Maintaining Peak Performance: Clues You Can Use


Table of Contents

Maintaining Peak Performance: Clues You Can Use

Introductions

Credits

Causes of Subtle Impairment in Healthy Pilots

Attitude Sometimes a Cause of Accidents

Caveats

Fatigue

Elementary Physiology

Hypoxia What Killed Payne Stewart, et al.

How to Experience Hypoxia

Altitude, Oxygen, and Performance

Clues to Hypoxia

Time of Effective Performance ("Useful Consciousness") Healthy, resting, fully oxygenated aeronaut

Hypoxia Example ASRS Reporter, January, 2000

Measure Hypoxia

The Bends (Decompression sickness)

Cold

Heat

Dehydration

How is Water Lost?

Clues to Dehydration

Thirst The signal of the osmostat (Your hypothalamus detects your blood's water content: its osmolality)

Estimating water needs

Overhydration

Limits of Hydration

Sweat

Sweat Contents

Dehydration vs Volume depletion

How Much Salt is Enough

Some Unknowns about Sweat-Salt Loss

Sodium Content and Osmolarity of Beverages vs. blood and sweat

Salty Food Creates a Water Deficit

Conclusion:

Water Conservation Preventing Unnecessary Water Loss

Creating Extra Water Needs

Salty Food Makes Extra Urine

Fatigue as a Clue

Fluid Egress

Cockpit Waste Management Strategies


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