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AC Repair Pros Share Tips For Preventing Heat-Related Illness
Heat-related illnesses cause hundred of deaths in the U.S. every year. Extreme heat can raise your body temperature, damage your brain and organs, and even lead to your premature passing. To protect yourself from the scorching summer sun, here are five basic prevention tips from AC repair experts:
Tip 1: Drink Lots of Water
Regardless of you activity level, you should always drink more water on hot days. Hydration helps cool you down and will lower your risk of heat exhaustion, heat stroke, and dehydration. How much H2O should you drink? If you are engaging in any physically demanding activity, you should ingest at least two to four glasses of water per hour. This additional hydration will promote sweating, which is how we keep our bodies cool when the weather is hot.
Tip 2: Dress For Comfort
Wearing dark-colored, tight fighting clothes will invariably raise your body temperature on a warm day. The inevitable result is lots of unnecessary perspiration and fluid loss, both of which put you at a much greater risk of dehydration. To avoid discomfort and possible health hazards, it is always best to dress in loose-fitting, light-colored clothes when the temperature is high.
Tip 3: Avoid Certain Beverages
As healthy as water may be, some fluids actually promote dehydration on warm days. Because alcohol is a known diuretic, it will increase your trips to the toilet if you imbibe too much. Just like sweating, this form of fluid loss can rob the body of the water it needs to keep you cool. The same may be true of certain sugary sports drinks that contain caffeine that may also have diuretic properties. As such, it is always a good idea to eschew them in favor of plain old H20.
Tip 4: Stay Inside
When the mercury rises to an uncomfortable level, stay indoors with the air conditioner running. Be sure to check your unit for possible issues before periods of heavy usage. If there is a problem with the machine, contact an AC repair professional. For those who do not have an air conditioner at home, you can spend a few hours at a public library or a heat-relief shelter until it cools off. It may also be possible to make a space more comfortable with properly positioned electric fans. That said, these fans will not prevent heat-related illnesses since all they do is move around hot air.
Tip 5: Protect Your Skin
It is not a coincidence that most cases of heat-related illness also involve sunburns. In addition to discomfort and pain, these burns can raise your body temperature, putting you at an elevated risk of dehydration, or worse. So if you must go outside on a hot day, make sure you protect your skin from the sun by wearing a hat, sunglasses, and sunscreen (SPF 15 or above.)
If you follow these simple tips from A/C repair professionals, you can stay safe when the mercury rises.
