What Is Sweat Made Of

Don't overdo activity in hot, humid weather

Others may usually think of dehydration happening to athletes engaged in sports activities, but it can also affect farm workers, construction workers, gardeners and anyone not used to working in the hot outdoors for an extended period.

High humidity aggravates the problem, since it reduces the efficiency of sweating. Sweating is how our bodies attempt to cool down; when the air is full of water, high humidity, sweat doesn’t evaporate.

Signs of Dehydration

Dehydration can start before you get thirsty, according to research from the LSU AgCenter and the USDA Center for Nutrition. Increased thirst is a response to a loss of body water, but to stay hydrated, you need to start replacing lost fluids before first signs of thirst.

A good sign of proper hydration is the output of large volumes of clear, dilute urine.

Here are some signs of dehydration in various stages:

- Mild dehydration: increased thirst, headache, dry lips and discomfort.

- Moderate dehydration: nausea, sunken eyes, increased body temperature, difficulty in concentrating, irritability.

- Severe dehydration: weakness, mental confusion, rapid and weak pulse, more than 100 at rest, cold hands and feet, rapid breathing blue lips, confusion, dizziness, increased body temperature, lethargy and muscle spasm. Decreased sweating.

- Dehydration is accompanied by weight loss.

Preventing Dehydration

Drink before, during and after being outdoors. Hydrate thoroughly the day before if you can. Try to consume four to eight fluid ounces of water every 15 to 30 minutes during heavy activity in hot climates.

Although the temperature of the replacement fluid is not critical, fluids at room temperature may replace lost fluid in cells faster than chilled fluids. Plain water or electrolyte solutions are good choices.

Avoid caffeine and alcohol; these are diuretics and cause your body to lose water. Most of the dark soft drinks contain caffeine.

Hyper hydrate just before going out.

Drinking 1-1/2 to three cups of cold water or an electrolyte solution can help delay the process of dehydration.

Dress in light-colored fabrics that breathe.

When outdoors, wear light-colored clothing that reflects light and that is of loose, lightweight material. Tightly woven clothing does not allow heat to pass through. Some synthetic clothing made today is designed to allow sweat and heat to be pulled from the skin.

Gods little joke

Menopause.

I mean, come on now! Really?! Do I have to say anything else? No, I shouldn’t, but, you know I will. Not only do we go through 30 something years of periods, 40 weeks of pregnancy each time, grueling labor to bring our children into this world, we then suffer through 10 plus years of menopause! I don’t get it, all because of an apple.

Men, do you have any idea what it is like to be engaged in pleasant conversation with someone you just met and all of a sudden a fire starts from within. Your back feels like it is on fire and your scalp is burning. The sweat starts streaming, yes, streaming down your back and face, and there is not a damn thing you can do about it! Waking up in the middle of the night covered in sweat is horrible.

You throw the covers off, pull your hair up and fan yourself. Lucky for me, after the inferno has subsided, I can scoot over to the cool, dry side of the bed and go back to sleep. Well, at least until the next flare up. I just hope the other side of the bed will have cooled off by then. It is not a smart idea to wear clothing you can not sweat in either. A couple of weeks ago I wore a fuchsia colored dress that is solid in color, and made of silk and cotton, to a reception.

Not a bright idea. It was not a sweat friendly color and being solid made it even worse!!! My clothing of choice right now is a wife beater t-shirt and work out shorts. That way when one of my “personal summers” as I now call them flares up, it just looks like I have been working out! And right now it looks like I work out A LOT.

Unfortunately, every woman that has not had a hysterectomy will go through “The Change”. I feel hysterectomies should be free to any woman that wants one. It would benefit the men in our lives also because we would be more pleasant to be around. The mood swings are rather difficult. I believe they are worse than what we went through on a monthly basis for 30 plus years.

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Taking the Bastile (Ange Pitou) ; or, Six years later, a sequel to "The queen's necklace"

The history and problems of organized labor