Beaches up and down the coast see uptick in visitors following summer heatwave

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif.—Temperatures are on the rise in Santa Barbara, san Luis Obispo and Ventura counties with some areas gearing up for triple digits this weekend.

Kids like Nathan Garcia are escaping the inland heat by coming to the coast.

“It’s 10 degrees hotter in Santa Paula. We came here just to lay down and get wet in the water. It feels nice,” said Nathan Garcia, who lives in Santa Paula.

But it’s easy to get dehydrated on a day like today, especially when summer festivities bring caffeinated and sugary drinks into the mix.

When alcohol becomes a part of the equation fun in the sun can turn dark quickly.

We spoke with a doctor from Sansum Clinic Urgent Care who has some tips on how to stay safe.

“Caffeine causes you to urinate more. Alcohol's another huge culprit that that literally acts on your body physiologically to make you urinate more than you should be urinating. So you're losing more water. And if you're replacing that with more alcohol, to make yourself urinate more, you can result in what we call hypovolemia,” said Dr. Alex Leasure, who works at Sansum Clinic Urgent Care, now part of Sutter Health.

Hypovolemia is a state of abnormally low extracellular fluid in the body that can cause many organs to stop working and lead to death.

Taking breaks from the sun and the alcohol is critical during excessive heat warnings.

“You better bring your water, you know, just bring your big old gallons of water. And one of the ones that keep it nice and cool for a long period of time and yeah, you know, just keep a little shade when you can. I'll have my umbrella today. That's why I'm taking a break from fishing and sit in my car every once in a while. You know, when I'm not, I'll have a line in the water,” said Marques Williams, who lives in Ventura.

The doctor we spoke with recommended cutting down the number of alcoholic beverages you would normally drink in half and to alternate between those beverages and non alcoholic beverages high in electrolytes.

It is important to not to leave children or pets unattended in vehicles.

It only takes a matter of minutes for a vehicle to reach deadly temperatures.

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