…and how to protect yourself from the sun’s damaging heat…
Global warming is slowly being felt. As of this time, it is still tolerable, and yet when people start feeling the real and deadly effects of the sun’s power, that time may already be irreversible.
AVV409
Summertime is for outdoor fun. It is the best time everybody looks forward to, year in and year out. Currently, we are slowly feeling the damaging effects of the direct and long exposure to the sun. One of the reasons for the damaging effects of the sun is the depleting covering of the earth’s ozone layer. The sun’s power is consistent from the time it was created, according to scientific research. Scientifically predicted too, the sun’s power will heat up by several degrees more, to finally die down after a billion more years or so.
As of today, our problem is not the sun, but the earth’s protective mantle of covering, the ozone layer. Over centuries, we have created a hole in that layer and through that hole is where the destructive ultraviolet ray enters our atmosphere. It is damaging to both nature and all its inhabitants. The drought and ice melts are remarkable weather patterns currently happening in all parts of the world. The weather in most parts of the earth had become topsy-turvy. It has become unpredictable.
Several environmental groups all over the world have done tremendous jobs to save the earth and the ozone layer but the effects have not been that encouraging so far. Ideas, suggestions, and recommendations are still being tried and tested as we speak. Actually there are no specific countries, people, culture, or habits to be blamed for the depletion. It is actually ALL of us, including those who call themselves environmentalists. We all share the blame, from our ancestors to the current populace of the earth. As long as one consumes something and anything in this world, (a basic necessity for life) you are a contributor to earth’s death.
But for the meantime, let us look at the health issues in the extreme heat most of us are now experiencing. Many are dying due to heat stroke, and yet the government has not done anything substantial as yet to address this. Is it because they are not personally and physically affected? They have air-conditioning units at their office, homes and cars. Air-conditioning is available to them to every place they go, so the heat that most of us experience does, they do not feel as much as we do.
As ordinary folks, let us do something to avoid extreme heat attacks, with proven prevention, first aid treatments and survive!
What is heat stroke?
Heat stroke is the most severe form of heat illness. This could be the result of long and extreme exposure to the sun, especially when a person does not sweat enough. Sweating aids in lowering our body temperature. Our bodies produce a good amount of body heat and we cool ourselves by sweating and radiating heat through the skin. In extreme heat, high humidity or vigorous activity in the hot sun, this cooling system begins to fail, permitting heat to rise up to dangerous levels. And this can cause dehydration and heat stroke, both life-threatening, if left untreated.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION TO AVOID EXTREME HEAT:
1. Concrete home is hotter than a wood-made house. Though it protects you from initial heat, it does however, traps the warm temperature inside your abode all throughout the day.
REMEDY: Install an exhaust fan, and/or use your electric fan to blow out the warm air from your inner house to release it outside. These will cool down the concrete floorings and walls. Open all windows and doors for better air circulation inside your house.
2. Soft drinks and tea will dehydrate you more. The belief that these are thirst quenchers, are all marketing hype. They may make you feel refreshed temporarily but they will make you to want more and more liquids to supplement your body dryness. They do not serve the purpose of hydration, which is vital to our bodily function.
REMEDY: Drinking water is the best. Mineral water is the most dependable aid for heat stroke. Drink eight 12-ozs of glasses of water daily or more. It will replenish the water lost due to the heat built-up in your body. The perspiration or sweat is a natural defense of the body to cool down, but it causes a great amount of body fluid loss. So it is important to drink water from time to time.
3. Swimming under the heat of the sun is a fun and enjoyable summer activity. Unfortunately, the damage it creates to the body is more than the fun and joy it brings. Long exposure to the sun and dipping in ocean waters or even swimming pools will do more harm than good. Minerals in the sea water dry the body faster; you might have noticed this before. The acid and the chemicals in the swimming pools are as damaging to the body as the sea water. Add to these, the long exposure of the skin under the severe sun and very warm air, will definitely dehydrate the skin losing its moisture in the process.
REMEDY: The tap water in our homes is the best liquid to refresh one’s body. If a swimming activity is a must in your itinerary, then choose a natural lake or a waterfall site with lot of trees for natural sun shade. We have a lot of places like these here in the Philippines from the north to the south of our island. The nearest to Manila would be Laguna.
4. We tend to dress heavy to cover our bodies from the heat of the sun. We wear so many things from our heads to our feet, and that to protect our skin and bodies from the wrath of the sun’s rays.
REMEDY: Dress light with clothes made from the natural fibers that are locally sourced. The fibers we used in our clothing before are the best for the hot climate we have here. The natural cotton, fibers from the local leaves and plants are the best materials to wear during the hot summer months.
5. Footwear is a big debate. Many choose rubber shoes. These shoes are fungal havens! The sweat, germs, and bacteria are trapped in the shoes and reside on your feet. You will now have fungal infections.
REMEDY: Wear sandals instead. The natural fibers are again the best choice for materials even in footwear and the wooden slipper or bakya is best for females.
6. “Malling”. A new word for spending time in department or shopping stores. Did you know that you get more ailments inside the malls than in hospital premises? Why, because in the hospital, patients with contagious diseases are isolated, whereas in the malls they are everywhere! Drinking using the same glasses and eating with the same spoons and forks from all the eating places and restaurants there. Add the centralized air-conditioning system that carries air with all the contagious droplets of germs and bacteria moving and transferring from one person to the next. They are like ghosts hovering in the malls.
REMEDY Spend time under a tree/s; in the park or in your homes, if you have. It is the best place where you can get natural oxygen, the kind of clean air we all need in this very humid summer time.
Whatever is happening to our earth right now is our fault. All of us. To participate in the worldwide move to save planet earth, let us spend the hot summer days, wisely and constructively. Commune with nature and hopefully we will be able to understand the ‘psyche’ of nature and eventually feel that sincere love for nature in the nearest future.
Any comment or suggestion can be forwarded to anthonyvivero@yahoo.com and anthonyvivero@hotmail.com.