My Journey With Health And Fitness – Staying Safe In The Heat

Wahoo! I get to spend a couple nights all on my own. Well at least I thought it was going to be a good thing until I realized that I have to look after the 2 dogs and 2 cats, I have to cook for myself and I am responsible for things like getting the recycling out tomorrow. I like it much better when someone else takes care of all these things for me. Oh well, it’s only 2 nights.

We are having a bit of a heat wave right now so I thought it would be a good time to do a quick post about being safe in this heat. While most of it is pretty common sense, it never hurts to take a few minutes to just make sure you have everything covered. Here where I live we are not good at dealing with heat (or cold) because we normally have weather that is pretty mild. However, we always seem to get a system coming through that brings what to us West Coasters is considered to be extreme.

I want to state that before I hit the gym in the morning I always have my breakfast. I know several of the other participants that say never eat until after class and I really don’t like that. For me, I want to make sure that I have fuel in my body before I start trying to burn it but hey, to each their own. I also make sure I have a large water bottle (note, it has to have lots of ice because I only like water really cold). I then make sure to hydrate through out the day especially in this heat to avoid becoming dehydrated. We are lucky in that our home has a/c (otherwise our upstairs area would be completely unbearable) and I use it to keep both me and my pets reasonably cool.

Today I did an early morning 10km walk followed later by 2 5km walks. Trust me that last walk at 2pm was brutal because it was so hot. I did the smart thing and planned my route to ensure I took advantage of as much of the shade as possible. I also threw on some sunscreen because even with my leftover Mexican tan my skin needs to be protected. I also am never out in the sun without sunglasses as I have a couple of small cataracts and one of the best things you can do to protect them from growing is to wear sunglasses when it is bright out. I will also often wear some sort of hat if I am in the sun for more than an hour to help prevent overheating. Finally, not really a safety issue but I am never out in the heat without some sort of cloth to help keep the sweat out of my eyes.

But I think the most important thing about being safe in the heat is to check on anyone you know that is vulnerable. Today at my caregivers’ support group I reminded the participants (all of them are seniors) to try to keep cool and make sure they are hydrated. So take a moment to check in on your family and friends to make sure they are equipped to deal with the heat.