Gaby
On the hottest days, the elderly and children are the most vulnerable. Seasonal health problems include sunstroke, heatstroke, burns, excessive sweating, and heart attacks. What do you need to know about adjusting your lifestyle as the planet warms?
Burns and Overheating
Sunstroke comes from prolonged exposure to direct sunlight, while heatstroke is likeliest when high temperatures, humidity, and physical exertion combine. When the body’s thermoregulation fails in either case, symptoms can be severe: very high body temperature, acute kidney and liver failure, central nervous system problems, and disturbances in blood vessel tone. Both conditions can lead to cardiac arrest without prompt treatment.
Signs of Sunstroke and Heatstroke:
- red skin;
- excessive sweating;
- headache and dizziness;
- nausea and vomiting;
- rapid and irregular pulse;
- body temperature rising to 39–40 degrees Celsius;
- pain in the back and chest;
- convulsions;
- hallucinations.
Severe Symptoms:
- hot skin;
- pale or bluish skin;
- sudden drop in sweating and reduced urination;
- low blood pressure;
- dilated pupils;
- rapid, shallow breathing;
- loss of consciousness (coma).
Self-Help for Heatstroke:
- Eat watermelon, pineapple, cucumber, or orange.
- Rub your palms and soles with onion juice or at least smell a freshly cut onion.
- Apply a compress of grated horseradish or turpentine to your palms and soles for 20 minutes.
- Avoid physical exertion, alcohol, tobacco, aspirin, and acetaminophen; heatstroke should not be treated with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
Home Remedies for Sunburn:
- Rub reddened skin with a cut cucumber, with vodka, or with whipped raw egg (avoid alcohol-based topical agents if the skin has blistered).
- Apply sour cream to burned areas.
- Apply warm elderberry leaves boiled in milk to the burn site; change every two hours.
- Moisten a towel with very strong, freshly brewed tea and use it as a compress.
- Use compresses of baking soda solution, oatmeal jelly mixed with potato starch (20 g starch per 100 ml jelly), onion, carrot, or potato puree, or apply flaxseed, fir, or sea-buckthorn oil.
- For a cooling mask, blend 2 teaspoons of aloe pulp, half a banana, and 6 grapes with 1 tablespoon of any oil; apply for 20 minutes, then rinse or wipe off with a damp cloth.
- Make a homemade emulsion from dried dandelion roots and vegetable oil (1:10 ratio): infuse in a closed enamel container for a day, then place the mixture in a water bath for an hour and strain; store in glass.
- Make an ointment from beeswax and vegetable oil (1:3 ratio): heat the components, mix, cool, and apply to the affected skin three times a day.
- Rubbing burned areas with fresh ginger juice or using a tincture of white mushrooms may help (to make the tincture, place mushroom caps in a jar, cover with vodka, leave in a dark place for three weeks, then strain).
Preventive Measures Against Overheating:
- Avoid being outdoors in direct sunlight and avoid stuffy rooms during the day.
- Wear a hat and breathable clothing made from natural fabrics.
- Avoid coffee and strong alcoholic drinks in hot weather.
- Stay hydrated and quench your thirst with still water.
Doctors particularly urge caution in the heat for people with cardiovascular disease and for those diagnosed with glaucoma (increased intraocular pressure can lead to sudden, irreversible vision loss).
Medications in the Heat
Some medications affect the ability to tolerate heat.
Effects of Medications:
- Sedatives and pain relievers can blunt awareness of heat discomfort and increase tolerance to high temperatures.
- Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and certain sulfonamides can impair kidney function.
- Beta-blockers and antianginal medications can reduce the heart’s contractility.
- Dehydration from diuretics can disturb heart rhythm and impair blood flow through the kidneys and liver, hindering elimination of drugs and toxins.
- Laxatives (e.g., lactulose) and drugs that can cause vomiting or diarrhea (e.g., colchicine) may lead to electrolyte imbalances.
- Thyroxine and sympathomimetics can increase sweating.
- Certain antidepressants can reduce sweating and lower physical activity.
Overall, neuroleptics, diuretics, and anticholinergic medications pose some of the highest risks in hot weather. 
The “Dacha Heart Attack”
Summer gardening and yard work carry real risks. The so-called “dacha heart attack”—heart events that occur during heavy home gardening—can be sneaky because symptoms are often hidden or unusual.
What Should Raise Alarm?
Be alert if you suddenly experience shortness of breath, abdominal pain, nausea, or vomiting; these can signal the start of a heart attack. In older adults, it may show up as dizziness or loss of consciousness. Sometimes early heart-attack pain is felt on the right side of the chest and gets mistaken for heartburn or a “lump in the throat.” The start of a heart attack is often mistaken for cervical radiculitis, neuralgia, or muscle strain. Occasionally, pain appears only in a finger or the lower jaw, and even experienced doctors can misdiagnose those cases.
If you or a close relative has a history of angina, a prior myocardial infarction, or a stroke, moderate your physical activity: work, then rest. If you have known heart problems, get an electrocardiogram before heading to your dacha and keep a blood pressure monitor on hand. Before starting work in the garden, check your blood pressure and count your pulse for five minutes. If your systolic pressure is no higher than 140 mm Hg and your diastolic pressure is no higher than 90 mm Hg, the immediate risk of a heart attack is lower. A normal resting pulse rate is between 60 and 90 beats per minute.
What Are the Dangers of Gardening?
Cholesterol is present in the blood and is necessary in the right amounts. When cholesterol is too high, white fatty plaques form and deposit on the walls of blood vessels, narrowing blood flow and reducing vessel elasticity. Blood pressure rises, increasing stroke risk. Those same atherosclerotic plaques can build up in vessels that supply the heart. As plaques grow, they can eventually block a coronary artery. If blood flow to part of the heart muscle is cut off, that tissue dies—that is a heart attack. During gardening, intense physical exertion increases the heart’s demand for blood, but cholesterol plaques can obstruct that flow. The heart then works harder without getting enough oxygenated blood, and mechanical strain can cause plaques to rupture and fully block the vessel.
Don’t Take Risks!
At the slightest suspicion of heart pain, stop any work and try to relieve the pain with your prescribed medication. If the pain persists, take a second dose (if recommended) and call an ambulance immediately.
Severe weakness, sweating, headache, dizziness, or sudden disturbances in vision, speech, or coordination are reasons to avoid taking nitroglycerin. Learn when to take this medication and when to avoid it, as well as the proper actions to take during a heart attack and myocardial infarction, from your healthcare provider.
Remember that nitroglycerin degrades quickly in light, especially sunlight. Store it in a dark, cool place, and open the packaging in the shade. Once opened, the medication retains its potency for no more than two weeks because exposure to air reduces its effectiveness.
Is Sweating Harmful?
During menopause and with certain illnesses, heat and humidity can trigger excessive sweating. Sweating can be localized or generalized. Causes of generalized excessive sweating include fever, hormonal imbalances, neurasthenia, tuberculosis, diabetes, and other conditions. Localized sweating usually affects the soles, palms, armpits, genital area, and scalp. People with localized excessive sweating often have persistently moist hands and feet in the summer, unpleasant-smelling armpits, and skin rashes.
Home Remedies for Sweating
How can you address this issue with items from your home pharmacy?
- Pour 5 tablespoons of crushed walnut leaves with a liter of boiling water, steep for an hour, then simmer on low heat until it boils. Strain the cooled broth and use it for foot baths.
- Pour 5 tablespoons of a mixture of ground oak bark and yellow gentian root (3:1 ratio) with a liter of boiling water and keep it in a water bath for half an hour. Strain after cooling and use it for foot baths.
- Dissolve 1 teaspoon of salt in a glass of hot water and rinse sweaty hands with the saline solution twice a day.
- After washing your feet with cold water, dry them thoroughly and place birch leaves between your toes; change the leaves twice a day.
- Dust areas of excessive sweating with a mixture of talc and starch (9:1) or a powder made from salicylic acid (1 part), starch (9 parts), and talc (27 parts).
- Prepare a herbal mix of sage leaves, blueberry leaves, clover grass, and marshmallow (2:2:1:1). Pour 1 tablespoon of the mix with a cup of boiling water, strain after steeping, and take half a cup three times a day before meals.
- Grind oak bark into powder, sift it, and put it in your socks; change the powder daily.
- Steep 1 tablespoon of sage herb in 200 ml of boiling water and strain after 20 minutes. Drink 1/3 cup three times a day after meals.
- Sprinkle potato starch on sweaty feet.
- For excessive night sweating, wipe your body with apple cider vinegar at night.
This hygiene issue bothers people who face it, so the claim that “sweating is not harmful” can be debated.
Maintaining Hydration
How much water to drink in the heat depends on your health, diet, and physical activity. Doctors generally recommend 1.5–2 liters of plain water in summer. If someone is used to drinking less, don’t drastically change fluid intake without listening to the body’s signals. Still, experts suggest increasing water intake by 20–30% in hot weather because sweating rises. Sweating cools the body—it’s a defense against overheating.
Lost fluids also mean lost electrolytes—important salts and trace elements. Maintaining proper water–electrolyte balance through drinking and diet is crucial for well-being, athletic performance, and work productivity. Athletes, people under stress, those doing physical or mental labor, and people who drink alcohol need more fluids: physical and mental stress, plus harmful habits, increase blood viscosity and can trigger vascular crises.
Replenish the body’s water supply evenly throughout the day. Prefer moderate, regular portions over drinking large amounts at once. Start your day in the heat with a glass of plain water rather than coffee. Coffee and alcohol in summer are particularly harmful: they increase vascular load, intensify thirst, and contribute to dehydration by flushing out beneficial salts. To restore water–electrolyte balance after consuming those drinks, you’ll need to drink more water.
For the thermoregulation system to function smoothly, the body should excrete about 1.5–2 liters of urine per day. Producing less than a liter can be a cause for concern. At the same time, excess water in older adults can increase sweating and further strain the cardiovascular system.
Nutrition in the Heat
What should you eat and avoid when temperatures climb to 30°C and above? Nutritionists suggest a cooling diet.
In the Morning – Berries and Protein
Protein is essential year-round because it builds cells. In summer, it’s best to eat protein at breakfast. A sample serving could be a boiled egg or 100 grams of 5% fat cheese. Mix the protein with herbs and a bit of hot pepper if you like.
Carbohydrates also help by providing energy. A morning portion could be a slice of bran bread or a bowl of oatmeal—other options include buckwheat or a mixed grain porridge.
For hydration, have unsweetened tea with lemon and mint. If you can’t do without coffee, drink it with milk and ice.
The best summer dessert is seasonal berries and fruits. Make fruit-and-berry jelly with honey or fresh fruit juice, or smoothies by blending fruit with milk or yogurt.
At Noon – Okroshka and Mozzarella
For lunch, enjoy a cold soup made with broth, kvass, or kefir; boiled chicken with stewed vegetables and herbs; low-fat cheese such as Adyghe or mozzarella; fish baked in foil; or a vegetable salad with herbs and olive oil (limit vegetable oil to about 2 tablespoons per day).
In the Evening – Seafood and Kefir
For dinner, choose white fish or white meat with vegetables, and try not to overdo protein—heavy protein meals increase blood viscosity because the body needs water to process them. A vegetarian meal with baked seafood and salads is a good way to stay cool.
Fruits, vegetables, kefir, and yogurt are best for cooling down and restoring the water–electrolyte balance. Hot foods and drinks increase sweating, which can worsen overheating. Digesting heavy foods uses up water, while fruits and vegetables help replenish it. If there isn’t enough water to eliminate toxins, chronic conditions can worsen—and summer should be for feeling better, not worse.
