Summer time in Florida is here and that means average temperatures in the 90’s with excessive amounts of humidity. Here are some signs and symptoms along with some tips to avoid heat related illness while you continue your fitness and athletics related training.
Signs and Symptoms:
- Cramps: moderate to intense pain in a muscle or group of muscles from significant muscle contraction. This may occur during or after bouts of exercise in the heat.
- Heat Exhaustion: profuse sweating, pale skin, loss of coordination, dizziness, nausea, diarrhea, and stomach cramps.
- Heat Stroke: core body temperature at or above 104*, absence of sweating, seizures, confusion, nausea, weakness, vomiting, increased heart rate, decreased blood pressure
Treatment:
- Treatment for heat illness includes stopping your activity, moving to a cool (preferably air conditioned) area, and hydration with fluids (preferably a sports drink to replace lost electrolytes).
- For heat exhaustion, seek medical attention if symptoms worsen or do not improve after a 15-30 minutes of treatment.
- Heat stroke is potentially fatal and you must seek immediate medical attention and cooling of the core body temperature.
Tips to Prevent:
- Give the body time to get hydrated. Drink water frequently throughout the day and not just right before or during exercise
- Your urine should be the color of lemonade, not apple juice. The darker the color of urine, the more likely you are to be dehydrated
- After exercise, drink one pint of fluid for every pound of weight loss. If you have lost more than 3% body weight, then it is not advised to exercise again until you replace enough fluids to stay within that 3%
- Exercise early in the morning, or late in the afternoon when the intensity of heat is reduced.