Summer Health Risks

My neighborhood feels alive again with more people deciding to spend time outside. With temperatures hitting the high nineties consistently, I think it is safe to say summer has arrived. As wonderful as a little summer fun is, there are some health risks to keep in mind. Keep your summer safe with a little preventative action.

Summer health risks

Skin Cancer
The most common form of cancer, skin cancer is very treatable if caught early. People at greater risk for skin cancer include those who frequently spend time in the sun, have light skin, eyes and hair, are over 50 years old and those who have been sunburned.

Prevention Tips: Avoid sunburns. Use sunscreen and wear protective garments if out in the sun during peak hours of the day, for example noon is not the best time to walk the dog in your short shorts. Wait until later in the day, or wear a hat and loose fitting clothes in addition to sunblock. Do not be fooled by overcast days. Take the same precautions on cloudy days as you would sun saturated afternoons. A tan is just a sign of skin damage. Rethink what is beautiful, or use a self tanner.
Check yourself for any changes in the skin. Early diagnoses gives you the best odds. Get a skin cancer screening if you see any changes in your skin.


Heat Exhaustion and Heat Stroke
Heat exhaustion can lead to a life threatening heat stroke. Heat stroke can cause permanent damage due to the body core temperature rising dramatically. Both can strike without much warning. The symptoms of heat exhaustion include thirst, fatigue and weakness accompanied by heavy sweating. The symptoms of heat stroke include confusion, lack of perspiration, short rapid breathing and a fast pulse. This is a true medical emergency and 911 should be called immediately.

Prevention tips: Stay hydrated. If your are working out or playing in the hot sun, stop to replace fluids and electrolytes with water, fresh fruits and sports drinks. Salting your food for several days after an incident can help restore your bodies mineral balance.


Food Poisoning
Food poisoning is commonly a reaction to toxins produced by bacteria. Summer picnics are often a culprit as food sits out the open too long. Common symptoms include nausea, diarrhea, cramping, fever and abdominal pain. Symptoms may come on suddenly and persist for several days. While minor cases can be treated at home, if the fever spikes, you experience bloody diarrhea, have trouble seeing or speaking, see a medical professional.

Prevention tips: Keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold. This prevents bacteria growth. If you are unsure about a particular dish at a backyard barbecue, skip it. This includes anything with mayonnaise, dairy products or eggs and reheated dishes. Drinking green tea, iced or hot, can help prevent food poisoning due to the effective antibacterial properties of catechin found in green tea.

Dehydration
Not as dangerous as heat exhaustion or heat stroke, but since dehydration can quickly lead to those condition as well as cause other problems it should be taken seriously. Dehydration can happen especially fast in the heat. Symptoms of dehydration include significant thirst and dry mouth, weakness and dark or scanty urine.

Prevention tips: The number one key to preventing dehydration is to hydrate. Do not wait until you are thirsty. Take frequent water breaks and be sure to bring water along whenever you will be out in the sun. Offer water to children throughout the day. Rehydrate quickly with a special hydrating product like Gatorade or Power Ade to correct the problem. Follow with more water. Avoid caffeine since it acts like a diuretic.


Bug Bites
Bug bites can be more than just annoying. The itchy marks can carry infectious disease like Lyme disease or the West Nile virus among others. Lyme disease is carried by an infected tick and cause serious long-term illness.

Prevention tips: Avoid putting yourself in mosquito infested areas if at all possible. If you have no choice, protect yourself with bug repellent and wear clothing that covers your skin. If you are heading out into the woods, wear socks and shoes to keep ticks from crawling up exposed skin. Check your body, hair and clothing for tiny ticks. Remove with tweezers if you do find one, then wash thoroughly.


Eye Damage
You may be wearing sunglasses to help prevent wrinkles, or simply to help you see during the summer, but sunglasses can also help block the sun's UV rays that can damage your eyes.

Prevention tips: Choose a pair of sunglasses that filter 100 percent of UV light. Darker lenses, do not mean they are a better pair. In fact, extra dark sunglasses may cause more harm since these cause your pupils to dilate wider in order to see, which creates more UV exposure.


Drowning
A shocking number of people drown each year. Drowning and near drowning incidents are more often than not completely silent. You may not know someone is in trouble until it is too late.

Prevention tips: Many tragedies can be averted through supervision. Keep a buddy system at all times and make sure children understand the rules. The truth is, teens often feel invincible and need to be watched just as if they were toddlers.


Car accidents
Definitely not a summer specific problem, but there are several risk factors that increase during the summer that can lead to more accidents such as; drinking, summer road trips, nighttime driving, distracted driving with a car full of people. Driving accidents are the number one killer for young people.

Prevention tips: Like at any time of the year, do not combine driving with texting, lack of sleep or drinking. Keep summer travel driving reasonable. I know when heading out on vacation you just want to get to your destination, but driving drowsy is dangerous.


Resources:
Smart Medicine for Healthier Living, Janet Zand, LAC, OMD


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