Tips and tricks to beat the heat

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — With Tennessee in the midst of a heat wave, one local medical doctor is reminding residents to be cautious of heat-related illnesses.

“On average, about 1,200 people in the U.S. will die from heat-related illness (per year),” detailed Dr. Marshall Hall, medical director for TriStar Skyline Medical Center in Nashville. “That’s not an insignificant number. Obviously, that is clustered in this more southern region and also during heat waves.”

According to Hall, some standard warning signs for heat-related illnesses include: dizziness, nausea/vomiting, fatigue, and/or confusion. A positive sign when in the heat: sweating. When you stop sweating, that’s an indicator that your body is overheated.

“What you’re trying to do is balance the amount of sweat you’re producing with the amount of water you’re taking in,” Hall explained.

With that in mind, Hall suggests drinking up to a liter or two of water every hour during a heat wave.

Other good practices for beating the heat, Hall said, include simply staying inside and wearing loose, light colored clothing.

If you’re with someone who begins to experience symptoms of being overheated, “get them out of the heat as best as possible,” said Hall. “You can also, at that point, start giving them water to drink (and) mist them with cool water, that will dissipate heat as well, but the main thing – get out of the heat and get to a cool area as quickly as possible.”

Hall wants people to know there is a “cumulative” effect to heat exposure.

“You can carry on dehydration from day to day,” Hall said. “The other thing that will put people at risk is if they’re ill. If they had a virus or a stomach bug or something like that, that can also put them at a little bit of an increased risk.”

Less than a week into the official start of summer, Hall said their hospital has already been seeing the effects of these high temperatures.

“We have been having multiple patients on a daily basis come to our ER with heat-related illness. This is affecting us. These last couple of weeks, we have had numerous patients come in with heat-related illness,” said Hall.

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