Home > Your Personal Side > Your Health: Shaping Up in the Summer Heat Can Be Tough Business

Shaping Up in the Summer Heat Can Be Tough Business.

Tips to safeguard against illness, injury and other heat-related sporting incidents

The following are a few helpful hints to help you beat the heat this summer:

Start your workout regime slowly. You have most likely gotten a bit out of shape after being stuck indoors all winter. Injuries tend to happen when you push yourself too much too soon. You should gradually work your way to a more difficult workout. Always remember, slow and steady wins the race.

Stay hydrated – heat exhaustion and heat stroke are serious threats. Water is always a wonderful workout beverage to consume; you may also consider sports drinks, which replenish the sodium your body loses during increased sweating. Signs of heat exhaustion include headache, nausea, dizziness and goose bumps. This can progress to a potentially fatal heat stroke, in which you would become confused before finally falling unconscious.

Follow this simple formula to determine how much water you should be drinking:

Story Features

Email This Story Print This Story

Weigh yourself before and after activity a couple of times to see how much water weight you lose from sweating that you're not effectively replacing.

Once you know how much water you're losing, you'll know how much you need to drink to replace it.

If you exercise for an hour and lose 2 pounds, for example, you need to drink a liter of fluid to compensate. Here's the math: For every kilogram (2.2 pounds) you lose, drink 1 liter (33.8 ounces) of water. Ideally, drink every 15 minutes during activity.

If you're exercising more than an hour, seriously consider a sports drink, which has sodium to replace lost electrolytes and carbohydrates for fuel.

Also please consider:

The time of day – if you are exercising in the middle of the afternoon, at the hottest part of the day, you are going to become tired and dehydrated at a much faster rate than if you choose to exercise in the morning or evening.

Consider wearing light-colored and lightweight fabric, sunglasses, a hat and sunscreen.

Remember, the more you protect yourself, the more likely you are to have a wonderful, relaxing and healthy summer!