{"id":799545,"date":"2019-09-17T11:00:36","date_gmt":"2019-09-17T17:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=371070"},"modified":"2019-09-17T11:00:36","modified_gmt":"2019-09-17T17:00:36","slug":"hydration-is-crucial-at-elevation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/hydration-is-crucial-at-elevation\/","title":{"rendered":"Hydration is crucial at elevation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As you go up in elevation, hydration becomes even more important.<\/strong>
Susan Gilmore \/ Special to the Daily<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

There\u2019s a reason people keep telling you to drink more water. It\u2019s beyond a platitude \u2014 hydration is critical to feeling your best, especially at elevation.<\/p>\n

Summit County has some of the nation\u2019s most rugged high terrain and boasts some of the most amazing sights, but to see everything takes work. At high elevations, especially above 8,000 feet, your body works harder to get the same amount of oxygen as it does at sea level. At high elevation, the body receives 30% to 50% less oxygen with each breath than it does at sea level.<\/p>\n

The work is that much harder for those who don\u2019t acclimatize to the high elevation before adventuring. The human body is an amazing machine, but it has its limits. It won\u2019t magically get used to being at high elevation; it needs time for certain internal mechanisms to accommodate the pressure and oxygen changes.<\/p>\n

The low pressure means less oxygen filling the lungs with each breath, requiring more breathing for the red blood cells to pick up the same amount of oxygen.<\/p>\n

The increased respiration at elevation causes the lungs to dry out, as the low humidity and dry air forces the lungs to compensate by producing their own moisture to keep the tiny air passages functioning and able to absorb oxygen from incoming air.<\/p>\n

That same physiological response also causes more moisture to be lost through the skin. The Gatorade Sports Science Institute \u2014 yes, it is a real place that does actual research \u2014 points out in a study it sponsored that sweating also increases at high altitude. The study, titled \u201cHydration and Aerobic Performance: Impact of Environment,\u201d makes several such observations about performance at elevation.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 Sweat rates can also be elevated while performing strenuous physical work in high-altitude, cold environments, due to high radiant heat loads and wearing heavy clothing or equipment,\u201d the study said. \u201cWhen body water loss exceeds 2% of body mass, aerobic exercise performance can be impaired.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s another somewhat unpleasant reaction to exercise at high elevation \u2014 increased urination. The body tries to retain sodium and fluids in the body by storing them in the kidneys, which have limited capacity.<\/p>\n

With more red blood cells needing to do extra work to carry oxygen, there are also more cells carrying waste products and filtering them through the kidneys. The total added work causes more urination, which slows you down and can be quite unpleasant if you insist on \u201ckeeping it in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Exacerbated by elevation, dehydration has a measurable impact on performance, even at sea level but especially at elevation.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Another study) found that aerobic exercise performance when (dehydrated) at sea level was impaired by 19% compared to that when (properly hydrated) at sea level,\u201d the GSSI researchers said. \u201cFurthermore, aerobic exercise performance declined by 11% when (properly hydrated) at high altitude and 34% when (dehydrated) at high altitude.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to remember that these factors at elevation affect other mammals the same as humans \u2014 sometimes even more. If you notice your dog drinking more water and peeing more often after coming up to Summit County, that\u2019s perfectly normal. Make sure they\u2019re drinking often and getting frequent potty breaks; their bodies are working just as hard as yours to get used to ambient conditions.<\/p>\n

Finally, along with maintaining your own health, Summit County urges visitors to maintain the area\u2019s precious environmental health by avoiding the use of plastic water bottles and other single-use containers by bringing their own water bottle.<\/p>\n

Free water filling stations are available around town \u2014 check out visitor\/tourist information offices \u2014 or pop into a local restaurant or business and ask for a top-off. Aside from getting the reload on life-blood, you\u2019ll also have a chance to meet and maybe get to know one of Summit\u2019s many friendly locals.<\/p>\n

As you go up in elevation, hydration becomes even more important.<\/p>\n

Free water filling stations are available around town \u2014 look out for visitor\/tourist information offices \u2014 or pop<\/strong> into a local restaurant or business and ask for a top-up.<\/strong><\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As you go up in elevation, hydration becomes even more important.Susan Gilmore \/ Special to the Daily There\u2019s a reason people keep telling you to drink more water. It\u2019s beyond a platitude \u2014 hydration is critical to feeling your best, especially at elevation. Summit County has some of the nation\u2019s most rugged high terrain and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-799545","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-24 05:35:29","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=799545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799545\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=799545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=799545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=799545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}