Dehydration and body fluid-regulating hormones during sweating in warm (38degrees C) fresh- and seawater immersion

Body weight (BW) reductions of more than 4 kg have been observed during div ing with the open hot water suit, a technique in which heated seawater (SW) continuously floods the skin surface. To test the hypothesis that osmotic effects may be involved in these fluid-loss processes, head-out immersion e xperiments in 38 degreesC freshwater (FW) and SW for 4 h were performed. Av erage BW reduction was 2.5 and 1.9 kg in SW and FW head-out immersion, resp ectively (P < 0.01). Atrial natriuretic peptide increased during the first 30 min of SW immersion (5.6-13.4 pmol/l, P < 0.01) followed by a reduction to 7.6 pmol/l (P < 0.01). This paralleled an initial decrease in aldosteron e (from 427 to 306 pmol/l, P < 0.05) followed by an increase to 843 pmol/l (P < 0.01). The effects of temperature on fluid loss were studied in thermo neutral (34.5<degrees>C) and 38 degreesC SW for 2 h. In thermoneutral SW, c alculated sweat production was negligible (0.05 kg) compared with 1.2 kg in warm SW. We recommend that, if a dive is planned to last for more than 4 h , a mandatory break for fluid intake should be incorporated in the diving r egulations.