Category_News · Aug 09, 2022

Tips for Staying Hydrated During the Summer Heat

Maintaining adequate hydration is important for health, and for both physical and psychological performance.

With finer weather, many people are venturing out into open, outdoor and wild spaces, and for many people it may be for the first time, whether it be for a day hike or multi-day adventure. One aspect of preparing for outdoor activities that often gets forgotten, or de-prioritised, is maintaining adequate hydration. Our brand ambassador and Ordnance Survey ‘#GetOutside Champion’, Justin Miles, shares a few of his top tips for staying hydrated. Most of this information, for Karrimor SF users, will be second-nature, but this may provide you with a prompt to help other, less experienced people, to think more about hydration and remain safe when joining us in our passion for activity in outdoor environments.

Make sure you’re already well hydrated before you start your hike or outdoor activity.

Avoid alcohol the night before a hike or activity.

Be sure to carry plenty of water in your pack. Its easy to securely attach drinking bottles to the outside of Karrimor SF packs, such as in side pockets, and many Karrimor SF rucksacks and daypacks have an internal compartment on the back panel for holding hydration bladders. The Nordic range of packs, such as the Karrimor SF Thor 40 daypack, also have velcro’d openings for hydration hoses to pass through.

When planning your hike or outdoor activity, be sure to include a plan to top up water supplies. You can draw water from natural sources and there are lots of products available to make water safe to drink, from ‘straws’ and ‘bottles’ to hanging ‘bags’ as well as more traditional filter and chemical tablet systems.

Avoid drinking too much caffeine during your outdoor activity. Drinks containing caffeine can act as a diuretic, causing you to dehydrate faster.

Don’t wait until you’re thirsty to have a drink. The feeling of ‘thirst’ is an early sign that dehydration is creeping in.

Be aware of and look for signs of dehydration, such as thirst, not urinating often and dark urine (there are many other signs - look them up) and make sure that you know how to treat yourself or others showing signs of dehydration.
Talk to people about hydration; not just the people that you’re operating with, but the people that you come across in outdoor environments. Your intervention may just have a positive impact on someone’s health and welfare.

Justin commented: “We all know that we need to hydrate adequately, but even the most experienced people forget, or let it slip when focussing on other priorities so it’s important to check on your team and make sure that they’re staying hydrated. On expeditions - it may sound strange - but we constantly remind each other to drink and check the colour of each others urine - which is easier to do in polar landscapes!”

“It’s surprising how easy it is to dehydrate in polar environments” says Justin. “Extreme physical exertion combined with not drinking enough fluid can lead to rapid dehydration ranging from early signs and symptoms through to excessive fatigue and confusion. Left unchecked, dehydration can compromise the success of the expedition by impacting performance, and, more importantly, it can pose a major risk to both short term and long term health.”

For more information on hydration there are lots of accurate and reliable sources on hydration available on the internet, or why not drop Justin Miles a line through any of his social media channels where you can find him as @ExplorerJust - and tell him we sent you!

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