Summer is here! A change of season calls for a change in routine, a revamped diet, and of course, a new exercise regimen that suits the weather. The onset of warm weather can make your body more vulnerable to different types of diseases and certain health guidelines must be followed to ensure a healthy summer.
Here are a few tips to stay healthy this summer
1. Eat healthy and light
Eat light, small, frequent meals. Heavy meals with large amounts of carbohydrates and fats give rise to a lot of heat in the body. Focus on fresh fruits and vegetables that have high water content – such as oranges, watermelon, tomatoes, etc.
2. Treat your eyes well
Protect your vision from the harsh sunlight at work and at play, wear protective eyewear. When outdoors, wear sunglasses that block at least 99% of ultraviolet rays.
3. Avoid Alcohol and Caffeine
Alcohol, fizzy drinks and coffee all can leave you dehydrated quickly. If at all possible, try to reduce the amount of these favourite beverages, especially during hot weather. Plain or flavoured water is a good substitute.
4. Drink plenty of water
Heat and sweat in the summer months can leave your body dehydrated, causing unwanted health outcomes such as fever and chills. Keep yourself well hydrated by drinking at least 2 to 3 litres of water every day.
5. Stay indoors
Restrict outdoor activities to the cooler parts of the day – early mornings before 11. am or late evenings after 5.00 pm.
6. Avoid outside food
Roadside food can be contaminated and may lead to foodborne illnesses. Also in the summer heat if food is not stored properly it may get spoilt and lead to a stomach infection.
Summer Travels
Are you and your family travelling in summer? If you plan to travel within India than you must take a few precautions to keep you safe from the summer heat.
Here are a few tips:
- Accessorize right
- Wear sunscreen
- Adopt an appropriate skin care routine
Wear light colours and natural fabrics like cotton and linen. When you are outside, use proper covering for your mouth, nose and ears to shield yourself from the hot winds, which can cause dehydration. Use a hat or an umbrella for shade and wear sunglasses to protect your eyes.
Apply a good waterproof sunscreen to all exposed parts of your body and reapply it every three to four hours to ensure that your skin remains protected.
Summer can wreak havoc on your skin if proper care is not taken. Excessive oil and sweat can cause troublesome irritation, rashes, prickly heat, and exacerbation of acne. Wash your face often or use tissues to wipe a sweaty face to avoid acne. Use natural face packs with aloe vera gel or sandalwood powder to soothe the skin.
Common Summer Diseases
Summer brings in a host of health problems that range from simple ones like a headache, skin rashes, sunburns, etc. to severe ones like measles, jaundice, and more. You must take necessary preventive measures against summer diseases. Here are a few tips:
- Sunburn
- Heat stroke
- Prickly heat
- Food poisoning
- Diarrhoea
- Skin Rashes
- Chickenpox
- Measles
- Jaundice
- Typhoid
- Mumps
Some of the symptoms of sunburn include red or reddish skin, mild dizziness and fatigue. To protect yourself from sunburn, apply a sunscreen lotion on the exposed areas of your body 20 minutes before heading out in the sun.
Heat stroke is another common summer disease, which if left untreated can be fatal. Some of the symptoms of heat strokes include difficulty in breathing, rapid pulse, high body temperature, confusion etc. Avoid stepping out in peak afternoons.
Prickly heat refers to red rashes that occur due to an excess of humidity and heat. Prickly heat may be caused by clogging of the sweat glands. You can relieve prickly heat by applying prickly heat powder on areas that show signs of prickly heat.
Owing to excessive heat in summer, the food can spoil quickly. To prevent the risk of food poisoning, put the leftover food inside the refrigerator. Food must be well-cooked to ensure that it doesn’t get spoiled.
Because food gets spoilt quickly, diarrhoea is common in summer. Eating contaminated food and unsafe drinking habits can lead to diarrhoea. To keep away from diarrhoea, make sure that you drink water only after boiling it and wash vegetables thoroughly before and after slicing them.
During summers, skin rash is a common skin problem amid children and adults. This typically happens when an individual sweats too much. Bathe often, change your clothes often and avoid wearing tight clothes.
Chickenpox makes one of the most common summer diseases. It starts in the form of fluid-filled, red and small rashes accompanied by high fever. This is common in children and in people with low immunity and is highly contagious.
Measles is yet another common summer disease. The paramyxovirus which causes measles breeds faster during the summers. Its initial symptoms are cough, high fever, sore throat, and reddening in eyes. At a later stage, the tiny white spots and measles rash appear all over the body.
Jaundice is a common water-borne disease. It can be a result of Hepatitis A and is mainly caused due to the consumption of contaminated food and water. If not treated on time, this disease can affect the functionality of the liver leading to overproduction of bile.
Typhoid is passed through the oral-faecal route to healthy individuals. The contaminated food and water sources become the breeding ground for the bacteria. Visible symptoms of typhoid are weakness, loss of appetite, fatigue, pain in the abdomen, high fever.
Of all summer diseases, mumps is another extremely contagious viral disease and affects children. It is contagious in nature and gets transmitted when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Some of the visible symptoms include swelled salivary gland, muscle ache, fever, headache, loss of appetite and weakness.
The primary reason behind the outbreak of diseases in summer is the presence of favourable weather conditions for bacteria, virus and other parasites to breed. Take prevention steps and protect your and your family’s health in summer. Please consult doctors at Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital for any summer ailments. Please find website link below:
