Heat Wave/Heat Stroke/Heat Exhaustion: What are your advice/thoughts?

[SpyderEdgeForever]

All across the United States of America and also in other places such as Europe, there have been increasing heatwaves. When it comes to practical methods of to avoid injury, illness, or even death, what are some pieces of advice and good wisdom from you all on this?

I know the basics:

Drink plenty of fluids, preferably ones that contain much electrolytes, for hydration.
Try to keep cool and stay out of direct sunlight if possible.
Use various items like cooling garments if one can have access to that.

What are some other ideas on this?


Has anyone here ever suffered from heat stroke or heat exhaustion? I know several people who have, and I even began to nearly collapse at one point from extreme heat and humidity and had to seriously ice up and hydrate.

It is very sad what happened to football player Mitch Petrus:

https://sports.yahoo.com/former-giants- ... 17323.html

[soc_monki]

I've had heat stroke before. It's important to recognize the symptoms before you get that far. Feeling cold (happened to me!), lightheaded, dizzy, not sweating (not enough fluids), etc. If you drink fluids with electrolytes (Gatorade etc) don't drink much. Drink more water than anything. Most sports drinks are marketing than anything, and you need to drink something like a 3 to one ratio. Those drinks have a ton of sugar, not really that great when you need hydration.

If you don't absolutely have to be out in the heat, don't. If you do, frequent rests and don't over drink! Over hydration can be worse than under hydration. I also drink warm water, not ice cold. The ice cold water can actually cause more problems, so it's not a good idea especially if you're drinking it quickly.

Know your limits, don't over do it. Here in Mississippi it's very hot and very humid in the summertime. It's a fact of life here, and you have to be careful. Working outside when it's hot is not fun, but if you're careful and take breaks and drink water youll be OK.

[Evil D]

Rule #1: Do not wait until you are thirsty to drink water. Drink it often.

Rule #2: See Rule #1.

Rule #3: Cover your skin. Yes, that means long sleeves and pants, of the right fabrics of course. Exposed skin just gets burned which further dehydrates you. If you must be in the sun, cover your skin.

Rule #4: Pace yourself.

Rule #5: A pinch of salt in a glass of water will help your body retain fluids and help prevent cramps and dehydration. A few swigs of pickle juice (or just eat a large juicy pickle) will do the trick too.

[Naperville]

Test yourself to see what you can take. You would be surprised at what the human body can take.

For decades, everywhere that I went, I was in training for, "The Big One." I did everything to test myself for decades.

I went to Burning Man in 2001, and I was 41 yrs old. The event is held in Black Rock, Nevada in/near the Salt Flats, which is a desert. Temperatures ranged from 80F to 110F (at least) for the 3 full days that I was there.

I wore hiking boots, long underwear, full length jeans, a long sleeve shirt, a Winter Parka, a wide sombrero hat, and had a very large wrap that could go around my head twice to protect my eyes and face. I brought a few 24oz(? can't recall the size, but they were larger than 12oz) bottles of Gatorade, and a string that I used to tie and hang the bottles around my neck. On arrival, I zipped everything up, and headed out in to the Playa, the dusty desert. I stayed on the Playa for 3 full days and nights.

As the first day wore on, I drank the Gatorade from the bottles hanging around my neck. The sweat was absorbed by my clothes and helped to keep me hydrated. I played a game as I walked, wherein I would swish the water in my mouth, wet my lips, and NOT swallow it if I could, keeping the water in my mouth for as long as I could. As I emptied the water bottles, I filled them with my own urine. I then drank the urine.

I did this for almost 3 full days, and hoped on the bus back to Silicon Valley.

If you ever get in a situation where you are low on supplies, and are trying to stay alive, just make a game of it and remain calm. THINK.

[SpyderEdgeForever]

Man, I am glad you survived that. Did you encounter potentially dangerous creatures like snakes?

[Ankerson]

Rule #1: Do not wait until you are thirsty to drink water. Drink it often.

Rule #2: See Rule #1.

Rule #3: Cover your skin. Yes, that means long sleeves and pants, of the right fabrics of course. Exposed skin just gets burned which further dehydrates you. If you must be in the sun, cover your skin.

Rule #4: Pace yourself.

Rule #5: A pinch of salt in a glass of water will help your body retain fluids and help prevent cramps and dehydration. A few swigs of pickle juice (or just eat a large juicy pickle) will do the trick too.

Exactly.

Drink a lot of water.

Drink even more water.

Drink even more water, enough that you don't like drinking it anymore.

Then drink even more.

[James Y]

From the mid-1980s into the early '90s, I lived in Taipei, Taiwan, and every summer there was pretty brutal in terms of heat and especially the humidity. About the only relief during that season was when it rained (which was often), or when a typhoon was coming; the days preceding the typhoon would be unusually clear of pollution and beautiful. Summers were especially warm and humid in Taipei, which was located in like a flat 'bowl' type of geography. There was no ocean breeze.

You had to drink a lot. Unfortunately, in Taiwan you cannot just drink the water out of the tap. You have to boil it before you drink it. Lots of people boiled water and made tea. Even when the water was boiled, you could see sediment at the bottom. I drank mostly bottled water there, and soft drinks like Diet Coke. Yeah, sodas are poison, but sometimes you didn't have much choice there.

The humidity was so bad that right after taking a shower and toweling off, beads of sweat would start forming immediately on my torso/back when I'd sit down on my bed. It was common to get 'prickly heat' rash on the sternum or back, so I used a lot of powder to stay as dry as possible at night. I didn't have any air conditioning, and needed a fan blowing full-force directly on me all night long. If I did that here, I'd probably get sick.

Another thing that made my situation worse was that the building next door had an air conditioning unit, and the heat from that unit backed up against one of my windows, and made my room maybe about 15 to 20 degrees hotter than normal. The next building was so close I could have touched the wall with my fingertips from one of my opened side windows.

Surprisingly, I never got heat stroke there. Even though I was doing lots of martial arts training. Or at least I don't think I did. Although one time when I was training hard on a particularly hot day, I became nauseated and had to stop. So maybe I did have it(?). But that was one time.

Jim

[The Meat man]

Exactly.

Drink a lot of water.

Drink even more water.

Drink even more water, enough that you don't like drinking it anymore.

Then drink even more.

Drinking water is important, but as someone else has pointed out, over-hydration can be just as dangerous as dehydration. Especially in hot conditions.
The problem arises when the balance of salts in the blood becomes too diluted, due to too much water intake without replenishing electrolytes (salts). This is called Hyponatrema and can be deadly.

So yes, drinking lots of water is important, but if you're not also replenishing electrolytes, it can be dangerous.

[bearfacedkiller]

I drink daiquiris by the pool on the two hot days we get here each year. :) I am much more experienced at managing cold than I am heat.

Honestly though, it is just about keeping your body temps down. Take breaks and stay hydrated. Being hydrated helps you stay cool.

[JD Spydo]

Electrolyte drinks are good but pure water is your ultimate best to drink during hot weather. But stuff like Gatorade are not your best selection. Your health food stores have much better electrolyte drinks that what you can usually get in the grocery stores. But the guys are 100% correct about water. However I don't drink tap water here where I live I drink filtered water or a really good grade of bottled water. When it comes to hydration really good pure water is the only thing that hydrates you efficiently.

I would drink maybe one cup of electrolyte drink to every 3 to 4 cups of pure water. Wear light colored or reflective clothing>> dark clothing as a general rule absorbs heat and will make you hotter ( especially black or dark blue). If you get to feeling bad or light headed get out of the sun light immediately.

I used to be an avid distance runner in my younger days and I got to where I would do most of my training in the evenings during extremely hot summer weather like we are having now. Try not to eat really rich foods or foods heavy in fats. Stay away from stuff like cheese burgers or any other junk food heavy in fats. I like drinking a lot of carrot juice during hot weather and it seems to load me up with electrolytes.

[bearfacedkiller]

Watch out for caffeine. I drink iced tea by the gallon in the summer but on the really hot days I limit or avoid it. I also usually only drink one cup of coffee if it is supposed to be very hot out.

Like EvilD said, once you feel thirsty you are already dehydrated. It is important to be proactive and stay ahead of it.

[MacLaren]

Just stay in the AC if at all possible.

[Evil D]

The sports drink vs water debate is an interesting one, because you DO need to replace electrolytes, water alone is not going to save you without some other means of sodium intake. There are lots of cases of people doing water fasting that get bad headaches from.....you guessed it, being dehydrated despite the fact that they're taking in almost nothing but water, and that's exactly the problem. Without any food or other means of getting sodium into your body along with the water, your body won't retain the water and it'll just go right through you.

If anyone is really interested you should read up on the history of Gatorade, it's an interesting story. It literally ended up being a performance enhancer, so there are definitely benefits to sports drinks over just water alone. The problem today vs the original formula is a lot of them are over sweetened.

[Bloke]

What are some other ideas on this?

[soc_monki]

The sports drink vs water debate is an interesting one, because you DO need to replace electrolytes, water alone is not going to save you without some other means of sodium intake. There are lots of cases of people doing water fasting that get bad headaches from.....you guessed it, being dehydrated despite the fact that they're taking in almost nothing but water, and that's exactly the problem. Without any food or other means of getting sodium into your body along with the water, your body won't retain the water and it'll just go right through you.

If anyone is really interested you should read up on the history of Gatorade, it's an interesting story. It literally ended up being a performance enhancer, so there are definitely benefits to sports drinks over just water alone. The problem today vs the original formula is a lot of them are over sweetened.

You definitely do need to replace electrolytes, but the sports drinks these days are really no better than soft drinks. As you said, oversweetened. I remember Gatorade in the 80s being much different than now, and they only had orange and lemon lime flavors. They were not nearly as sweet.

There are many better options, such as pickle juice and electrolyte tablets. If you have no choice than to drink a sports drink then do as jd spydo said. A little Gatorade, to a lot more water.

The truth of the matter is, if you eat decently, and drink water, you should be fine. If you are doing very strenuous activity and are burning through every reserve you have, you may need some replenishment. Just go sparingly, because too much can be just as bad as too little.

[BLUETYPEII]

This is actually a subject I have some experience with. It’s like a heat wave every summer out here in AZ.

Something you can do in your home to help you keep cool, especially if you don’t have air-conditioning; get box fans (at least two but more will work better) and put them in your windows. One side of the home the fans point in; on the other side they point out. This will create a nice cross draft through your home.

As far as hydration goes here is one of my responses from a previous post on the forum that I copied and pasted:

How to properly hydrate yourself is a very important thing to know. It can mean the difference between life and death.

Hydrating yourself in extreme heat is something I have a lot of experience with. I live in Arizona where the temperatures in the summertime regularly passes 115°. I have also worked outside almost my entire life, five years of which I installed air-conditioning units in attic’s where the temperature in the attic would go over 140° in the summer time.

As far as water goes at 100° with mild humidity ( 20%+- ) you need a gallon a day to live, and that’s without exerting yourself whatsoever, I’m talking resting in the shade.

On those summer days when you have to exert yourself and you’re pouring sweat you need to be drinking 8 ounces of water every 15 minutes, that’s what my coworkers and I would do and we were usually just fine. This quantity of water can vary from person to person, I must emphasize if you are not used to being in heat like this or consuming large quantities of water you may overdo it and get heatstroke and or give yourself water poisoning and die if you’re not very careful. You really have to “listen” to your body.

Drinking a sports drink like Powerade or Gatorade is OK too but it is no substitute for water and in extreme conditions you should really dilute it 50-50 with water. This will help replace electrolytes you are losing because of sweating or just get electrolyte tablets to drop into your water. Generally I will drink one 32 oz. Powerade deluded 50-50 with water for every gallon of water I drink.

I unfortunately almost died from heat stroke / severe dehydration one time so I know what the beginnings of it feel like. You can find recollections / symptoms of severe dehydration and heatstroke online I will not go over them here.

Any and all alcoholic beverages will not stop or slow dehydration, they will only make it worse. There is NO exception to this rule.

I’ve had a lot of experience running around in 110°+ whether at work and play. Bring twice the water you think you will need. I think this is very wise advice.

Please also remember this is just my experience not everyone is the same. Be safe out there and do your research before you go running out into the desert!

Everyone please be very careful. This summer is going to be a hot one and the heat has already taken more than a couple of lives this year.

[Bloke]

This is actually a subject I have some experience with. It’s like a heat wave every summer out here in AZ.

Hey Blue, I was a steel erector for many years in my youth, I think you’d call us iron workers (?). Summer time was always a punish and particularly a couple of years I spent in the early/mid 80’s building extensions to Mica Creek Power Station in the central Queensland desert.

Often times the steel was that hot, if you spat on it you could watch it crystallise and even wearing leather rigging gloves you could only hold onto it not very long at all. If you left your tool belt in the sun over lunch you’d have to chuck your podgers in a bucket of water before you could handle them.

All the erectors working top side carried water with us. Most of the boys would bring coolers of ice water they kept close handy but ice water always made me crook so I carried a flax water bag I’d clip to a beam in what shade I could find and drink from that. It kept the water cool but not icy.

We used to buy hydralyte or something ice blocks too we kept frozen and the bloke on the ground would send them up to us wired to the ends of beams. Either way I don’t think any of us drank as much water as we should have and I’m pretty sure we all suffered from heat exhaustion and dehydration to some extent. I used to feel pretty crook some days and I’d throw up but always put it down to the copious amounts of beer I drunk the night before. Ah, hahaha! :rolleyes:

[BLUETYPEII]

This is actually a subject I have some experience with. It’s like a heat wave every summer out here in AZ.

Hey Blue, I was a steel erector for many years in my youth, I think you’d call us iron workers (?). Summer time was always a punish and particularly a couple of years I spent in the early/mid 80’s building extensions to Mica Creek Power Station in the central Queensland desert.

Often times the steel was that hot, if you spat on it you could watch it crystallise and even wearing leather rigging gloves you could only hold onto it not very long at all. If you left your tool belt in the sun over lunch you’d have to chuck your podgers in a bucket of water before you could handle them.

All the erectors working top side carried water with us. Most of the boys would bring coolers of ice water they kept close handy but ice water always made me crook so I carried a flax water bag I’d clip to a beam in what shade I could find and drink from that. It kept the water cool but not icy.

We used to buy hydralyte or something ice blocks too we kept frozen and the bloke on the ground would send them up to us wired to the ends of beams. Either way I don’t think any of us drank as much water as we should have and I’m pretty sure we all suffered from heat exhaustion and dehydration to some extent. I used to feel pretty crook some days and I’d throw up but always put it down to the copious amounts of beer I drunk the night before. Ah, hahaha! :rolleyes:

Yeah it’s no joke working in heat like that. I don’t think it gets as hot in Arizona as it does in Australia, how’s the humidity out there?

[Naperville]

This is actually a subject I have some experience with. It’s like a heat wave every summer out here in AZ.

Hey Blue, I was a steel erector for many years in my youth, ...

I'm in Illinois and worked in construction for a decade. The hottest / hardest work I ever participated in was footings and foundations, or felling trees.

The trees fell with no problem, but the gnats, flies and mosquitoes would drive a man to drink! That plus the bar oil getting all over you, you didn't know if you were working or getting paid to be tortured.

10 to 20 feet below ground doing a footing / foundation is no way for a man to live, yet there I was swinging a pick and when I say hot and dry, I mean nothing in the way of moisture unless you brought it with you.

[Bloke]

Yeah it’s no joke working in heat like that. I don’t think it gets as hot in Arizona as it does in Australia, how’s the humidity out there?

Hey Blue, being desert it usually wasn’t too humid but at different times of the year it would rain for about half an hour, often after lunch and when it stopped there’d be steam coming off the ground. That was humid. Being in the sun without any shade was always the biggest punish and at different times of the year the sun’s ultraviolet levels here are off the scale. :eek:

I'm in Illinois and worked in construction for a decade. The hottest / hardest work I ever participated in was footings and foundations, or felling trees.

The trees fell with no problem, but the gnats, flies and mosquitoes would drive a man to drink! That plus the bar oil getting all over you, you didn't know if you were working or getting paid to be tortured.

Ah, hahaha! You’d love it here Nap! You’d never be sober. Ah, hahaha! :cool: