.

I found it searching google images if I remember correctly, but you write very distinctively which caught my attention. I'll bet that site serves you well...

First, go on the roof very hydrated and full of minerals. Keeping drinking water but add Braggs Apple cider Vinegar and eat bananas.

Can't handle ice water during the day. Cold water is good, cool water is good. On the brutal days, days I get so soaked I go through three or four T-shirts, I know that I'm losing electrolytes big-time so I take water out of the cooler and add a packet, or sometimes two, of Emergen-C powder. Gatorade has way too much sugar; not good for you.

I have been told by a military survival trainer that in worst-case scenarios your body will lose fluid faster than you can re-assimilate no matter how much volume you are guzzling. Didn't know that, but now it makes sense.

We take as many short breaks as we have to when we start pushing red-line. If you don't go over that line you can keep going. If you do, you are only hurting yourself to no purpose.

Forty years ago we would take salt tablets. They're not so good for you either but better than nothing if you're intent on toughing it out and don't have anything else. Back then we worked so hard, so long, and in such heat that one day I could only see in black and white. The next week, two people had bronchitis and the other half dozen of us had pneumonia. We were going all-out and taking breaks in the shade with ice-cold sodas. Not good and something I never repeated.

Beer does do wonders for your mood in those conditions, but it's a dangerous dance. I know that from intimate personal experience. Be careful with it or it will wrap itself right around you. We used to call it roofer cool-aid and depending on what we were into at the time, little yellow boys or little blue and red boys. Good beer is too heavy to mix in with serious exertion imo. Cold and watery was best back then. Those days are long gone now, but time was when it was just a natural part of the job. Beer-thirty was not quitting time; I'll tell you that.

amen to that old school.In my 28 years of roofing,the cold beer still cools me down the best!

PatChap,Im from Port Hope but work out of whitby.Yes sir it was warm today 45 with the humidity.Today was 6 men laying 720 patio stones on an inverted torch on roof.We all had enough at 2 pm,but we got it done.I find that ice water,gatorade and a water-ice tea mixture 60-40 works.If anybody has any other suggestions im all ears.

Hey roofrat, where exactly are you from? Im out of Hamilton. Was doing a little roof in burlington today, just 14sqs, 4/12. Good job for a day like today, same house next door was getting a new roof as well. Guys showed up at 8:30 and were still stripping when we left around noon, I'm young and dumb but screw working that slow when its 45degrees at lunch

Great post that really relates for me as of late. 93 degrees here today and that's nothing compared to the humidity.

Most of you know I don't do replacements anymore, only repairs. And I do all my own work as well. Nearly all repairs can be done in a few hours or broken down into two half day segments that allows me to work from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. and then run leads/errands, pick up materials, tie up loose ends, etc. the rest of the day.

But I got stuck on one last week and felt like I was on the verge of a heat stroke. What I thought was a 5 hr. job turned into a 9 hr. job. :angry: And the homeowner was right there the whole way urging me to complete it that day.

It took me about 3 days to get over that. I'm obviously no spring chicken anymore.

I can still do everything I did when I was around 30 but not in the heat. The heat seems to be the lone problem for me at this time.

The ONLY thing that works is ice cold water. I try to slam at least 8 ounces every 20 minutes and get off the roof by 1:00. That kind of heat is normal for a North Texas summer.

Water eh?

The past two summers Ive formed a habit of eating an orange and/or strawberries every day on first break. Or other berries and citrus fruits. And I pound the water, with some tea at lunch. The caffeine can't be good for the heat situation but I need a kick to stay in high gear. I've also been eating more raw veggies this year which sits well on my stomach when too hot to eat other things.