Summer Heat

Summer is here and on the Wet Coast of Canada the rain is falling hard, the temperature is expected to be 13 degrees today. However, summer will make its entrance soon and we will find ourselves having some high temperatures. Other parts of Canada and the US are already having heatwaves. It is time to think about protecting yourself from the risks associated with extremely hot weather and heatwaves. Some of us find hot weather uncomfortable but not dangerous. But some people have a higher risk than others of becoming ill, because of their body’s ability to cool itself during extremely hot weather. Some factors that affect this are:

·       High humidity. When the humidity is high, sweat won’t evaporate as quickly. This keeps your body from releasing heat as fast as it may need to.

·       Personal factors. Age, obesity, fever, dehydration, heart disease, mental illness, poor circulation, sunburn, and prescription drug and alcohol use all can play a role in whether a person can cool off enough in extremely hot weather.

In addition, there are segments of the population that are at a higher risk than most for getting ill because of hot weather. These include:

·       People age 65 and older.

·       Children younger than two,

·       People with chronic diseases, for example, heart or respiratory disease, diabetes, or circulatory diseases.

o   Some medications for high blood pressure, diabetes and other conditions can inhibit the body's ability to cool itself, so it might be a good idea to ask your physician if you can cut back during hot weather

·       People who are obese

·       People taking certain medicines

·       People who are socially isolated

·       People who work outdoors or in hot and poorly ventilated areas and those engaging in vigorous physical activity in hot weather.

·       People who are not acclimatized to the heat.

Tips to help you stay well during hot weather

Drink plenty of water

One of the best ways to avoid heat-related illness is to drink plenty of water and other liquids. It’s important to keep drinking water even if you don’t feel thirsty and make reminders to yourself to do so. Muscle cramping may be an early sign of heat-related illness. Elders sometimes don't feel thirst (another thing that stops working well with age). One way to know if you are drinking enough water is to check the colour of your urine. Light-coloured is good; dark indicates dehydration.

Do not drink caffeinated and alcoholic beverages – or at least keep them to a minimum; they are dehydrating. (Some people dispute this; experts do not.)

Avoid alcoholic, hot, or sugary drinks (including tea and coffee) because these can make dehydration worse. High temperatures kill hundreds of people every year. Heat-related deaths and illness are preventable, yet people die from extreme heat every year.

Take measures to stay cool, remain hydrated, and keep informed. Getting too hot can make you sick. You can become ill from the heat if your body can’t compensate for it and properly cool you off.

Closely monitor people who depend on you for their care and ask these questions:

·       Are they drinking enough water?

·       Do they have access to air conditioning?

·       Do they need help keeping cool?

Do not rely on a fan as your main cooling device during an extreme heat event.

Check on a friend or neighbour and have someone do the same for you.

Don’t use the stove or oven to cook—it will make you and your house hotter.

Limit your outdoor activity, especially midday when the sun is hottest.

Pace your activity. Start activities slow and pick up the pace gradually.

Wear loose, lightweight, light-coloured clothing and sunscreen. Wear and reapply sunscreen as indicated on the package. I like the cooling bandanna- search Erodyne Chillits Cooling Bandanna, or the Koola neck wrap from Tilley, You soak it in cold water for 45 min., blot it a bit and wear it around your neck. It lowers your core temperature and is reusable.

Take cool showers or baths to cool down.

If you play a sport that practices during hot weather, protect yourself and look out for your teammates:

·       Schedule workouts and practices earlier or later in the day when The temperature is cooler.

·       Monitor a teammate’s condition and have someone do the same for you.

·       Seek medical care right away if you or a teammate has symptoms of heat-related illness.

Never leave children or pets in cars.

Plan trips out of the house for the early morning hours.

Eat light meals that don't need to be cooked. High-water-content foods are good: cantaloupe, watermelon, apples, for example.

Keep a spray bottle of icy water to help you cool down. Or use a damp, cool towel around your neck.

Close doors to rooms you are not using to keep cool air from dissipating.

Pull down the shades or close curtains during the hottest times of the day.

Keep your eye on the thermometer and when the outside temperature reaches 65F or 70F – usually by late morning close the windows and the shades.

Structure do we need it?

In the time of the Pandemic, we self-isolated or quarantined ourselves, which we needed to do. My question is how did you spend your day. I found that my routine did not change that much, and in some ways, I found that comforting. 

I wake up at 8:17 to the alarm, which is set at 8:17 because about a year ago I had to get up early to go somewhere and I set the time. I have not changed the time so I now get up at 8:17. If I get around to changing the time I will lose my membership in the procrastinators club but one day. 

Just before we went off to Australia in December I started a routine of isometric exercises that I do twice a day, first thing in the morning and last thing at night. I have found these help me keep my energy and I enjoy all of them except for the planks. The morning routine takes me about 15 minutes and the evening routine takes about 17 minutes. (I do one more repetition at night.

I then have a shower, shave and then go down about 9:00 for coffee and breakfast. During breakfast, I and my wife talk about the news and what we think of the situation in the US.

I then check my email and answer any emails that I need to respond to as well as looking around for ideas for this blog. 

Between 11 and 12:30 I take a walk. I have various routes that I travel and all of them are about 2.5 Kilometers long.

After my walk, I usually eat lunch and then start on any project that I have set up for myself. Because I am a member of the procrastinators club, some of these projects are only in the planning stage, while others are almost ready to go.  One day.

If I have the time I find a good book to read and think about. Soon it is time for supper, about once every two weeks I will attempt to cook and usually don't make too much of a mess. My wife and I have not yet had any food poisoning as a result of my cooking.

Once a week I mow the lawn and tend to the garden and also go out to get groceries and other things that we need. 

In the early evening after the evening news, we watch the local Community (PBS channels or one of the streaming channels to which we subscribe.

Then it is a coffee and exercise and I am ready to face the next day. 

Reading it over, it looks like the routine is starting to get in the way of creativity, but I find that when there is routine, you can find time to bring out your creativity. 
What are you looking forward to once this time of self-isolation and routine is over?

The new normal?

Every day is a new adventure or it was, now for many of us each day is more of the same routine and it is hard to get motivated to do anything. One way to get motivated is to ask yourself “What are your priorities for the day?” If you are a list maker create your list so you can work through all the tasks that you need to do in order to meet your priorities. If you are a visualizer than create the image in your mind about what the day will look like when your priorities have been met.

 If you can create your priorities for a day, try doing it for a couple of days and then expand the timeframe.  I find it interesting that the reporters asking the questions of the experts all ask a variation on a theme. The theme is when will this be over? However, even though we want to structure and to order our world, no one knows for sure when COVID-19 will release its grip on our society and no one knows what life will look like at that time. 

Will everything simply 'go back to normal'? 

Will, there be a 'new normal'? 

Or will everything shift and change dramatically? 

I, like you, have heard these questions asked again and again, as humans we need structure, order and we do not like chaos or change. It scares us and makes some people nervous and distrustful of authority. Authority is meant to keep order, structure and stability in our lives. If we don’t have it we create it or try to create order out of chaos.

Order will return, we don’t know when but it will so take a moment to think about what sort of priorities are most important for you at a personal level.

The virus will be defeated or slowed down or we will find a way to live with it so it does not kill us, and when we do that life will move on. My question is “When you think about your post-COVID life, what priorities are most important to YOU?”   Not global priorities.  Not political or economic priorities. Personal priorities.

Once you have defined them then make a plan to implement them in your life.

Happy Canada Day

Happy Canada Day to all who live in this wonderful country. The Pandemic is still with us as we approach a new normal and we are unsure of what will bring us together and what may tear us apart. However, there are always issues that can separate us, but we still are lucky to live where we live. The issues are important, but we have the ability to sit down and talk about our differences in a civil and respectful way.  

The sun this morning rose over Newfoundland and will set over BC tonight. The colours over the Maritimes were especially impressive. The Great Lakes caught the sun at just the right time. A few Manitobans up early enough even wondered if Summer was still holding the fort. The Northern lights danced and dazzled the visitors to the Northwest Territories. In the Yukon, Emerald Lakes’ green water with its mountain range dropback made us stop in wonder. While Nunavut situated above the tree line, in a region of predominantly treeless tundra with dwarf shrubs, grasses, mosses, and lichens that blaze in summer glory, woke to a beautiful summer day.

Ontario woke up to a new reality and many of them are shaking their heads wondering what happened, but they know common sense will prevail

The happy children in Saskatchewan said to say, “Hi!” The oil workers in Alberta said, “Thanks for the laugh!” The realtor in Quebec asked, “Are you sure about the farmer’s market?” The dancer in PEI whispered, “Don’t tell a soul…” And the sage in BC said, “If you travel be respectful of your hosts, and you have exactly what you need to travel!”

Tell me do you have any recollection of all your other-worldly to-ings and fro-ings, yet? Or are we still pretending we are not in one of the greatest countries in the world?