The summer season is the ideal time for outdoor games and activities. But when you are having fun in the Texas sun, heat exhaustion is something you must watch out for.
Exposure to high temperatures combined with strenuous physical activity can cause heat exhaustion that will quickly progress to a heat stroke, a life-threatening condition where your body is unable to cool itself and starts shutting down.
Here’s how to beat the heat this summer:
- Wear loose-fitting clothing: Make sure you have plenty of tank tops, shorts, and summer dresses made of lightweight breathable fabrics like cotton.
- Stay well hydrated: Drink adequate amounts of water and other low-calorie drinks to replenish body fluids and electrolytes lost due to sweating.
- Stay indoors during the hottest part of the day: Try to schedule most of your outdoor activities in the mornings before 10:00 AM and the evening after 4:00 PM.
- Skin protection: Wear a broad-brimmed hat and apply a sunscreen lotion that offers adequate protection from the harmful UV rays over the exposed skin areas every time you go outside.
- Know your limits: When playing sports or games in the sun don’t overexert yourself. Getting caught up in the heat of the moment could cause you to ignore warning signs of heat exhaustion.
- Avoid Excessive Alcohol Use: Heavy drinking can affect your body’s ability to regulate temperature and can also cause dehydration.
- Know Your Risk Factors: Individuals who are overweight or obese, those using certain medications, children below the age of 4 years, and the elderly above the age of 65 are more prone to heat exhaustion.
Heat exhaustion symptoms include heavy sweating, dizziness, cool & moist skin, rapid pulse, muscle cramps, nausea, and headache. If you experience any of these symptoms, you should stop your activity, move to a cool area, and sip on some water or sports drinks. In case symptoms to not get better within an hour, contact your doctor for timely & appropriate treatment.
At North Central Surgical Center, our mission is to treat each and everyone of our patients, and their families, as if they were our own family member. Each patient, each family, each and every time.
