{"id":1195,"date":"2023-08-21T08:27:28","date_gmt":"2023-08-21T13:27:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/repbradstephens.com\/?p=1195"},"modified":"2023-08-25T08:28:12","modified_gmt":"2023-08-25T13:28:12","slug":"heat-safety-this-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/repbradstephens.com\/heat-safety-this-summer\/","title":{"rendered":"Heat Safety This Summer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>High temperatures kill hundreds of people every year. Heat-related deaths and illness are preventable, yet more than 700 people die from extreme heat every year in the United States.<\/p>\n<p>Take measures to stay cool, stay hydrated, and stay informed. Getting too hot can make you sick. You can become ill from the heat if your body can\u2019t compensate for it and properly cool you off. The main things affecting your body\u2019s ability to cool itself during extremely hot weather are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>High humidity.<\/strong>\u00a0When the humidity is high, sweat won\u2019t evaporate as quickly. This keeps your body from releasing heat as fast as it may need to.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Personal factors.<\/strong>\u00a0Age, obesity, fever, dehydration, heart disease, mental illness, poor circulation, sunburn, and prescription drug and alcohol use all can play a role in whether a person can cool off enough in very hot weather.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Those who are at highest risk include people 65 and older, children younger than two, and people with chronic diseases or mental illness.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Closely monitor people who depend on you for their care and ask these questions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Are they drinking enough water?<\/li>\n<li>Do they have access to air conditioning?<\/li>\n<li>Do they need help keeping cool?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>People at greatest risk for heat-related illness can take the following protective actions to prevent illness or death:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Stay in air-conditioned buildings as much as you can. Air-conditioning is the number one way to protect yourself against heat-related illness and death. If your home is not air-conditioned, reduce your risk for heat-related illness by spending time in public facilities that are air-conditioned and using air conditioning in vehicles. Contact your local health department or locate an air-conditioned shelter in your area.<\/li>\n<li>Do not rely on a fan as your main cooling device during an extreme heat event.<\/li>\n<li>Drink more water than usual, and don\u2019t wait until you\u2019re thirsty to drink.<\/li>\n<li>Check on friends and neighbors and have someone check on you.<\/li>\n<li>Limit use of the stove and oven\u2014it will make you and your house hotter.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-3435\" src=\"https:\/\/repstephens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2023\/08\/therm-hot-1024x683.png\" sizes=\"(max-width: 504px) 100vw, 504px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/repstephens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2023\/08\/therm-hot-1024x683.png 1024w, https:\/\/repstephens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2023\/08\/therm-hot-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/repstephens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2023\/08\/therm-hot-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/repstephens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2023\/08\/therm-hot.png 1500w\" alt=\"\" width=\"504\" height=\"336\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Even young and healthy people can get sick from the heat if they participate in strenuous physical activities during hot weather:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Limit your outdoor activity, especially midday when the sun is hottest.<\/li>\n<li>Pace yourself. Start activities slowly and pick up the pace gradually.<\/li>\n<li>Drink more water than usual, and don\u2019t wait until you\u2019re thirsty to drink more. Muscle cramping may be an early sign of heat-related illness.<\/li>\n<li>Wear lightweight, loose-fitting clothing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you play a sport that practices during hot weather, protect yourself and look out for your teammates:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Schedule workouts and practices earlier or later in the day when the temperature is cooler.<\/li>\n<li>Monitor a teammate\u2019s condition and have someone do the same for you.<\/li>\n<li>Seek medical care right away if you or a teammate has symptoms of heat-related illness.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Everyone should take these steps<\/strong>\u00a0to prevent heat-related illnesses, injuries, and death during hot weather:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Stay in an air-conditioned indoor location as much as you can.<\/li>\n<li>Drink plenty of fluids even if you don\u2019t feel thirsty.<\/li>\n<li>Schedule outdoor activities carefully.\n<ul>\n<li>Wear lightweight, loose-fitting clothing and sunscreen.<\/li>\n<li>Pace yourself.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Take cool showers or baths to cool down.<\/li>\n<li>Check on friends and neighbors and have someone check on you.<\/li>\n<li>Never leave children or pets in cars.<\/li>\n<li>Check the local news for health and safety updates.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>High temperatures kill hundreds of people every year. Heat-related deaths and illness are preventable, yet more than 700 people die from extreme heat every year in the United States. Take measures to stay cool, stay hydrated, and stay informed. Getting too hot can make you sick. You can become ill from the heat if your [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1196,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/repbradstephens.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1195"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/repbradstephens.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/repbradstephens.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/repbradstephens.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/repbradstephens.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1195"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/repbradstephens.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1197,"href":"https:\/\/repbradstephens.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1195\/revisions\/1197"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/repbradstephens.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/repbradstephens.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/repbradstephens.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/repbradstephens.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}