Understanding the Different Levels of Care: In-Home Care vs. Assisted Living vs. Nursing Homes
Caring for an aging parent is a profound responsibility, one that often comes with difficult decisions. As our loved ones…
All the above are common factors that can contribute to heat stress. When the body is not able to cool off by sweating, heat-induced illnesses, such as heat rash, cramps, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke can occur. Theses illnesses can lead to serious illness, sometimes even resulting in death.
Staying hydrated is more important during hot weather for this simple reason: Dehydration diminishes your ability to regulate temperature, and thus, your risk of developing a heat illness increases dramatically.
As we age, our bodies become less efficient at regulating temperature due to the following:
People over 65 — Seniors — don’t sweat as much as younger adults. Sweating is one of the body’s most important heat-regulators. In addition, as we age our bodies store fat differently, which complicates heat-regulation in the body.
This is serious! As the outside temperature increases, so too does your internal body temperature. When you are exposed directly to the sun or extremely hot environments, an older person is more likely to suffer from heat stroke more often than younger people during the warmest months of the year. In 1999-2009, roughly 40 percent of all heat-related deaths in the U.S. — nearly 3,000 — were adults over 65 years old.*
Ways to prevent Heat Stress:
Early warning signs of heat exhaustion, which may precede a heat stroke, include excessive sweating, tiredness, weakness, dizziness, headache and muscle cramps. As exhaustion progresses, symptoms may move to nausea, vomiting and fainting.
Heat stroke, is more serious and can happen within 10-15 minutes. Heat stroke happens when internal body temperature rises faster than it is lowered naturally. If the symptoms of heat stroke are present, call 911. Symptoms also include a high body temperature, the absence of sweating, confusion, seizure and coma.
For those suffering from these symptoms:
Ramona Hunt, M.S.
Touching Hearts, Inc.
*Referenced from Drip Drop Hydration, Inc. DripDrop works with leaders across many industries to reduce dehydration’s impact on health, performance, and safety.
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