The week the AC died and I delivered mail in 95 degree heat

Last August we had that stretch where it hit 95 for like 4 days straight, and my truck's AC decided to quit on Tuesday. By Friday I had drank 6 bottles of water before noon and still felt like a dried out sponge. Has anyone else had their car just give up at the worst possible time?

3 comments

3 Comments

alext5210d agoMost Upvoted

@dakota_miller93 is spot on with the salt thing, I learned that the hard way myself. Same thing happened to me a few summers back delivering packages in a van with no AC, drank a ton of water and felt worse as the day went on. Ended up getting dizzy and had to sit in the shade for an hour before my boss sent someone to relieve me. The salted pretzel trick is real, I started keeping a bag of peanuts in my glove box and it made a huge difference. Good luck out there, this heatwave stuff is brutal when your vehicle decides to quit on you.

wesley63910d ago

Wait, you're saying you downed 6 bottles of water before noon and still felt dehydrated? That's a classic sign you might have been low on electrolytes, not just water. Gatorade or even a pinch of salt in your next bottle would've done way more than plain water on those 95 degree days.

dakota_miller9310d ago

The part where you said "low on electrolytes" is close but not totally right. Six bottles of water before noon is a lot but the bigger issue is that drinking that much plain water without food can actually flush out your salts even more. Your body needs a balance. That "dried out sponge" feeling comes from losing sodium and potassium through sweat, not just from thirst. Gatorade helps but honestly even eating something salty like pretzels or chips with your water would do the same thing. The salt helps your body hold onto the water instead of just peeing it all out. So yeah electrolytes matter but the real fix is matching water with salt, not just assuming Gatorade is magic.