Heat Exhaustion

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Heat Exhaustion

Self-Rescue Pays Off

It's late Saturday morning, and you burst out of the house for your usual jog. The weather is unusually hot and humid for this time of year, but that doesn't stop you. You're trying to get in shape and can't afford to skip your workout. Before you know it, you're hot, sweaty and incredibly thirsty. But you press on until you begin to feel sick, have goose bumps and feel nauseated.

Chances are, you have heat exhaustion. Fluid lost through perspiration can lead to dehydration.

"Humidity plays a major role in heat exhaustion," explains Amy Morgan, Ph.D., an exercise physiologist at the Noll Physiological Research Center at Pennsylvania State University in University Park. "If the weather is really humid, the sweat on your body will not evaporate, and you will not cool as quickly."

A PERIL OF WORK OR PLAY

Typical symptoms of heat exhaustion include chills, fatigue, lightheadedness, thirst, nausea, confusion, feeling faint, weakness and headache. Women are at risk for heat exhaustion if they exert themselves in the summer heat--playing tennis or tackling yard work, says Dr. Morgan. You're also at risk if you work in a warm building with poor air circulation, like a factory, for hours on end.

If this process continues, heat exhaustion can develop into a potentially life-threatening type of heat illness: heatstroke, which requires emergency medical attention. So women doctors and exercise physiologists say that you should take immediate action to counter heat exhaustion (or better yet, prevent it in the first place).

Here's what you can do to chill out.

Get out of the heat. "Stop what you're doing and get into the shade or an air-conditioned room as soon as possible," says Dr. Morgan. "A cool environment will lower your body temperature quickly." If you're too far from home to get back fast, duck into the nearest shopping mall, supermarket, convenience store, movie theater or other public building until you feel better.

Grab a drink A.S.A.P. "Aside from getting out of the heat, one of the very first things that you should do when you have heat exhaustion is drink plenty of liquids, to hydrate your body and increase blood flow to your skin, which will help increase cooling," says Susi U. Vassallo, M.D., assistant professor of surgery in the Division of Emergency Medicine at New York University School of Medicine in New York City and a fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians.

"How much to drink depends on how hot and humid the weather is, and how much you were exerting yourself," says Dr. Vassallo. She recommends drinking to quench your thirst as soon as you start to feel uncomfortable and following up with additional fluid as frequently as possible throughout the day. (Dr. Vassallo, for example, drinks 32 ounces of liquid.)

When To See A Doctor You should see a doctor if you experience any of the following: * Fainting * Vomiting * Nausea The following symptoms are signs of heatstroke, which is more serious than heat exhaustion and is, in fact, a medical emergency. See a doctor at once if: * You are confused. * Your speech is slurred. * Your behavior is odd (like incoherence). * Your pupils are dilated. * You're having muscle spasms. * You stop sweating. (By this time you are critically ill.) If you take measures to relieve heat exhaustion and your symptoms get worse or don't improve, get medical help without delay. If you have heatstroke, 24 hours is too long to wait. If you have heat exhaustion, waiting 24 hours isn't ideal, but it's not as crucial.

Drink a low-carb sports drink. Some experts recommend rehydrating with sports drinks, while others believe that water is just as good.

"Some research suggests that sports drinks help you hydrate more quickly than water alone," explains Dr. Morgan. "By intent, sports drinks tend to be high in carbohydrates--namely, the sugars fructose, glucose and sucrose. They also contain sodium and other electrolytes that you may lose through sweat.

"The sodium and carbohydrates are put in the sports drinks to help your body absorb the fluid from your stomach into your bloodstream perhaps more quickly than it absorbs water alone. This gets the fluid into your bloodstream sooner to help relieve dehydration," she says. "The downside is that too many carbohydrates may slow the release of fluids from your stomach to your bloodstream."

Since studies have yet to prove whether or not sports drinks are helpful, Dr. Morgan advises checking labels and choosing sports drinks lowest in carbohydrates (measured in grams). Water will also relieve dehydration and will suffice if you don't like the taste of sports drinks or if they are not available.

Spritz and catch the breeze. If you can, spritz yourself with a water sprayer. Focus the spray on your head and neck and sit in front of a fan, suggests Dr. Morgan.

Chill that scalp. "Your head contains many blood vessels," explains Dr. Vassallo. "When you make your head cold, the chilled blood circulates and cools the rest of your body." She recommends placing a bag of ice or a wet washcloth or something very cold on your head or the back of your neck until you feel better.

Fashion a cool head wrap. You can also cool your head fast by plunging a bandanna, a terry cloth sweatband or a towel in icy water and leaving it on your head, says Dr. Morgan. You could exercise with this on to keep your body from overheating.

Relax and put your feet up. "Elevating your feet will bring more blood flow back to your brain, which could help stop you from feeling dizzy," says Dr. Morgan. "Lie down with your feet one to two feet higher than your head." For example, lie down on the floor with your feet propped up on a sofa or a chair.

What Women Doctors Do An Icy Head Wrap Helped Susi U. Vassallo, M.D. Playing tennis after a long layoff and pushing to get back into shape led to heat exhaustion for Susi U. Vassallo, M.D., assistant professor of surgery in the Division of Emergency Medicine at New York University School of Medicine in New York City and a fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians. She used her ingenuity and did exactly what doctors advise for heat exhaustion. "I left the court and sat in the shade under a tree," she says. "I drank a lot of ice water. But I also dunked a towel in the ice water and wrapped it around my head. "And oh, yes--I quit playing tennis for the rest of the day," she adds. Other remedies for heat exhaustion include drinking a low-carbohydrate sports drink, spritzing yourself with a water sprayer and sitting down with your feet elevated.