Was having a think about this other day, and HLD's recent poll on safety prompted me to post this......
My other "outdoor activity" when not kayak fishing is a spot of hunting. This was borne out of many many years of targeting shooting with bows and arrows...
Anyway, when hunting, I also carry a 2L water bladder inside my pack.....without exception I ALWAYS ended up with massive headaches and dehydration and I never seemed to be able to drink enough liquid to stay hydrated. I would easily consume as much liquid as I could and teh result was always the same....a pounding headache and lethargy....
On a particular trip, a mate of mine gave me a sachet of Gastrolyte, the stuff the chemist or doc gives you when you get a bad stomache upset......essentially it replaces all the salts etc that you use up when you're sick....Anyway, chucked the sachet into the bladder, and low and behold, for the first time ever, I didnt get a headache !!!
Shortly after I picked up a NZ Hunting magazine, and there was an article written about EXACTLY the same problem I was experiencing.....
I'll let you all read the article, and to draw your own conclusions, but suffice to say it made perfect sense to me both from a point of practicality and cost perspective .....
Essentially this article offers a way to make your own electrolyte "powder or solution" for an absolute fraction of the cost of buying the commercially available products (wont mention brand names here....!!) without the food colouring, artificial flavours, or the sugars....
I use it all the time and it definitely works.......I've never worked out the cost but it probably works out at fractions of a cent for a litre of product !!!!
Would strongly recommend that you give it a try and would be really interested in hearing about the results !!
My biggest problem now is to remember to drink something at all .....!!
Cheers
Hainesy
