Heat Stroke: 5 tips to avoid the summer heat

Heat Stroke: 5 tips to avoid the summer heat

Topic 1: Does your work keep you outdoors mostly? Here are a few ways by which you can prevent sunstroke.

Topic 2: This summer keep yourself at a safe distance from heatstroke by following these simple tips

Some jobs require people to work outside in the scorching heat of the sun. For them, the warm temperature, bright sun, and the blue skies are not at all an excellent working condition always. There are various risks which are associated with those who are working outdoors in extremely high temperatures.

Staying fresh and healthy during the summertime can be quite challenging for those who work outside for long periods. Every year, thousands of workers become ill while dozens of them die while working in exceptionally humid or heat conditions. In case you are exposed to extreme heat on your job, you must be aware of all the potential hazards that you can face such as heat stroke, heat exhaustion, heat stress, and various other health issues like cramps, weakness, vomiting, nausea, rapid heartbeat, sweaty skin, headache, dizziness, and more.

What is heatstroke, and what causes it?

For people who work outside, heatstroke is one of the most severe and frequent health hazards. Heatstroke only occurs when your body is no longer in a position to control its temperature, which leads to brain damage and issues in other internal organs. Heat strokes are a medical emergency where treatment should be provided immediately to prevent the patient from permanent disability and, in some cases, even death.

Hence, put, when the body loses its ability to cool itself, the condition is called heat stroke. The standard temperature of our body should be around 98.6° F. Various external and internal factors are responsible for heatstroke.

Through the metabolism process, we create our internal body heat. Metabolism helps our body to convert the nutrients into energy. Another type of heat production takes place due to exercise or muscular activity. During exercise, the blood rushes into the muscles, which raises the core temperature of the body and produces heat in the extremities.

During these cases, the natural reaction of the body to the temperature rise is to sweat. Our body naturally cools itself down through perspiration. However, if the temperature is too high, our body loses control to cool itself naturally and starts to suffer from various heat-related illnesses like heat stroke.

There are various ways by which you can avoid being a target of heatstroke. Let us take a look at some of them in the following points.

1. Dress Appropriately:

The most effective way to beat the summer’s scorching heat is to follow the appropriate dress code. If you are an athlete, it is best advised for you to wear light-colored and thin clothes so that your body can cool itself off. Moreover, clothes like shorts and tank tops allow the inflow of air inside your clothes.

However, if you are working near an enclosed heat-producing environment, wear specific safety garments such as flame-resistant or FR clothing. It might get a bit difficult for you to do your job while wearing FR clothing, but it will surely protect you from the harmful effects of the outside temperature. New FR clothing is light in weight, which makes it more breathable to wear.

2. Stay hydrated

Heat exhaustion is mainly of two types, salt depletion, and water depletion. Dehydration can lead to serious health issues like heat stroke. To avoid such situations, you should drink water every fifteen to thirty minutes even though you are not thirsty. Moreover, you should also avoid drinks that contain high quantities of sugar or caffeine in it.

For athletes, the Chief Cardiac Surgeon of Apollo Speciality Hospitals, Dr. Sridhar V, states that “when we exercise and feel thirsty, we usually drink water, but it contains no minerals and does not replace the loss of salts due to sweating.” Even the intake of excess water can cause hyponatremia that results in disorientation. Athletes should ask their coach to guide them in such cases.

3. Avoid overexertion

Always keep in mind that our body is working hard enough already to cool itself down. Hence, we need to avoid overexertion. Taking frequent breaks will not only limit our exposure to the sun, but it would also provide our body with some time to take rest. This is specifically important in case you are already suffering from any pre-existing ailments like high blood pressure.

4. Identify the symptoms

There are various symptoms like heat cramps, heat rash, light-headedness, fainting, illness, dehydration, and more, which indicates that you might be suffering from heatstroke or you are leading to a condition of heatstroke. Whenever you are aware of any of these symptoms, you should immediately call for medical help.

5. Beware of medical reactions

Specific medication can even increase the risk of developing heat exposure problems. Moreover, some medicines might also interfere with the process of perspiration and favors water elimination. This disrupts the ability of our body to regulate and maintain it’s temperature. Before buying any medication, ask your pharmacist about these things.

Wrapping Up

In summer days, sunstroke or heat stroke is pretty standard if you are working outside or you travel a lot. Even though our body can cool itself down, but when it reaches extreme conditions, it might fail to maintain the temperature. This can lead to heatstroke, which can cause serious health issues or even death. However, there are a few simple ways, such as staying hydrated and wearing appropriate clothing that can help us in protecting ourselves from the scorching heat of the sun.