Keeping Your Cool

It's June. That means sunshine and warm temperatures, and if you're in my neck of the woods, humidity. While nicer weather draws all of us out of our winter dens, there are some things we need to remember. This is especially true if our plan is to move all or part of our exercise regimen outside.

The first point to make is that taking your workouts outdoors is a great idea. The big world out there has a lot more to offer than your living room or basement. Even if you have a dedicated exercise space in your house, getting outside can offer a welcome change of pace. Are you a runner? Lose the treadmill and instead explore your neighbourhood as the sun comes up. Quiet streets, a slowly brightening sky, maybe even a glimpse of a deer or two...I'd certainly take that over a treadmill.

And that doesn't even take into account the boost your body will get from the extra sunshine. Just 15 minutes of direct exposure causes your body to manufacture literally tens of thousands of IU's of Vitamin D. Vitamin D has been found to increase the strength of your bones, your teeth, your heart, your immune system. It's pretty close to a supervitamin, and you get it just by being out in the sun. This doesn't mean you should pass on the sunscreen, but it does mean that even a short time outside on a sunny day can add a whole new dimension to improving your health.

If you're going to exercise outside, particularly as the temperature goes up, you need to know about two potentially serious medical conditions that can arise: heat exhaustion and heat stroke. One is a serious inconvenience; the other can kill you.

Heat Exhaustion

When you are active in a warm environment, whether that is outside on a hot day, or just in a warm room, your body temperature goes up. While a small increase in body temperature can actually be a good thing (loosens muscles and joints, can increase calorie burn), a significant increase can be a problem. Your body deals with excess heat by sweating. Water forms on your skin, it then evaporates and cools you off. While this is a normal and necessary response, excessive sweating can be a sign that heat exhaustion is looming.

If, in addition to sweating, you're experiencing the following symptoms:

1. Dizziness or confusion
2. Shallow, fast breathing
3. Pale skin
4. Rapid heartbeat
5. Fatigue or weakness

you may be suffering from heat exhaustion. Get out of the warm environment and head somewhere cool. Drink some cool water, lie down, put cold compresses on your forehead and the back of your neck. With heat exhaustion, the main goal of treatment is cooling off and relaxing. You might have noticed that some of the symptoms noted above aren't that different from what you'd experience through normal exercising (rapid heartbeat, sweating). When those are combined with the other symptoms, however, it's time to take action.

If you follow the treatment recommendations, all should be well in a short period of time. Continue to take it easy as your body temperature slowly returns to normal.

Heat Stroke

This is a very different animal. In heat stroke, the body can no longer cool itself off. Temperature keeps rising, and if it isn't controlled, can cause significant damage to the body. The biggest clue that you might be suffering from heat stroke is that you are no longer sweating. Your body simply can't handle the heat. In addition, you could experience the following:

1. Hot, dry skin
2. Vomiting
3. Shortness of breath, difficulty breathing
4. Serious dizziness and confusion
5. Loss of consciousness

The body's temperature rises above 40C/105F in cases of heat stroke. If you or someone you're with is experiencing the above symptoms, call 911 immediately. Heat stroke is not something to be treated at home. Very likely a person with heat stroke will be hospitalized for observation and given IV fluids. Severe heat stroke can lead to seizures and comas, so it's not something to mess with.

How do we avoid these problems in the first place? Two things: the right equipment and the right time of day.

As for equipment, the most important thing you can have with you when exercising outside is water. You lose water rapidly through sweating, but you also lose it through increased respiration. Your breath has water vapour in it, so the harder and faster you breathe, the more water you lose. Drinking eight ounces about 20 minutes before exercise, and then another four ounces every 20 or 30 minutes is often recommended. For me, that amount of water would leave me feeling bloated. Still, the importance of hydration can't be understated. You need to find what works for you.

(The other side of the coin is a condition called hyponatremia, or water intoxication. This comes from drinking too much water. It dilutes the electrolytes in the blood, and has its own host of ill effects. And you thought drinking water was the easy part of exercise.)

Sports drinks are useful if you're engaging in endurance work. In addition to water, they contain sodium and other electrolytes to replace what you lose in sweat. The only caveat I'd mention is that they are also frequently high in sugar. If weight loss is your goal, you can more than offset any good work you do exercising by drinking 200 or more calories while working out. A bottle of Gatorade, for example, has only 50 calories per serving, but each bottle (they say) has four servings. A smart idea would be to pour one-quarter of the bottle into another bottle, then top it up with water. Gatorade now has a low-calorie version of its main drink, with one-third the sugar and less than half the calories. Sugary drinks can actually leave your mouth feeling dry, as the sugar absorbs all the moisture in your mouth. Not what you want.

You also need to dress for the activity. There are a lot of different fabrics available that will wick away moisture from your skin quickly. All the big athletic apparel companies make them. While you're paying for the name to some degree, the technology does create garments more comfortable than sweat-soaked cotton.

The time of day you choose to exercise is also important. This is little more than common sense. If you want to avoid heat exhaustion/stroke, sunburns, and jogging past everyone in your neighbourhood when they're out sitting on their porch, don't go out between 10am and 3pm. The sun is lower in the sky outside those times, and the temperature is lower as well.

Summer is a great time to pursue your fitness outdoors. After a winter of hibernation, it can be a welcome change that inspires you to work even harder. Remember to prepare properly and watch out for signs that you're overdoing it, and the time from now to October can be prime time for your health and fitness.