No kidding. Water is probably the one thing that one can’t “acclimate” to the lack of to any appreciable degree. The body starts to conserve salt at some point, but that’s about it. The old maxim “ration your sweat, not your water” is recognition of this.
Eating food is important as well. That’s the “electrolyte” part they are talking about. Empty stomach means the water just runs through, along with electrolytes.
Yup. It's like saying you're "tough enough" to resist electrocution. You can't fight physiology.
I think the 'school' is screwed here. Once he asked for water he had given up the fight. Their obligation was to provide it unless he rescinded his request. It might not be criminal (haven't looked at the laws), but his family will pocket some cash from this. Too bad he's dead - no amount of money will console them.
I used to think about that when I was long distance running in the summer in Texas. That water isn't doing me any good sloshing around on my water belt. I needed to get it in me for it to help. At a reasonable pace of course so as not to get sick. And you're right, hyponatremia (low sodium) has only been recognized for the threat it is in the last few years. If you're low on your electrolytes, drinking more water is just going to dilute you even more. They used to preach drinking as much water as you could, until a few people died from it. It's not as much a danger as dehydration so I say drink all you want, but don't force it and get some electrolytes in your system while you're at it.
Course when I was a kid we used to have to take salt tablets if we were out in the heat for an extended period of time. Then salt became "bad". I don't even know if you can get those things any more. I eat a lot of salted sunflower seeds to keep my sodium up.
I'm not running these days, but I do a lot of Bikram "Hot" Yoga, 90 minutes in a 110 degree room. You can lose 4-5 pounds on a humid day. You'll cramp up bad if you do that for a few days without suplementing your salt, calcium, and (I'm told) magnesium.