Sanidad guidelines for dealing with hot weather

[Janet]

[attachimg=1]

With May already halfway over and the weather warming up considerably with a calima this week, it seems a good time to repeat the following official medical advice that Sanidad offers for dealing with hot weather. This particularly affects the over 65s, children, pregnant women, and those suffering some medical conditions.

Official recommendations are:

* avoid all physical exercise in the open air
* avoid exposure to the sun and stay in the shade as much as possible
* drink more water to be well hydrated and avoid heatstroke
* avoid large meals and alcohol, coffee, tea or sugared drinks because they can cause dehydration
* stay out of the sun between midday and 6pm, when the sun's rays are almost vertical and radiation at its greatest (and see HERE for an explanation of the timing of the hottest hours here)
* wear loose fitting, light coloured, natural fibre clothes if going out is unavoidable
* wear head protection if going out is unavoidable

Symptoms of being affected by the heat include fainting or feeling light-headed, nausea, and palpitations, while children might become irritable and lose their appetite. If you feel any symptoms from the sun, drink cool water and take a cool shower, and if you do not feel better quickly, seek medical help. Please also see THIS page about staying safe in heatwaves, and if cooling off in the sea, please see THIS page too about staying safe in the seas here.

[Myrtle Hogan-Lance]

I had to laugh at the first one on the list, sitting here still in my sweaty running clothes, drinking my tea.  Then I saw the fourth one.  There's no hope for some people.

[Perikles]

* avoid large meals and alcohol, coffee, tea or sugared drinks because they can cause dehydration

I don't think that they should recommend anything, and let natural selection work. If anybody is stupid enough to go out in the midday sun without a hat, then they are not going to read official recommendations. I should know - the top of my head is agony at the moment.

As for the above, it is simply not true that coffee and tea cause dehydration (assuming they are not saturated with sugar). Tea is almost as good as water for hydration.

From this

A study published in the October 2000 issue of the "Journal of the American College of Nutrition" reported the effects of caffeinated and non-caffeinated beverages on hydration. Researchers at The Center for Human Nutrition in Omaha studied 18 adult men who consumed a variety of caffeinated and decaffeinated caloric and noncaloric drinks. Researchers concluded that the results of their study "found no significant differences in the effect of various combinations of beverages on hydration status of healthy adult males" and further indicated that there was no reason to advise people to refrain from consuming caffeinated drinks. Zeratsky indicates that caffeine may act as a diuretic when you consume more than 500 to 600 mg of caffeine a day, or between 9 to 11 or more cups of brewed black tea.