Read on Twitter
Experiment started! Will use this thread for updates.
Starting measures:
Body mass: 52.7 kg
Blood pressure: 124/84
Pulse: 96
Temp: 36.6
Urine vol: 125 mL
USG: 1.010
Ucol: 2/8
Glucose (45 min post meal): 7.1
Had requests for a video diary too
Here we go!
#hydration https://twitter.com/angryhacademic/status/1290294678105989123
Starting measures:
Body mass: 52.7 kg
Blood pressure: 124/84
Pulse: 96
Temp: 36.6
Urine vol: 125 mL
USG: 1.010
Ucol: 2/8
Glucose (45 min post meal): 7.1
Had requests for a video diary too
Here we go!
#hydration https://twitter.com/angryhacademic/status/1290294678105989123
Lost nearly 1 kg of #water in urine. I have a dry mouth but theres ample saliva. Previously we hadn't really explained this, but my latest paper offers a potential explanation, which i dubbed "sensational xerostomia": https://twitter.com/angryhacademic/status/1283446678792609799?s=20
First "dry dinner". Oil was a good idea. Putting dried herbs, chili flakes and cayenne pepper in there wasnt. I am chocking on a chilli flake or something. 
In the last 30 odd min ive bent down to grab my water bottle instinctively at least 3 times... 
12 hours in data...
bar chart: total urine volume (black) vs total body mass loss (red)
line graph: time trend of urine losses vs body mass change (skewed axis for time)
bar chart: total urine volume (black) vs total body mass loss (red)
line graph: time trend of urine losses vs body mass change (skewed axis for time)
Pre-sleep measures:
Body mass: 51.7 kg
Blood pressure: 121/75
Pulse: 68
Temp: 36.7
Urine volume: 100
USG: 1.025
Urine colour: 6
Urine measures had a jump in concentration between 9pm and 2am.
Body mass and urine losses ~match (see graphs above)
Night time dread
Body mass: 51.7 kg
Blood pressure: 121/75
Pulse: 68
Temp: 36.7
Urine volume: 100
USG: 1.025
Urine colour: 6
Urine measures had a jump in concentration between 9pm and 2am.
Body mass and urine losses ~match (see graphs above)
Night time dread
Today i have peed in a glass 8 times. Sometimes i question my life choices
I also added a visual analogy scale to ask "how much do i *want* to eat?". Im quite hungry, and i could eat a fair amount, but the thought of eating is entirely unappealing. Im not sure weve captured this difference before?
*analogue
"Morning" measures
Body mass: 51.3
Blood pressure: 121/73
Pulse: 70
Temp: 36.5
Glucose: 6.0 (!!)
Urine volume: 75 mL
Urine specific gravity: > 0.030 - the colour was waaaayyy off the dispstick
Urine colour: 7?? - see next tweet
This is a silly idea
Body mass: 51.3
Blood pressure: 121/73
Pulse: 70
Temp: 36.5
Glucose: 6.0 (!!)
Urine volume: 75 mL
Urine specific gravity: > 0.030 - the colour was waaaayyy off the dispstick
Urine colour: 7?? - see next tweet
This is a silly idea
This is the urine colour chart ive been using. Today was like irn bru - much darker than 6, but still bright orange, not brown. I labelled it 7 in my notes... Any advice on this welcome
start of day 2:
body mass 51.3
blood glucose 5.5
blood pressure 120/73
pulse 90 (had just had a shower tbf)
temp 37.3
urine volume 40 mL
USG 1.015 (!!)
urine colour 5/8 (!!)
urine was a lighter colour but more cloudy than the irn bru this morning. apparently USG gone down too?
body mass 51.3
blood glucose 5.5
blood pressure 120/73
pulse 90 (had just had a shower tbf)
temp 37.3
urine volume 40 mL
USG 1.015 (!!)
urine colour 5/8 (!!)
urine was a lighter colour but more cloudy than the irn bru this morning. apparently USG gone down too?
feeling wise:
ive had no caffeine since waking but feel pretty normal. my mouth isn't dry, but my throat is a bit, but my mouth does "feel" dry and yukky
this is making me think about drinking a lot but other than that im doing better than i thought!
ive had no caffeine since waking but feel pretty normal. my mouth isn't dry, but my throat is a bit, but my mouth does "feel" dry and yukky
this is making me think about drinking a lot but other than that im doing better than i thought!
Ive thought for a while (based on lots of observations) that #hydration and #sweet taste perception are linked. My latest observation is that i am eating sweets and they taste cardboard-y... 
Just punched myself in the mouth putting the blood pressure cuff on...
half way through! seem to have lost more body mass than urine (also consider food = ↑ in mass - dont think im in that much an energy deficit!) but there we go!
HALF WAY THROUGH! Pre-sleep measures:
Body mass: 51.1
Blood pressure: 107/74
Pulse: 68
USG: 1.020
Urine volume: 20 mL
Urine colour: 7/8
Temp: 36.8
Brushing my teeth is my new favourite thing cos theres water in my mouth!
#sciencefromhome #hydration
Body mass: 51.1
Blood pressure: 107/74
Pulse: 68
USG: 1.020
Urine volume: 20 mL
Urine colour: 7/8
Temp: 36.8
Brushing my teeth is my new favourite thing cos theres water in my mouth!
#sciencefromhome #hydration
Waking up measures:
Body mass 50.9
Blood pressure 108/74
Pulse 80
Temp 36.6
Glucose 4.9
Urine volume 50 mL
USG > 1.030
Ucolour 8/8
Feeling surprisingly good though news of unis messing around #phd students has made me angry (not thangry though)
Body mass 50.9
Blood pressure 108/74
Pulse 80
Temp 36.6
Glucose 4.9
Urine volume 50 mL
USG > 1.030
Ucolour 8/8
Feeling surprisingly good
though news of unis messing around #phd students has made me angry (not thangry though)
start of day 3 measures!
body mass: 50.9 kg
blood pressure: 107/65
pulse: 65
temp: 36.9
glucose: 4.8
urine volume: 50
USG: 0.015 (?!)
urine colour: 6/8 (bit cloudy)
blood pressure is definitely lower than when i started but feel ok and not a concerning level
body mass: 50.9 kg
blood pressure: 107/65
pulse: 65
temp: 36.9
glucose: 4.8
urine volume: 50
USG: 0.015 (?!)
urine colour: 6/8 (bit cloudy)
blood pressure is definitely lower than when i started but feel ok and not a concerning level
Woops, despite a great sleep last night, i got suddently very tired and fell asleep on the sofa. Feel ok now, maybe this is the start of thanger...
I think the thanger is setting in... Only 18 hours to go...
some graphs:
im feeling pretty grumpy right now and think i have a small headache (i basically never have headaches). whether dehydration itself causes headaches is not actually known, im not convinced at low levels of water loss at least!
im feeling pretty grumpy right now and think i have a small headache (i basically never have headaches). whether dehydration itself causes headaches is not actually known, im not convinced at low levels of water loss at least!
12 hours to go! Definitely not on the verge of death, but cant wait to drink nonetheless!
Body mass 50.7
Blood pressure 113/74*
Pulse 68*
USG 1.015 (think my dipsticks are off)
Urine volume 90 mL
Ucolour 7/8
*From memory, turned my laptop off before this update
Body mass 50.7
Blood pressure 113/74*
Pulse 68*
USG 1.015 (think my dipsticks are off)
Urine volume 90 mL
Ucolour 7/8
*From memory, turned my laptop off before this update
Morning update
a few people have asked how thirsty i am, and the answer is not that thirsty at all. it's the kinda thirst you feel when you wake up in the morning. i've completed visual analogue scales throughout and have ones for different types of thirst i've recently proposed we have
compared to when i've done heat tent/sauna protocols, this thirst is very mild, and does fluctuate throughout the day. at the moment im not at all thirsty, but going to sleep last night i just kept thinking of water, now it seems less appealing (but still quite appealing!)
another interesting observation is that ive had a few "period"-like pains. i often get these mid cycle so it's hard to know if this is hydration related or not, but we do know that my AVP is very high right now, and AVP aids in uterine contractions
some have also asked about my rehydration strategy. im not going to overscience this as the risks are relatively low. broadly:
i'll allow 0.5 L of fluid to be drunk as quickly as i like.
we know athletes oft drink a bolus w/in 10 min of exercise which repletes ~70 % water losses
i'll allow 0.5 L of fluid to be drunk as quickly as i like.
we know athletes oft drink a bolus w/in 10 min of exercise which repletes ~70 % water losses
and then sip over the coming hours to make up the rest. so drinking a bolus shouldn't be problematic. il also eat an ice cream as we know cool fluid is more satiating (also my water is pre-cooled), to avoid me over drinking.
il then just drink slowly through the next few hours ad libitim, with a max 0.5 L/h.
il try and eat what ive been eating so i can get a rehydrated evening postprandial glucose measure in line with the last few days
il try and eat what ive been eating so i can get a rehydrated evening postprandial glucose measure in line with the last few days
after that il probably eat a wet meal and include some salt and continue tracking my diet and fluid for 24-36 hours.
im quite looking forward to not peeing in a cup though so that might be a determining factor of when i stop taking measures.
im quite looking forward to not peeing in a cup though so that might be a determining factor of when i stop taking measures.
there's pros and cons to doing things this way, it would be good to keep everything fully standardised, but equally the behavioural side of things is also interesting. and im a human so gonna favour the behavioural side 
also i feel really bad for my kidneys so ive kind of personified them in my head and can't wait for them to filter something not at maximal concentration!
one of my anxieties doing this study:
when i was 17-18 i was on SSRIs (anti-depressants). these didn't do much, except give me an incredibly dry mouth. 12+ years on, this dry mouth still haunts me.
lots of people think i carry water with me because im a hydration researcher
when i was 17-18 i was on SSRIs (anti-depressants). these didn't do much, except give me an incredibly dry mouth. 12+ years on, this dry mouth still haunts me.
lots of people think i carry water with me because im a hydration researcher
but it's because SSRIs mean i hate having a dry mouth. doing the amount of dehydration protocols i have, in my head, is a bit of a fuck you to these horrible (for me) drugs. but throughout this, whenever ive had a dry mouth, there is some resonance to 17 year old me
that's actually been one of the hardest things about this experiment
#depression #anxiety #hydration #mentalillness
#depression #anxiety #hydration #mentalillness
Final dehydrated measures:
body mass: 50.4 kg
blood pressure: 121/70 mmHg
pulse: 69 bpm
body temp: 36.9C
blood glucose: 5.0 mmol/L
urine volume: 40 mL
USG: 1.020 (??)
urine colour: 7/8
most importantly, i am totally fine!
body mass: 50.4 kg
blood pressure: 121/70 mmHg
pulse: 69 bpm
body temp: 36.9C
blood glucose: 5.0 mmol/L
urine volume: 40 mL
USG: 1.020 (??)
urine colour: 7/8
most importantly, i am totally fine!
so next time someone says you cant live w/out #water for 3 days, you can say: well actually, this weirdo on twitter did just that
& subjectively, i could definitely continue, i feel fine. but i won't cos it's not that pleasant ha
***i recommend people carry on drinking water***
& subjectively, i could definitely continue, i feel fine. but i won't cos it's not that pleasant ha
***i recommend people carry on drinking water***
HOLY CRAP, PLOT TWIST
Water in my belly = a little bit nauseous and bloaty hahaha. Ice cream is nice but not amazing. Wtf!
ive drunk just over half a litre now, and that in itself is making me want to drink more. odd...
for comparison, when i've done dehydration in a sauna/heat tent followed by fluid restriction for < 24 h, the relief drinking water was ecstasy, like unbelievably amazing.
this might suggest some slow conditioning?? clutching at straws here!
this might suggest some slow conditioning?? clutching at straws here!
