Why visitors underestimate tropical dehydration and how to fix it fast
Most visitors to Koh Samui have never spent all day in 33-degree heat with 80 percent humidity. Your body sweats litres before you notice, and the first signs of dehydration are easy to blame on jet lag, a late night or the sun itself.
Headache, fatigue, irritability, dizziness when standing up, dark urine and a dry mouth are the classics. By the time you feel properly thirsty you are already behind. Alcohol at the beach accelerates all of it.
Drink steadily rather than in bursts, add electrolytes rather than plain water alone when sweating heavily, take shade in the midday hours, and treat every alcoholic drink as borrowing water from tomorrow.
Oral rehydration works but is slow, and a queasy stomach makes it slower. An IV rehydration drip restores a litre of fluids and electrolytes in about an hour, bypassing the stomach entirely. It is the difference between recovering overnight and recovering by dinner.
These groups dehydrate faster and should take symptoms more seriously. When in doubt about anything beyond mild symptoms, see a doctor; severe heat illness is a medical emergency, not a wellness matter.
