Stuff that didn't quite make it big

In an effort to stall for time while I look for another interesting article, here's a fun side diversion.

I work (sometimes) in an intellectual property law office, so I've skimmed over thousands upon thousands of patents. Every now and then I come across some really, really weird ones. As I run across them, I'll add them here as well. Often these inventions have a foundation in science, for better of for worse.

This is from US Patent 4626247. Here's the problem, (directly quoted):

"Vigorous exercise is known to produce sweat or perspiration from various parts of the body. When the exercise, such as running, is prolonged, a considerable amount of sweat is produced. It is known that prolonged sweating, such as in cross-country or marathon running, results in the depletion of salt and water from the body. It is advisable to take electrolyte replacement solutions to compensate for this depletion."

That IS a conundrum. What is the novel solution to this problem?

"In accordance with the present invention, a headband has been designed which is capable of collecting sweat from a runner's forehead and if desired, also from the runner's face and optionally feeding such sweat down a tube or groove to a mouthpiece through which the collected sweat may be returned to the body. This is particularly suitable for long distance or marathon runners to avoid the weakness which often results from the depletion of salt and water from the body because of sweating for a prolonged period. If so desired, the sweat may be allowed to run off away from the runner's face without being returned to the runner's mouth. The headband advantageously has one or more grooves facing upward and preferably toward the head so that as the sweat is stopped from running down the forehead by the snug fit of the headband against the forehead, the sweat will spill over into and collect in the groove. The groove may lead to a tube or groove slanted downward to a mouthpiece which the runner holds in his mouth. This mouthpiece has an opening through which the collected sweat is fed into the mouth. "

TL:DR? In summary: Sweatband collects sweat, and funnels it back into your mouth.

Aside from being gross, I did a little exploring to see if this has any merit, or if drinking sweat is more or less effective than a sport drink. Thanks to the amazing guys at the science of sport, I think there is a solution. I'll post the source below after I go through the findings.

They state that the average sodium concentration in a fit person is 20mM. Other people may be more concentrated, some may be less. Meanwhile, Gatorade, in their example, has a sodium concentration of only 18mM. So, if you were to drink the same quantity of sweat as gatorade, technically you would in fact get more electrolytes by drinking your sweat than sport drink. In fact, the authors of the blog also discuss one commonly held view, that one should drink the same amount of fluid as is lost (say, drinking 1L of gatorade to each 1L of fluid loss). But, this runs the risk of becoming hyponatraemic (having excessively low sodium levels). Essentially you're drinking so much liquid its diluting the electrolytes in your system.

Thing is, I imagine that the quantity of sweat you could collect from your sweat is too low to be an effective replenisher, since we sweat an awful lot from other places as well. So, while the aforementioned patent might be useful in theory, it seems fairly problematic in execution. And still, also pretty unpleasant.


How does this apply to orienteering?

Thankfully, we're not all going to start wearing sweat funnels. I think that given how we have less opportunity to drink than other sports, though, electrolyte supplementation might still be worth it. Should you take it in a specific sport drink (aside from a pill, for instance) though? Depends if you're a thirsty person. At the conclusion of the blog, the Science of Sports guys discuss a study from well back that determined that ingestion of gatorade contributed to the highest rise in sodium concentration. The higher sodium concentration made the subjects thirstier, because "you never lower your osmolality below the thirst threshold and therefore are thirstier when ingesting a sports drink, whereas with water you maintain the osmolality right around the thirst threshold and drink and abstain as your thirst comes and goes". It seems like the important thing is determining what level of electrolyte replenishment works for you. That, like most nutritional supplements, requires some experimentation. Determining what prevents negative consequences of low electrolytes (like cramping), versus bringing on feelings of excessive thirst (among other things). Ultimately, you have to let your body be your guide.


Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing when in most races the water stations will come. Then you kind of need to plan on the fly, based on where the water stations are, the environment, how you're feeling, and how long you'll take to the next one. You don't want to just chug, but if the next one is probably 20 minutes away, a quick sip is all you need. If you have to traverse the map a couple of times and its +35. A deliberate stop to drink rather than pour it all over yourself is in order. 

When I ski raced more competitively, the coaches were often surprised why if there were more than one feed station on a course, I wanted water in one of them. I felt like it rinsed my mouth out a bit, and satisfied thirst a little bit better than coke or sport drink. Turns out, I was clearly brilliant.

Here is the link to the blog: The Science of Sport . Its good stuff, these guys are very, very good.

Well, that turned out to be pretty dang interesting. Here's something slightly less intellectually stimulating: