Health Challenge Question

[pokerprop]

Probably not the best forum to ask this on, but hell this and 2+2 are the only ones I visit and don't feel like trying to track one down and hope to get good advise on a health forum for my first post - though if someone knows a good forum they could recomend me to that would be great.

My question -

Since moving to Thailand 9 months ago I sweat a LOT. The humidity here is brutal and I already have a natural desire to drink lots of fluids. Not sure why this is but I'm a big guy smoke cigarettes etc, and have a tendency to drink lots of water, green tea (pure green tea not commercial sugar stuff) and sometimes gatorade.

Since living here I want to drink even more than the excess I already drank.. Like to point I am drinking a TON. I'd guess the equivalent to 4-5 gallons of fluid per day.

I recognize this is causing health challenges though. I'm bloating up, stomach is bloating, have occasional stomach pain pain, chess pain or strange heart pulsations on occasions.

Quitting smoking is probably something I should do but am unlikely to do. I do smoke outside though and it's those 25-30 trips per day outside that leave me dripping in sweat and then downing a bottle of water, Gatorade or green tea following that. Also I eat a lot of spicy food so with meals it is not uncommon for me to down two or three 500ML bottles of water or green tea.

I am going to start trying to train myself to drink less fluid. I'm just wondering if someone has advice. I'm very clueless as far as health and nutrician. Certain food that could help, any medicines, I mean with any area. Sweat less, want to drink less, better ability not to retain water. I mean really any tips are appreciated.

Also fwiw: Gatorade is the least common of what I drink here. A lot of it is water and green tea. Though 1 or 2 "small sized" bottles of gatorade on most days is becoming a habit as of late.

Any tips other than "quit smoking" greatly appreciated.

[Dlabs]

If you're going to start cutting back on your fluid intake reducing the amount of salty foods will help a lot. Not only will it reduce water retention in your body, but salty foods also make you thirstier. Also, I've heard that chewing gum helps out as well. It keeps that fluid feeling in your mouth, and keeps you satisfied, but without actually drinking or eating. If there is one available near by, you could also try joining a gym or just begin exercising regularly at home.

Oh, and not smoking would help as well

[LadyHoldem]

I didn't really believe you could drink to much water when I read this, so I googled this a bit. The first article that came up was actually pretty interesting.

Water Intoxication & Hyponatremia

According to that article, if you're drinking a lot of water, and sweating a lot, you might be losing to many electrolytes.

I don't know if Gatorade replaces that or not. We used to buy pedialite for the babies when they were sick to replace electrolytes and that's the extent of my knowledge on the subject.

Also, I love green tea, partly because their is more caffeine in that than is in coffee... might be something else you want to look at..

[pokeraussie]

LadyHoldem, drinking an excessive amount of water in a short period of time can kill you. Really, too much of anything is harmful, regardless of how good it can be for you. Most ecstasy deaths, although they occur very infrequently, are actually a result of water intoxication, not the drug itself. Obviously the media don't tell you the full story.