Live Healthy By Walking

Runners and Walkers participating in marathons on a hot, summer day must be aware of the exposure to the heat and hot weather conditions you, or others, may experience.  At all marathons, there are medical sites sit up along the trails for people to stop and be treated, if needed.  There are water stands set up as well so be sure and grab a cup of water and keep moving.

Painful contractions of muscles, usually abdominal or legs, caused by exercise in extreme heat are heat cramps.   If you are walking/running with someone who faints or has a sudden loss of strength due to excessive heat, it is time to call for medical attention (calling 911).  This is another excellent reason to carry your cell phone with you when you walk in case there is a medical emergency.

It is advisable to know the symptoms of heat exhaustion: Signs include heavy perspiration, weakness and fainting, vomiting and cold, pale and clammy skin. They may experience collapse, with or without loss of consciousness. This may be suffered in high heat/humidity, largely resulting from the loss of fluids and electrolyte imbalances (i.e. loss of sodium).  Call for medical help through 911 emergency number. Continue Reading »

Most of us go to our local drugstore and buy sunscreen protection so we won’t get sunburn when we are out in the hot sun.  Who wants to intentionally get sunburn?  We like to look beautiful with a suntan; however, most of us burn, hurt, peel and look strange when we sport around our sunburn.  There are other ways we can protect ourselves from the sun with clothing and head coverings.  We must make sure we are not setting ourselves up for any type of skin cancer when it is so easy to protect our skin from getting too much exposure to the sun.

Have you discovered the clothing options for sun-sensitive people?  There are several companies that now sell shirts, pants, hats and other clothing items which have sun-protection fabrics.  They are lightweight; they breathe and they are comfortable to wear.  I was surprised to learn that a tightly woven fabric in dark colors offers the most protection.  I was taught to wear light color clothes in the summer because it doesn’t draw the sun’s attention to your body.  This is just not true.  I read that a green cotton T-shirt has a sun protection factor of 10 and a long-sleeved dark demin shirt protection is at 1,700. Continue Reading »