Tips for Staying Cool. Avoid Heat Stroke.

Stay Cool. Avoid Heat Stroke. Get ahead of it:  Avoid heat stroke incidents. Heat stroke is more serious that being over-heated or having heat exhaustion. Once you have had heat stroke you are more prone to getting it again.

Avoid heat stroke incidents

After 10 years of living in an area with extreme heat in summer, I have become a pro at staying cool. Staying inside for months, to completely get out of the heat, can leave one a bit depressed. Heat strokes are called ‘strokes’ because your brain shuts down. The key signs are an inability to think clearly, despondency, possibly fainting, difficulty breathing, and white skin. If you are prone to heat disorders, you must be with a friend or partner who knows what the signs are, because you won’t know what is going on.  Your brain will be shutting down. If you are staying in the house, we suggest using the Aqua Air filters. I love the Aqua Air units as they are easy to use, and both clean and hydrate the air without adding heavy humidity . I run them all day in the bedroom and turn them off at night, then run them in the living room during the night and turn them off in the day. They are fairly quiet, easy to refill the water and very portable with a handle on top – we travel with one to clean hotel room air. If you go out, wear a cooling vest and/or other cooling clothes. A warm head at night can be a challenge as pillows and mattresses don’t really breathe and we tend to get stuck in both. I begin with a wet head when going to bed, not dripping, but enough to put a towel on my pillow. They say that if you can stay cool enough to fall asleep you’ve won most of the battle, although I wake up due to being overheated. You can wet your head again, or take a cooling shower. Coconut crème on the whole head at night and during the day help you stay cooler.

Cool pajamas, cooling sheets and cooling pillows may be something to explore. I’ve seen more and more of these online and recently in Ross and at Bed, Bath, and Beyond 60 stores. I’ve renamed it because they are definitely catering to an over 60 crowd with items that keep you cool, young, well groomed.

I wear these evaporative cooling vests when going outside.    Wear cooling Vests & cooling clothes. I keep them pre-wet, in a large plastic bag in the lower shelf of the fridge (not freezer) so one is always ready.  However, they do not need to be in the fridge.  It is being wet that gives them the cooling effect. If I am out and it starts to dry, I just take the water bottle from my insulated cooler bag and pour water over it and put the vest back on. I also keep a set of these cooling towels in plastic boxes so they are ready to go. You can place one of these on a thick towel over your pillow at night to see if you like that.

Avoid heat stroke by staying ahead of it.  Don’t get overheated in the first place! If it is early in the day and not super-hot just yet but I will be out going to meetings or going to town then I place all of these pre-wet items in a well-built cooler bag with additional ice packs to keep everything cool if the bag sits in a hot car for a few hours. I also put bottles of water with EmergenC mixed in – an EmergenC water drink early in the morning can contribute to your system staying cool. Also Bio Plasma, which are all the body salts, can be great to take 3-5 pellets 3-5 times a day depending on your level of heat stress. You can wear this beanie during hot days – it actually looks kind of cool on. As it dries out you just pour water over it and it is cooling again. Tips:

• Don’t wait until you overheat. Avoid heat stroke by wearing a cooling towel around your neck even if you feel almost too cool. Put a vest on as soon as it gets over 85 if you are outside, or if you are in the direct sun.
• Run your car with the AC on before getting in to drive it – unless it is in a cool garage. Suddenly getting too hot will trigger heat illnesses;
• Drink water all day long – can’t say enough about this
• Wear cool clothing and keep you skin out of the direct sun. I learned a bit late that one of my heat stroke triggers was having sun directly on my skin. So, wear light-weight but long-sleeved cooling clothes and hat.
• Be wary of hats that are actually heating, i.e. they don’t let your head breathe.
• Carry a battery fans or a hand-held fan, as having flowing air is key to staying cool
• Be prepared

People with Anhidrosis, sometimes called hypohidrosis, can’t sweat. That means that the body can’t cool itself. Many of our customers have this condition, and benefit from any of the cooling vests.  Folks with MS also benefit from cooling vests and cooling clothes. I hope some of this will be helpful. Evaporative cooling is usually the way to go, particularly in a dry climate.  People who need to work in a hot environment, for example in a glass factory, seem to prefer dry phase cooling vests.  They are heavier and more bulky however, so might not be best for most people.  They do maintain an even temperature. Stay cool!  Protect your health.

Lalaan Friends of Water Founder Lalaan