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How to Beat the Summer Heat
Dr. Gary Goodman discusses summer safety; including preventing heat exhaustion and heat stroke, tips on how to keep cool if you don't have AC, and the dangers of hot cars.
Featuring:
Gary Goodman, MD
Dr. Gary Goodman went to medical school at Ross University School of Medicine in Dominica, West Indies. He completed his residency in the department of emergency medicine at North Shore University Hospital and his residency in the department of internal medicine at Nassau University Medical Center. Dr. Goodman is now an emergency medicine physician at Central Florida Regional Hospital and Heathrow ER. Transcription:
Prakash Chandran (Host): The summer is a great time to be outdoors. But a hot day can actually be dangerous to your health. So, how can you keep cool and protected even if it feels like the sun is out to get you? Let’s talk about it with Dr. Gary Goodman, an Emergency Medicine Physician at Central Florida Regional Hospital.
This is Helmet of Health, the podcast from Central Florida Regional Hospital. I’m Prakash Chandran. So, first of all Dr. Goodman during the summertime I’ve heard about heat stroke, I’ve heard about heat exhaustion. Tell me about the differences between the two and what to be aware of.
Gary Goodman, MD (Guest): Well there are two types of heat illnesses as you pointed out, heat exhaustion and heat stroke. It’s important to recognize that heat exhaustion generally precedes heat stroke. When the body is trying to respond to heat and external environmental changes, the body is going to try and sweat and cool itself off. Symptoms of heat exhaustion might include a headache, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, weakness. It could include irritability. But more importantly, it is going to tell you to drink, so you are going to be thirsty and you are going to be noting heavy sweating.
The difference between that and heat stroke is pretty dangerous. Heat stroke is the most serious form of heat related illness and when the body temperature goes up, the brain eventually becomes unable to regulate its core temperature. Sweating stops, and the body can no longer rid itself of the excess heat, right? So, signs might include confusion, loss of consciousness or even seizures. And the difference is that this heat stroke is a medical emergency that can and will kill you in about four to six minutes if you don’t respond to it.
Host: Wow, so it seems like your body is giving you all these different signs when things are happening, that’s when you are experiencing that heat exhaustion. Talk to us a little bit about what people should be aware of when they go outside.
Dr. Goodman: If you’re going to be exposed to the heat for any long period of time a lot goes into it. you have humidity, you have heat index, you have whether it’s sunny or cloudy outside and preemptive behavior like bringing water, knowing where your shady environments are, and really time of exposure is really important. I mean heat index – we hear a lot about heat index and temperatures greater than 115 can very easily lead to extreme triggers of heat stroke.
Certainly, if you stay in shady environments, if your time for example if you are out playing golf for example; you take pauses every 20-30 minutes to get hydrated, go into a cool environment so your body can reregulate itself is very important.
Host: Yeah and one thing that I’m really curious about is what to do when something like this happens. I have friends that go to Coachella every year and I feel like one of them always comes down with some form of heat exhaustion or they will pass out. They just won’t get enough hydration so maybe talk to us a little bit about what we can do when we see our friends experiencing this or we experience it ourselves.
Dr. Goodman: Well it’s good that a lot of these events like that usually anticipate stuff like this. But, let’s say your average person is out with his friend and you are playing golf and you start to notice that he’s moving a little slower, he’s not acting normally. The first thing you should obviously do is have him sit or lie down in a cool shady environment and that could be a simple as being under a tree. Start feeding them water or other cool beverages to drink because honestly, if you don’t – number one these cool liquids will cool the core temperature and that’s important. Certainly cold compresses or ice packs or even ice from a drink can cool you off.
And obviously, the more sicker they get, you are going to start to notice don’t be afraid to call 9-1-1 because really you do only have about four to six minutes when the body starts to shut down before protein in the body, the brain starts to breakdown. You can get really, really sick and I’ve had patients die in these situations. And God forbid you find that person in a car or a vulnerable animal or adult in a car, cooling these people off is vital or they are going to die.
Host: And what about what we should be giving them to drink. I hear that you should absolutely give them water but then I have some people that are like you should definitely give them Gatorade or something with glucose in it. do you have any thoughts around that?
Dr. Goodman: So, when people sweat the common thing they are going to lose is potassium and sodium. I’m not advocating one drink or another but certainly water is the best you can get if you can get that but any drink such as Gatorade or even Pedialyte. I mean it sound silly, where are you going to find Pedialyte in the street. But like any liquid like that or sports drink usually has sugar, which is an important metabolite, we need that obviously if the body is breaking down. That’s an energy. It’s a fuel. But more importantly, the things that are going to get you are the loss of the electrolytes like sodium and potassium and that’s where the body really, really doesn’t like it. it can get very, very sick as a result of that.
So, the answer to your question if – Gatorade would be fine, but water is more important.
Host: Okay. And you talked about some of the proteins breaking down after 106 degrees. I’m curious about for infants or the elderly, does that change things at all like do they – are they more susceptible to heat than others?
Dr. Goodman: that’s funny you should mention that. Children have a body surface area issue so yeah; babies and infants and vulnerable elderly adults are absolutely more prone to heat related illness. We take for granted that your grandparents sitting there on the sun porch wearing a sweater is not a big deal because they are comfortable, they are in their own homes. But an adult such like that or a child in an environment like that can easily be overwhelmed by the heat and as I said before, it really doesn’t take a whole lot of time.
So, you may not notice a grandparent perspiring when they should be and the same may apply to an infant. So, infants and vulnerable elderly adults are people we definitely have to keep an eye on. Their risk factors are much higher and not to add insult to injury, but elderly patients tend to have more comorbid illnesses like diabetes and high blood pressure which can definitely make this worse and very much different outcomes.
Host: Dr. Goodman I really appreciate your time. That’s Dr. Gary Goodman, and Emergency Medicine Physician at Central Florida Regional Hospital. Thanks for checking out this episode of Helmet of Health. Head to www.centralfloridaregional.com/ER to get connected with a provider. If you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and be sure to check out the entire podcast library for topics of interest to you. Thanks and we’ll see you next time.
Prakash Chandran (Host): The summer is a great time to be outdoors. But a hot day can actually be dangerous to your health. So, how can you keep cool and protected even if it feels like the sun is out to get you? Let’s talk about it with Dr. Gary Goodman, an Emergency Medicine Physician at Central Florida Regional Hospital.
This is Helmet of Health, the podcast from Central Florida Regional Hospital. I’m Prakash Chandran. So, first of all Dr. Goodman during the summertime I’ve heard about heat stroke, I’ve heard about heat exhaustion. Tell me about the differences between the two and what to be aware of.
Gary Goodman, MD (Guest): Well there are two types of heat illnesses as you pointed out, heat exhaustion and heat stroke. It’s important to recognize that heat exhaustion generally precedes heat stroke. When the body is trying to respond to heat and external environmental changes, the body is going to try and sweat and cool itself off. Symptoms of heat exhaustion might include a headache, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, weakness. It could include irritability. But more importantly, it is going to tell you to drink, so you are going to be thirsty and you are going to be noting heavy sweating.
The difference between that and heat stroke is pretty dangerous. Heat stroke is the most serious form of heat related illness and when the body temperature goes up, the brain eventually becomes unable to regulate its core temperature. Sweating stops, and the body can no longer rid itself of the excess heat, right? So, signs might include confusion, loss of consciousness or even seizures. And the difference is that this heat stroke is a medical emergency that can and will kill you in about four to six minutes if you don’t respond to it.
Host: Wow, so it seems like your body is giving you all these different signs when things are happening, that’s when you are experiencing that heat exhaustion. Talk to us a little bit about what people should be aware of when they go outside.
Dr. Goodman: If you’re going to be exposed to the heat for any long period of time a lot goes into it. you have humidity, you have heat index, you have whether it’s sunny or cloudy outside and preemptive behavior like bringing water, knowing where your shady environments are, and really time of exposure is really important. I mean heat index – we hear a lot about heat index and temperatures greater than 115 can very easily lead to extreme triggers of heat stroke.
Certainly, if you stay in shady environments, if your time for example if you are out playing golf for example; you take pauses every 20-30 minutes to get hydrated, go into a cool environment so your body can reregulate itself is very important.
Host: Yeah and one thing that I’m really curious about is what to do when something like this happens. I have friends that go to Coachella every year and I feel like one of them always comes down with some form of heat exhaustion or they will pass out. They just won’t get enough hydration so maybe talk to us a little bit about what we can do when we see our friends experiencing this or we experience it ourselves.
Dr. Goodman: Well it’s good that a lot of these events like that usually anticipate stuff like this. But, let’s say your average person is out with his friend and you are playing golf and you start to notice that he’s moving a little slower, he’s not acting normally. The first thing you should obviously do is have him sit or lie down in a cool shady environment and that could be a simple as being under a tree. Start feeding them water or other cool beverages to drink because honestly, if you don’t – number one these cool liquids will cool the core temperature and that’s important. Certainly cold compresses or ice packs or even ice from a drink can cool you off.
And obviously, the more sicker they get, you are going to start to notice don’t be afraid to call 9-1-1 because really you do only have about four to six minutes when the body starts to shut down before protein in the body, the brain starts to breakdown. You can get really, really sick and I’ve had patients die in these situations. And God forbid you find that person in a car or a vulnerable animal or adult in a car, cooling these people off is vital or they are going to die.
Host: And what about what we should be giving them to drink. I hear that you should absolutely give them water but then I have some people that are like you should definitely give them Gatorade or something with glucose in it. do you have any thoughts around that?
Dr. Goodman: So, when people sweat the common thing they are going to lose is potassium and sodium. I’m not advocating one drink or another but certainly water is the best you can get if you can get that but any drink such as Gatorade or even Pedialyte. I mean it sound silly, where are you going to find Pedialyte in the street. But like any liquid like that or sports drink usually has sugar, which is an important metabolite, we need that obviously if the body is breaking down. That’s an energy. It’s a fuel. But more importantly, the things that are going to get you are the loss of the electrolytes like sodium and potassium and that’s where the body really, really doesn’t like it. it can get very, very sick as a result of that.
So, the answer to your question if – Gatorade would be fine, but water is more important.
Host: Okay. And you talked about some of the proteins breaking down after 106 degrees. I’m curious about for infants or the elderly, does that change things at all like do they – are they more susceptible to heat than others?
Dr. Goodman: that’s funny you should mention that. Children have a body surface area issue so yeah; babies and infants and vulnerable elderly adults are absolutely more prone to heat related illness. We take for granted that your grandparents sitting there on the sun porch wearing a sweater is not a big deal because they are comfortable, they are in their own homes. But an adult such like that or a child in an environment like that can easily be overwhelmed by the heat and as I said before, it really doesn’t take a whole lot of time.
So, you may not notice a grandparent perspiring when they should be and the same may apply to an infant. So, infants and vulnerable elderly adults are people we definitely have to keep an eye on. Their risk factors are much higher and not to add insult to injury, but elderly patients tend to have more comorbid illnesses like diabetes and high blood pressure which can definitely make this worse and very much different outcomes.
Host: Dr. Goodman I really appreciate your time. That’s Dr. Gary Goodman, and Emergency Medicine Physician at Central Florida Regional Hospital. Thanks for checking out this episode of Helmet of Health. Head to www.centralfloridaregional.com/ER to get connected with a provider. If you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and be sure to check out the entire podcast library for topics of interest to you. Thanks and we’ll see you next time.