Don’t sweat summer heat: tips that will keep you going outdoors

The best beverage for most hot weather needs — plain old water.

By FRANK SARGEANT
Trucker's World

5/27/2009

That’s what my dad used to tell me when we sat on an airless, 90-degree lake in mid-August, hoping for a bass to come along and find our shiners down there in the cool depths. A few times, I thought sure I was going to simply sizzle away—but I didn’t.

In a way, though, you do melt in extreme heat; like an ice cube turning to water, you sweat out your body fluids, and if the sweating continues for too long without replenishment or an escape to cooler temperatures, bad things can happen.

According to Dr. Brian Carter of The Orthopedic Clinic in Huntsville, Ala., simple normal body functioning in 90 degree temperatures requires you to drink 8 to 10 ounces of water per hour, just to maintain your fluid balance — and if you’re exercising hard — hiking, climbing, jogging — it may take four times that amount.

Sweat is the body’s cooling mechanism, and so long as plenty of it is pouring out of your pores, you may feel miserable, but your temperature will probably stay in the safe range. But if you don’t keep pouring the liquids in, the sweat can’t keep coming out.

Signs you’ve gotten seriously dehydrated include the fact that you STOP sweating; there’s no more excess fluid to spare in attempts to cool your body.  You could be in real danger; it’s time to get to the shade or the AC and load up on liquids, pronto.

One of the early signs that you’re not getting enough liquid is that you don’t urinate; if there’s not enough water in your system to spare for urine, there’s not enough water, period. In fact, just a reduced amount of urine, dark yellow in color, can mean you’re drying up; when your balance is right, there’s a strong, pale yellow flow.

Sweating is just a part of summer in the southeast, but in the southwest, and also in high mountain country, you may lose lots of fluids without feeling that familiar clammy feeling in your underclothes; thin, dry air evaporates perspiration almost immediately. Even though you can’t see the sweat running down your forehead in these situations, you have to keep pouring on the fluids to keep feeling good.

Another way to avoid overheating is to avoid dark clothes. A black or dark green shirt can soak up two or three times as much heat as a white shirt. Wear cotton, which wicks and cools, as an exterior garment, or maybe opt for an open- weave material that shades but also lets air pass right through. Don’t go shirtless. Though you’ll temporarily feel cooler, the rays of the sun will now be working directly on your skin, soon making you much hotter — and you may also have to deal with sunburn later. Loose-fitting shorts, however, do help cool the lower body; wear sunscreen on any exposed skin.

Your head is the body’s primary radiator. Paradoxically, though it’s essential to wear a hat in winter to keep WARM, wearing a hat in summer can help a lot in keeping you cool.  Any hat that shades the face can help, even a basic ball cap. But much better is a big old straw hat that shades your ears and neck in addition to your face. A straw hat also allows air to circulate over your head, helping the radiator effect. And don’t overlook the goofy little pith helmets with solar powered fans installed in front. They look weird, but tests have shown that the air circulated by these tiny systems really does help cool you off in even the hottest sun.

As a cap is shade for your head, trees and natural cover can be a cap for your whole body. Take advantage of any shade you can locate if you find yourself getting overheated. If you’re a boater or fisherman, take along a golf umbrella and stick it in a rod holder so that it provides shade over your chair — the difference in the heat you’ll feel is dramatic. And, the more you stay in the shade, the less you’ll suffer later from sunburn, of course.

While a cold brewski may taste great on a hot day, drinking beer or other alcoholic beverages when you’re overheated will only make you feel worse, and if you’re seriously overheated to start, adding alcohol to the befuddled feeling you may start to get is a very bad idea.

The best beverage for most hot weather needs — plain old water. However, exercise physicians say that intense exercise lasting more than 90 minutes can start to deplete electrolytes and body salts, so it’s not a bad idea to toss a few Gatorades or Powerade type drinks into the ice box along with the H20. Whatever the drink, if it’s cooled below air temperature, it will have a cooling effect on your body for a time after you drink it. However, gulping down lots of icy cold liquid not only can give you an “ice-cream headache”, but can actually cause cramps; pick a drink off the top of the ice chest rather than the bottom if you’re really, really thirsty and want to bolt one down.

Last but not least, maintain your normal exercise regimen in summer, walking, jogging, stretching and performing the other basics that keep your muscles fit and relaxed. The better shape you’re in, the less likely you are to run into issues from heat stress and dehydration, and your energy levels will remain strong, even when you feel like that slowly shrinking ice cube.

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