How to Prevent Heat Stroke and Stay Safe in Extreme Heat

0:00 Speaker 1 Sunday morning, fourth of July weekend, Live long and prosper well. Doctor Peter Michelos is with us and he wants us to live long, and he wants us to live long beyond this weekend where it’s going to be one hundred degrees And doctor Peter, what do you have to say on fourth of July weekend.

0:19 Speaker 2 Well, today, John, we’re going to talk about a very important topic, and that is heatstroke and the importance of hydration and human health and longevity. And the medical world is called hyperthermia from the Greek which means a lot of heat from deepd and thermia. And as humans, we really need hydration, not only for you know, keeps our

0:42 skin looking better, but it’s very important for removing toxins. And the toxins that get removed through our kidney require a lot of water to be pushed through. And also our bowels wouldn’t function to move the good food and the good nutrients through. But also drinking water helps move along our bowels so that we can also get rid

1:05 of the bad bacteria and the bad toxins. And it’s extremely important that those liquids also contain a mixture of some different chemicals that are required called electrolytes like magnesium, sodium, and potassium, which we need for life. And our whole system of making energy requires water for the mitochondria, which are the power houses of the cells, and if they

1:36 don’t have water, they don’t function right. So what is heat stroke? Heat stroke happens when our body temperature gets to about one hundred and four degrees and when it’s humid outside, it makes it even worse because it’s harder to sweat. And heat stroke is basically a medical emergency.

1:53 And when we said the core temperature goes to one hundred and four and you basically your brain is actually starting to heat up and I basically fry and you can’t think straight. You get confused, you get tired, weak, dizzy, You can get pale, clammy crampy, and you get fast shallow breathing, and your heart rates starts going up and

2:14 your skin starts turning red because your blood vessels are dilating like a radiator trying to dissipate heat. So you got and a lot of times police officers see people about to have heat stroke and they think that they’re having they’re drunk, or they’re having a drug overdose, but it’s really that the brain goes into like shutdown mode.

2:34 That’s why you can pass out and go into coma because your body’s trying to shut down. Don’t use any more energy, and you need to try to cool people down ways to avoid heat stroke. Of course, we talked about the importance of drinking water and hydration, and I tell people in the morning, try to front load your

2:51 fluids even before you go out. Try to take down a whole thirty two ounce bottle of water by the time it’s noon, before you go into the heat. Light clothing clothing is best, like white shirts, white or lighter pants, because when you wear dark colors on the hot days, it’s like a solar panel. It’s like in grease on

3:11 the rooftops. And the old days, they used to heat the hot water by putting a big barrel painted black and that’s how they got hot water. And the same thing with clothes. You want to wear light clothes and a light hat, preferably a wide brim hat to create a shadow on your head and neck and your face.

3:29 And of course wearing loose clothing and natural fibers like cotton is much better than other types of artificial fibers which tend to hold in the heat and act more like a barrier that holds in the heat. So you want to avoid exercise. Definitely avoid alcohol because it’s a diuretic in the the heat.

3:51 Speaker 1 Doctor Peter. I went to the baseball game last weekend and the Fairy Hawks and Staten Island, and it was hot. I was out there for three four hours. When I got home, I felt I drank a whole almost like thirty ounces of water and I was reading knocked out.

4:13 Speaker 2 Oh absolutely. And one of the things that you can do and what I do when I travel to and it’s going to be hot, they have non sugar powders that have all the electrolytes like the magnesium, the potassium and this sodium that you need. Like even Amazon has its own brand Ultimate Liquid, Ivy Liquid iv those things

4:35 the little packets. You just throw it in the water because it’s not just water. You lose electrolytes when you sweat. And fourteen hundred people died in Europe during this recent past heat wave. So one of the things to do is when you see someone and you get them indoors to a cool place, you take a wet towel, you

4:53 put it around their neck. You can put even the ice packs and stuff under the armpit because your core temperature you want to bring it down. And even if you take a wet towel or wet sheet and just put it on their body, but if they pass out, then you make sure that you put them on their side,

5:10 because if you throw up and you’re on your side, you’re less likely to aspirate. And sometimes people have to go to the emergency room and get intravenous ivy fluids to get caught up with the loss of fluid and the loss of volume, because when you don’t have fluid in your body, even your kidneys start to try to

5:28 shut down. So very important for hydration, for longevity and staying in the shade. And that’s why God created these beautiful trees, and mankind has been hiding in trees and also underground it’s the air conditioners go out in the city.

5:46 The best place to go is to go into the basement of your building because below ground it basically is constant around fifty five degrees. And that’s why our ancient ancestors would go into caves because caves were part of the air and the earth maintains a year round fifty five degrees.

6:03 Speaker 1 Either that or make sure you have plenty of guys in your automobile, your car, and your car air condition it’s working.

6:11 Speaker 2 Yeah, absolutely, a lot of people do that during blackouts. They’re go into the car, they turn on the air conditioner, and they also charge up their telephones during blackouts. So these are just some of the important tips to stay healthy.

6:25 And try not to eat super heavy meals during the heat because then your body is focused on digestion and you get more tired and you lose energy. And keep listening to WABC for more health tips on staying healthy, alive, and hydrated.

6:43 Speaker 1 Well, thank you, doctor Peter Mihlos. Enjoyed the rest of the weekend and with family and friends, and we’ll talk to you again real soon.

6:52 Speaker 2 Thanks for always getting the truth out and happy two hundred fiftieth anniversary of the United States and God Bless America. God bless