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How to beat the heat

It wouldn’t have gone unnoticed by our readers that it is unusually warm these days. The heat may have got to you everywhere; on the roads, at school, at your home...

Besides making you very uncomfortable, this heat could lead to other dangers, such as you becoming dehydrated. When temperatures are higher, we sweat more, which means we lose a more-than-normal amount of moisture from our bodies. This in turn could trigger dehydration which could cause headaches, lethargy, an overall lack of alertness and mood swings.

This is a serious situation, but with a very simple solution... rehydration. Before a person reaches this stage of extreme dehydration, his/her natural thirst mechanism would have sent the signal that he/she is suffering from thirst.

So, the obvious thing to do, if you feel that you are in need of a drink, is to obey your thirst and have one. A glass of water is the best, although other fluids such as tea, coffee, juices and carbonated drinks are also all right. However, with some of them, you may be consuming certain unwanted substances too.

That is why water is said to be the best. There is this theory that one is already dehydrated by the time one feels thirsty. This is generally not true, but if you keep ignoring your body’s distress calls for water, you will soon end up parched and dehydrated.

The easist option is to carry a water bottle with you, not just when you go to school, but also when you go for your tuition classes, shopping or out with your friends. This is especially so if you have to go out during mid-afternoon.

A time you have to be even more careful is when you are doing sports or physical exercises. The humans’ natural thirst mechanism may not give a reliable indication of the body’s fluid needs during exercises in hotter temperatures. So, the best advice to follow during sports or exercises is to drink water or other fluids at regular intervals.

Sometimes, children may not even realise how thirsty they are, so it is just as important that parents, especially those of active children, keep an eye on them.

You need to be active, and the heat is no reason to put off your sports practices and exercises and be a couch potato. You have nothing to worry about, as long as you take in enough liquids.