"There isn't potable water where we're going, so carry all the water you'll need for these two days," we were told.
I wasn't intending to test my ability to survive without water, so I thought hard about the amount of water to carry with me. I'm not a strong hiker, and carrying excess weight would make things too tough for me.
In a previous post, I wrote about why we need to drink enough water.
This post is all about the "hows" of drinking water.
How do you know it's time to drink water?
Ideally, we should keep ourselves hydrated all the time.
When the body is dehydrated, we will feel thirsty. That means, if you start to feel thirsty, it's definitely time to drink some water. In fact, it's a little late - but better than waiting until you feel *very* thirsty before you drink.
The easy way to ensure that we're well-hydrated is to drink consistently throughout the day, drinking more after exercise or when it's very dry to replace the water lost.
How much water to drink at a time?
Have you heard of "water intoxication"? Water intoxication, or hyponatremia, is a potentially fatal condition.
Sodium controls the fluids in and around the cells. When too much water is consumed at one go, it messes with level of sodium in the blood. Fluid flows from the blood into the cells, making them swell. Hypoatremia happens when the swelling occurs in the brain.
On the other hand, one would have to have a drink a HUGE amount at one time, to upset the sodium balance to that extent.
Nonetheless, to avoid upsetting the balance of electrolytes in the body, we should drink a little water at a time.
Back to the sensation of thirst, if we waited until we felt very thirsty, the urge would be to gulp a lot of water at one go. That's why it's important to drink frequently, a small amount each time.
How should water be drunk?
Lukewarm
Many people enjoy drinking ice-cold water, relishing the refreshing feeling that it gives. That is actually a terrible thing to do to our body. The cold water shocks the body, and in order to retain the temperature balance, the body has to expend effort to warm up the water (from the "cold water temperature" to body temperature) so that it can be absorbed and put to good use in the body.
The ideal temperature of drinking water is "room temperature" (in the tropics) i.e. lukewarm water.
Slowly, in small sips
Water should be drunk in small sips each time. If water is drunk in gulps, the kidneys would receive a signal that an excessive volume of water was consumed, and be triggered to get rid of the excess water. The result: the water that has just been consumed would be passed out as urine very quickly, instead of being circulated for use within the body.
Furthermore, one tends to feel bloated after drinking water quickly.
To summarise the "hows" of drinking water, the proper way to drink water is to drink lukewarm water consistently throughout the day, slowly and in small sips each time.
Important: Try doing this for a few days (preferably for at least a week), and see if anything changes for you.
Back to the hike at Taman Negara. Eventually, I carried 4.5 litres of water for the hike. I used a 2-litre water bladder that fit inside my backpack, which connected to a tube that I could conveniently sip from without having to stop to get a bottle out of my bag.
The hike was a lot harder than I'd imagined, and I was glad that I carried the additional 4.5kg of weight with me. I finished the last drop as I trudged towards the finishing point at the end of the hike on the second day.
