Grants Pass, OR (PRWEB) August 26, 2015
The importance of drinking water while hiking in hot summer weather was recently underscored by the tragic experience of a French couple in the New Mexico desert.* Summer is hiking season in much of the United States and every year, hikers are cautioned that running out of water could result in serious dehydration, heat stroke and death. According to Sharon Kleyne, host of the radio show Sharon Kleyne Hour® Power of Water®, drinking adequate water while hiking can also help prevent sunburn and melanoma/skin cancer.
- (Ellis, R and Gray, M, “French couple dies in NM desert; son survives,” kvia.com, August 10, 2015 http://www.kvia.com/news/french-couple-dies-in-nm-desert-son-survives/34635952.)
Kleyne will discuss drinking water, dehydration, sunburn, melanoma and hiking on her Sharon Kleyne Hour™ Power of Water® radio broadcast of August 24, 2015. For the live show or a podcast, go to http://www.SharonKleyneHour.com.
The syndicated broadcast, hosted by Kleyne, is heard weekly on VoiceAmerica and Apple iTunes. The education oriented show is sponsored by Bio-Logic Aqua® Research – Water Life Science®, founded by Kleyne and specializing in fresh water, the atmosphere, body surface evaporation and dehydration. The Research Center’s signature product is Nature’s Tears® EyeMist® for dry eyes.
People must realize when they go hiking, says Kleyne, or when they engage in any activity involving direct exposure to solar radiation, that sun exposure is cumulative and the less healthy the skin, the more susceptible to these cumulative effects the skin becomes.
In addition to drinking water, Kleyne recommends the liberal use of sunscreen with a high SPF when hiking or engaging in other outdoor summer activities. Sunscreen not only blocks damaging ultraviolet (UV) radiation, it acts as a moisture barrier to prevent water within the skin from evaporating. Dry skin is more likely to burn and when skin burns, permanent genetic damage may occur that could lead, decades later, to the skin cancers malignant melanoma and basal or squamous cell carcinoma.
The best way to keep skin hydrated, and to assure an adequate production of cooling perspiration, according to Kleyne, is to keep the body hydrated. To achieve this, people should always carry water when hiking in summer and have a drink whenever they feel hot, tired or dehydrated. Also, rest frequently, get out of the sun occasionally, wear sun protective clothing and eat easily digested foods with high water content such as pre-sliced fruits and vegetables (pre-slicing requires less energy to eat than un-sliced).
Kleyne recommends increasing water intake a couple days prior to a hike, having a large drink the morning of the hike, and continuing the increased water intake a couple days after returning. Cold water lowers the body temperature but warm water is better retained. The body can also become dehydrated from exposure to cold air, wind, low humidity and indoor forced air heating or cooling.
Perspiration is the body’s primary method of cooling itself. Cooling occurs when perspiration’s water content loses heat energy and evaporates. In humid or stagnant air, Kleyne explains, water evaporates more slowly causing perspiration to cool less efficiently. When perspiration fails to cool, the body produces more and more perspiration unit it runs out or water or salt. This can happen very quickly under the right conditions.
Heat stroke begins to develops, according to Kleyne, when the body starts to run out of water or salt. Heat stroke can be fatal but is easily reversed in the early stages. Sunburned skin that is dehydrated, hot and inflamed does not cool as well as healthy skin and increases the potential for heat stroke.
Skin, like perspiration, obtains much of its water content from the blood. However, Kleyne notes, skin can also absorb water vapor directly from the air – provided the air is fairly humid and not too warm. When skin becomes dry or sunburned, a hand held portable all-water humidifying device such as Nature’s Tear® EyeMist® or Nature’s Mist® Face of the Water® from Kleyne’s Bio-Logic Aqua® Research Water life Science® can be of significant benefit.
Kleyne strongly advises against drinking untreated water directly from creeks or springs because it may carry Giardia intestinalis, a trophozoic parasite that attacks the stomach lining. H pylori infections from contaminated water are also increasingly common. H pylori bacteria can cause chronic acid reflux, esophageal cancer, ulcers and stomach cancer.**
© 2015 Bio-Logic Aqua Research. All rights reserved.
** "Giardiasis" (MedicineNet, Jan 5, 2014; http://www.medicinenet.com/giardia_lamblia/article.htm).