This is one of those “learn from my mistakes” kind of posts. Don’t let this happen to you!
Remember growing up and having your mother preach to you about staying hydrated on those long, hot summer days?
Yeah, so do I. And I wish I would have listened closer.
This weekend was a busy one at the dropzone – between milestone celebrations, demos and packing in the heat, there were enough distractions to make me forget about eating and drinking properly.
And I paid for it dearly yesterday with a trip to the emergency room. Chills, muscle spasms, dizziness, increased heart rate and chest pains – not a good combination! I wasn’t about to wait the 4+ hours they were anticipating to get me in, so after speaking to a nurse who suggested I was “just” extremely dehydrated, I took her advice, bought some Gatorade and headed home.
Sure enough within a few hours of guzzling the electrolyte-enhanced sports drink my symptoms were starting to subside.
So after a miserable day yesterday I’m doing my best to quench my thirst before it arrives.
Lesson learned: sometime you just need to stop and take care of yourself – especially on hot days at the dropzone. Proper nutrition and hydration are extremely important – not just in sports, but in life. If you’re not consistently careful, it’ll catch up with you…trust me!
From now on, I’ll be sure to have extra sports drinks on hand….you should too!
Blue skies!
Ashley
That is something i also learned the hard way. Not as hard as you though, that sounds pretty bad.
I finally learned that i need to eat and drink between each and every jump. It’s the only way i don’t end the day completely exhausted, like i was hit by a moving truck.
Glad to know you are ok.
Cheers,
Pedro
Hey Ash!
Something similar happened to me at the beginning of may, I hadn’t eaten or drank anything all day, it wasn’t only the heat that hit me, but the damage that skydiving did to my system. I nearly puked on the plane. I was lucky enough to have a buddy at the DZ who had a 6 pack of Gatorade bottles, he handed me one and I was fine after… Ever since then, I ALWAYS have a box of Gatoraed powder with me when I’m skydiving… That, and a couple of peanut butter sandwiches
Hope you’re feeling better.
Blues!
Adam