Keep Your Cool

• Slow down and reduce your level of activity immediately when your body warns you that the heat is too much. Get to a cooler environment.
  
  
• Try to stay out of the sun during the hottest hours of the day – from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
  
  
• Dress in lightweight, light-colored clothing. It is also a good idea to wear a hat or to use an umbrella.
  
  
• Eat light. Foods high in protein increase your metabolic heat production and water loss.
  
  
• To keep your house cooler, cook only during early morning or late evening hours, if possible. Plan cool meals for during the day (salads, sandwiches, fruit dishes).
  
  
• Check on elderly friends and relatives daily to ensure that they are staying cool and well. The elderly are especially prone to heat illness.
  
  
• Don’t get too much sun. Sunburn inhibits the body’s ability to cool itself. When in the sun, protect your skin and eyes from harmful UV rays by wearing sunscreen and protective sunglasses.
  
  
• Know the symptoms of heat illness: dizziness, rapid heartbeat, throbbing headache, breathing difficulty, nausea, cramps, vomiting and diarrhea. If you should experience these symptoms, get medical help immediately and seek a cool environment until help arrives.

• Heat wave: More than 48 hours of high heat (90° F or higher) and high humidity (80 percent relative humidity or higher) are expected.
  
  
• Heat index: A number in degrees Fahrenheit that tells how hot it really feels with the heat and humidity. Exposure to full sunshine can increase the heat index by 15° F.
  
  
• Heat cramps: Heat cramps are muscular pains and spasms due to heavy exertion. They usually involve the abdominal muscles or legs. It is generally thought that the loss of water and salt from heavy sweating causes the cramps.
  
  
• Heat exhaustion: Heat exhaustion is less dangerous than heat stroke. It typically occurs when people exercise heavily or work in a warm, humid place where body fluids are lost through heavy sweating. Fluid loss causes blood flow to decrease in the vital organs, resulting in a form of shock. With heat exhaustion, sweat does not evaporate as it should, possibly because of high humidity or too many layers of clothing. As a result, the body is not cooled properly. Signals include cool, moist, pale or flushed skin; heavy sweating; headache; nausea or vomiting; dizziness and exhaustion. Body temperature will be near normal.
  
  
• Heat stroke: Also known as sunstroke and hyperthermia, heat stroke is life threatening. The victim’s temperature control system, which cools the body by producing sweat, stops working. The body temperature can rise so high that brain damage and death may result if the body is not cooled quickly. Signals include hot, red and dry skin; confusion, irritability and visual changes; rapid, weak pulse; and rapid, shallow breathing. Body temperature can be very high – sometimes as high as 105° F. Keep in mind, the elderly and children are the most susceptible to heat stroke.