Since I've had at least three friends have a problem with heat and such the like in the last 24 hours. Here is Mandy's summer advice to avoiding heat exhaustion.
My credibility? I am extremely prone to heat exhaustion and have had it several time in my life, hence, I learned how to avoid it at all costs, because it sucks. (Also, be aware that there is a different between heat stroke and heat exhaustion.)
1- WATER!!!!! DRINK IT!!!!! And I don't mean just when you are thirsty, I mean constantly throughout the day. If you feel thirsty you are already dehydrated. If you are working hard, drink more, don't worry about having to use the restroom to much, you will sweat out the water.
2. Which brings me to number two. Make sure that you are also are taking in sodium and other things your body loses when you sweat. Gatorade and such the like is good to drink IN ADDITION to water. Also eating a good meal, and small snacks throughout the day.
3. Plan your clothing accordingly. If you are going to be out in the hot sun, try to wear lighter colors and lighter fabrics. Light colors will reflect heat while dark colors absorb it. Lighter fabric will also hold less heat in. If possible, try to make your clothing more...flowy? Is that the word I want? Poofy? Don't make it really tight, that makes it hard to breezes to get through, and I don't know if this is true or not, but I feel like they hold more heat in too.
4. Pay attention to your body. If you start getting short of breath or a headache that makes you want to kill yourself, or you are just starting to get really tired, get in the shade, get in air conditioning, take a rest. If you catch it at the early stages, just slowing down and resting will help a lot. If you start getting dizzy or lightheaded GET COOLED OFF AND GET OUT OF THE SUN!!
5. If this starts to happen, try putting water on fabric of some kind and getting the cool liquid on your face, neck, behind your ears, your back, wherever. (These are just the ones I find most helpful) If you have a friend around, have them help fan you to get a breeze going. Chances are, you are pretty dehydrated so you don't have your sweat evaporating off your body to help keep you cool. *Something worth noting, if you are somewhere that is humid and the sweat doesn't evaporate, I suggest a small towel or handkerchief to wipe sweat away.
6. If this still isn't helping get to a private place and take off as many layers as you can. I'm serious. I got heat exhaustion 3 times last summer (and considering how often I get it and how much I was outside last summer, this was actually a pretty low number) Once in China, twice at the park. Now, in China, I couldn't take a ton off in public and that is where I started getting it, but I did take off my t-shirt and got down to my tank top, where my friends were awesome enough to help me get cooled off enough to make it back to the hotel. The part only my roommate knows is that once we were back in the room, the air was turned as cold as it could go and while she was in the bathroom I asked her to turn on a luke cold shower (we'll get to the importance of that in a second) Meanwhile I was in the main part of the room taking off everything but bra and underwear. As soon as she was done using the restroom I just sat in the shower in my underclothing. After a few minutes, I came back out, she headed to a concert I changed into dry underclothing and collapsed on the bed. I am a decently shy person and the idea of being wet in a white bra was not appealing to me, but I felt like not dying was even more important. So basically, if you are really bad, take off as much clothing as is socially acceptable for your current location.
7. The importance of the water temperature. If your body has over heated, do not dump a ton of ice cold water all over it, chances are you will shock your system and make things even worse. Even if you put just a little ice cold water on your face, it is not going to feel good that first second, and probably not until you start cooling down.
8. Now, recognizing it in other I don't really know how to explain, I just know how to recognize it because I know what it feels like. But some key things to watch for, look at their faces. Chances are they are either really red or really pale. A trick for helping someone, "If it's red, raise the head, if it's pale, raise the tail". If someone is really white, it is probably a good idea to get there feet up and their heads down. I tend to get more red, so I usually try to say more upright. but it does go both ways.
In conclusion, 1-3 are more along the lines of prevention. 4-7 are more if you start getting/full out get it here's how to get it under control. And 8 is meant to be helpful if someone needs your help.
Now, if you can't get it under control and it starts getting worse, seek medical attention. Heat exhaustion can turn into heat stroke and heat stroke can kill you.
This is also not all the information out there on this, this is just a little helpful advice from a girl who has had a lot of heat problems in her life.
Also, if you do get it, even after you get it under control and start to feel better, it's called heat exhaustion, you are going to be tired the rest of the day, make sure you get a lot of sleep that night and KEEP DRINKING FLUIDS!!!!
Hope this was helpful, make sure you have so much fun during the summer, and don't let it get spoiled by heat exhaustion.
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