Summer Heat Safety Tips For Baby Boomers

Summer is here at last! After the long, long winter of 2010, I wondered if the summer heat would ever get here, and now that it is, let's talk about safety tips for all of us Baby Boomers out there exercising, working, or enjoying other outdoor activities in this heat. Summer is the time for getting out and walking, gardening, riding bikes or taking the grandkids swimming. When it's very hot though, our bodies need to cool down often. Every year, many older Baby Boomers and youngsters suffer from heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Red face and body and skin is hot to the touch are signs that your body is dehydrated, and if you stop sweating, your body has lost its natural ability to cool itself off.

Here are a few simple safety tips that you can follow to prevent the heat from ruining your day:

•  Drink plenty of cool water. My recommendation for anyone working outside in the heat is to drink at least 8 oz. of water every half hour that you're out there. Also, drink some before you go outside and again when you come back in. Even if you don't feel thirsty, keep hydrating anyway because this is the single most important safety tip for preventing heat exhaustion.

•  Spending time in the shade also helps prevent heat exhaustion, so every time you take a water break, move to a shady spot while you quench your thirst. A shady spot can be as much as ten to fifteen degrees cooler than direct sunlight.

•  Wear light, reflective clothing. Dark clothing pulls the heat in, but light colored clothes reflect the sun away from your body.

•  Try to break up your outside gardening or work out into two thirty minute segments. Spending 30 minutes in the morning, and then again in the late afternoon means that you won't be out there mid day, when the sun is the hottest, and that you'll have a large break indoors between your work outs.

•  If you take the grandkids swimming, be sure to take a good look at them periodically to make sure they're not getting too red faced and keep track of how much water they're drinking. Kids tend not to notice that they don't feel well until they pass out, so it's up to us to make sure they're safe. And keep yourself cool by jumping in with them!

Now, if any of your symptoms worsen to the point of feeling dizzy, nauseous, or a headache, then get yourself into the Emergency Room right away, because these are the signs that your body is going into heat stoke which is a much more serious condition.

For more tips on Baby Boomer Health and Wellness check out my blog at: http://kathicaseypilates.com/en/kathis_blog/

Best of Health to you all.

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