Avoiding heat illness during hot spring

LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - It’s important to know if you’re suffering from a heat illness while you’re outside.

Symptoms of heat illness could creep up at any minute if you’re not taking care of yourself.

For most of us, it’ll start with heat cramps. If not taken care of, heat exhaustion may be next, and that’s followed by heat stroke, where the body reaches a temperature of 103 degrees Fahrenheit.

Once heat stroke occurs, call 9-1-1 or get to a hospital immediately.

“You can have cramps in different parts of your body, and that’s really the first sign,” said Michigan State University Police Captain Dave Oslund, Emergency Management Division. “As you get into heat exhaustion - sweating heavily, weakness tiredness. The heat stroke is the most severe and that’s when you really start feeling dizzy. Your skin starts to feel hot. Your pulse is rapid and really strong.”

It’s hard to prevent your body from heating up rapidly. When you’re outside, try to avoid working too hard.

The hotter it is outside, the quicker you could fall into heat illness, but it all depends on the temperature and how strenuous your activity is.

“Mild activity, you could go for up to an hour,” said Oslund. “If you’re doing a lot of strenuous work, the heat exhaustion and heat stroke could affect you in 15 or 20 minutes. It also depends on what the heat index is to get you up to that point. So in 90 degrees with a cool breeze, you might last longer than 90 degrees in blaring sun and no wind at all.”

If you know you’re going to be outside later in the day or in the days ahead, it’s important to hydrate and prepare your body for being out in those high temperatures.

You can learn more about the symptoms of heat illness, and how to prevent them, here.

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