if you are dealing with extreme heat or even just. moderate heat in your area right now. 80f/26c is when it starts getting toasty for a lot of people. if you are in a heat wave and you have not done yourself the favor of googling fucking “heat exhaustion symptoms” i am shaking you violently right now. look it up. burn the symptoms into your brain. heatstroke is no joke and it can and WILL sneak up on you before you’re aware it’s even an issue. ohh my god
if you are outside and it is hot and sunny and you are sweating thru your clothes or feeling tired or starting to get irrationally agitated or upset in another way or feeling nauseous or your heart is pounding etc etc if you are feeling Weird and Bad for no apparent reason while you are in a warm/hot area then i have news for you! you need to cool down! right now! oh my god.
and there’s a very good chance that you’re gonna think “it’s not heat exhaustion, i don’t feel any warmer than i have all day” when you consider it as a reason why you are suddenly feeling weirdbad for no apparent reason during a record-breaking heatwave and i would like to say. there is no harm in sitting in the shade and drinking some water even if heat exhaustion isn’t the cause of whatever ailment is inflicting itself upon u. once i swore up and down to my bf that i was just kinda tired and headachy and got bitchy about the possibility of being overheated and needing to drink water. because heat exhaustion tends to make you bitchy. but i did as he asked and drank some cold water and my condition immediately improved. because it was heat exhaustion and heat exhaustion is evil and a liar. sit down. drink water
you will not feel any warmer because you are not warmer
it’s not about being warmer it’s about time spent being a little too warm
also hydration (always drink so much more water than you think you need to be drinking, you are losing more when it’s warm)
do not cool down too fast or hydrate too fast. get somewhere cool (not freezing) and sip water (not chug). but like a lot of it, and for at least 15 minutes.
if you start feeling headachey or nauseous, it is becoming urgent. seek medical assistance ASAP.
if confusion sets in (you will most likely notice this in other people rather than yourself) it is becoming very urgent.
seek medical assistance ASAP if you or anyone else becomes incapacitated suddenly, sits down suddenly, becomes confused or is making very little sense, while it is warm out.
this includes strangers: check in with people who are sitting down in strange places- like “resting” in direct sunlight- and especially if they cannot tell you clearly and with sound reason why they are sitting down there, or even why they feel unwell.
this includes mildly warm weather, and any sunny weather. remember: it’s not just temperature, it’s a lot of other factors (hydration, personal tolerance, time spent in the sun or heat, etc.)
anyone with an up-to-date (within the last 2 years) first aid certification should be trained in how to help with heat exhaustion and heat stroke. if you’re in a public place, you can often just shout for help. or you can contact someone you know with an up-to-date cert; anyone working in childcare will almost definitely have one. (this is true in the US, I cannot verify for other countries)
Signed: I’m not a medical professional, this is from various first aid certs and a bit of online research to double check my memory.
