With July featuring 90-degree temperatures and August likely to bring more of the same, summer temperatures are enjoyed by many, but present health-related problems for others, particularly senior citizens. Information provided by the Family Practice Center offers useful tips for dealing with the summer heat.

After age 65, your body can’t adjust to changes in air temperature, especially heat, as quickly as it did in younger ages. This puts individuals at risk for heat-related illness, especially if you have a long-term chronic health problem or take certain medicines that interfere with how the body normally responds to heat.

Some medications may also restrict the body’s ability to sweat. But you can still enjoy a safe summer by taking precautions when it gets hot. Unless your healthcare provider has told you to limit your fluids, drink plenty of cool liquids, such as water, sports drinks, or fruit and vegetable juices. Don’t wait until you are thirsty. Don’t drink alcohol because you’ll lose much of the fluid it offers. Also, avoid large amounts of caffeine.

Who’s at Risk?
– Poor circulation, inefficient sweat glands, and changes in the skin caused by normal aging.
– Heart, lung, and kidney diseases, as well as any illness that causes weakness or fever.
– High blood pressure or other conditions that need changes in diet, such as people on low-salt diets.
– The inability to sweat caused by some medicines. These include water pills, sedatives, tranquilizers, and some heart and blood pressure medicines.
– Taking several medicines at once for different conditions. Don’t stop taking them. Talk with your healthcare provider.
– Being substantially overweight or underweight.
– Drinking alcohol.
– Limited mobility, such as problems with walking, can make it hard to move out of hot environments.

Ways to Keep Cool – If you don’t have air conditioning
– Open windows at night.
– Create a breeze by opening windows on opposite sides of the room or house.
– Cover windows when they’re in direct sunlight. Keep curtains, shades, or blinds drawn during the hottest part of the day.
– Dampen your clothing with water and sit in the breeze from a fan.
– Spend at least two hours a day during the hottest part in an air-conditioned place, such as a library, senior center, or friend’s house.

How to handle heat illnesses

Heat stress, heat tiredness, heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke are all forms of hyperthermia. This is the general name for a range of heat-related illnesses. Symptoms may include:
– Headache
– Nausea
– Heavy sweating
– Skin that is dry (no sweating), hot, and red.
– Muscle spasms
– Extreme tiredness after exposure to heat.

If you think someone has a heat-related illness:
– Get the person out of the sun and heat into a cool place – if possible, one that is air conditioned.
– Offer sips of fluids, but not alcohol or caffeine. Water, sports drinks, and fruit and vegetable juices are the best.
– Urge the person to lie down and rest, if possible, in a cool place.

Call 911 or get emergency medical care right away if you suspect heat stroke. Symptoms include:
– Headache
– Dizziness
– Confusion or agitation
– Seizure
– Hot, dry skin that is flushed but not sweaty
– High body temperature
– Very fast heartbeat
– Hallucinations
– Fainting (loss of consciousness)

Enjoy the summer and stay safe!