How To Stay Safe in the Summer Heat

With temperatures rising this week into the 90’s here in CNY and the humidity rising as well, Mountainside Medical wanted to provide everyone with some tips and tricks for staying safe and cool while having fun in the heat. Keeping your body cooler in the heat can help prevent dehydration and sunburn and help make your summer safer and more enjoyable. How to stay cool outside

- Instead of having fun in the sun, fun in the shade can make a huge difference in temperature, even if you’re under a tree, umbrella or gazebo. - Make sure you wear plenty of sunscreen because if you burn you will feel even hotter. - Play in the hose, sprinkler, or the pool. Just soaking your feet in some cool water can make a huge difference. - Be sure you drink plenty of water. The rule of thumb is half your body weight in ounces of water, and even more if you’re pregnant.

How to stay cool inside

- Use the air conditioning when available. Don’t have AC? Go see a movie or catch up with a friend who has air conditioning. - If you don’t have an air conditioner, open your windows and doors at night. Suck in the cooler air during this time and then in the morning, shut the house back up. - Never turn the air on and off. This is actually more expensive than leaving it on because it has to cool everything in the room again instead of just maintaining the cooler temperature. - Even with the air on, fans can be a huge help to circulate the cool air around and keep it more comfortable. With it off, fans can still be a huge help.

Get Cool, Stay Cool Sometimes it seems that no matter what you do, you feel hot and can’t seem to cool down. Surprisingly, there are a number of things you can do to help you cool down.

 

- Eat cool foods like fruits, yogurt, smoothies, slushies and popsicles. - Use a cool, wet rag to wipe yourself down when needed. - Pour cold water over your hear and dampen your shirt. - Wear light, loose fitting clothing. - If you have a sunburn, try cooling your skin with after-sun burn gel like Solarcaine - Prevent skin chafing in the sticky heat with body powder.

Sunburn and dehydration can really put a damper on summertime fun. Follow these tips to keep enjoying the summer weather because it will be gone before you know it!