James Cunningham recently gave a health and safety talk on “salt.” While too much salt can be detrimental to the human body, he said, too little is just as bad. The term salt itself is an inclusive term including potassium, magnesium and sodium salts. Heavy work or exercise in warm summer temperatures can quickly deplete your body’s salt levels. This will make you feel tired or “washed out” and your muscles will tend to cramp. Dehydration cannot be cured by simply drinking water. There must be the correct salt mixture in the water to allow the body to rehydrate. Sweet drinks are not a healthy solution and James suggested that, in hot conditions, employees drank water plus an alternative mouthful of a proper rehydrate solution.Cyclists, he continued, need to be especially careful as they often do not notice their level of perspiration. Severe loss of potassium salts coupled to dehydration can result in an avoidable heart attack.