LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The first heat wave of summer is here, and it is hot outside. It is still going to be nice week with sunshine and clouds, and you should still enjoy the weather, you just need to keep heat safety at the forefront.
There are symptoms of heat exhaustion that you should look out for in the summertime heat. Dr. Martin Huecker, a physician at UofL Hospital, walked through the steps of heat exhaustion. He explained that it comes in stages.
“Excessive thirst, you got mental status changes, feeling fatigue feeling tired," Heucker said. “You can go from, 'oh, I'm just a little dehydrated and hot' outside to really tanking quickly.”
How do you know when to seek medical attention?
He said to watch for if people are sleepy and drowsy when they shouldn't be.
“You've tried for 20/30 mins and they are still really hot, really thirsty, vomiting and that kind of thing, then I would say totally bring them to us," Huecker said.
There are home remedies you can try if it's not an extreme case.
“Put like ice or cold packs on wrists and legs all the areas that the blood comes to the heart it cools the blood and brings it back to the core,” Huecker said.
There's a lot of gossip around electrolytes and how much you should intake during the summer heat, but it's rather simple; the more you sweat, the more you should consume.
“If you're out there three hours, you're sweating a lot, those electrolytes are coming out of your body, you need to replenish them,” the doctor said.
Adapting to the heat is important.
The most important thing is to take on the heat in stages. If you typically don't spend a great deal of time outside, you will want to introduce it in shorter increments and work your way up.
If you work outside or are a runner, more than likely your body is adapted to taking on that kind of heat. It usually takes around two weeks to adapt to the heat, according to Heucker.
Children can get exhausted quicker than adults, so it's important to check on them hourly and see if they are showing any signs of heat exhaustion. Playing outside near a water source and eating popsicles helps!
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