Tips to Keep You Cool This Summer

With sticky, hot weather already prominent this summer, August may be brutal, and we're already at the start of another week where the temperatures are likely to go above 90 degrees.

According to the National Weather Service, heat is the number one cause of weather-related deaths in the United States.

NWS reports that heat kills more people per year than floods, lightning, tornadoes and hurricanes combined and averages about 162 deaths per year.

So in order to stay cool, NWS - in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control - offers these tips:

1. Slow down. Reduce, eliminate or reschedule strenuous activities until the coolest time of the day. Children, seniors and anyone with health problems should stay in the coolest available places, not necessarily indoors.
2. Dress for summer. Wear lightweight, light-colored clothing to reflect heat and sunlight.
3. Put less fuel on your inner fires. Foods, such as meat and other proteins, that increase metabolic heat production also increase water loss.
4. Drink plenty of water or other non-alcohol or decaffeinated fluids. Your body needs water to keep cool. Drink plenty of fluids even if you don't feel thirsty. People who have epilepsy or heart, kidney, or liver disease, are on fluid restrictive diets or have a problem with fluid retention should consult a physician before increasing their consumption of fluids. Do not drink alcoholic beverages and limit caffeinated beverages.
5. During an excessive period of heat, spend more time in air-conditioned places.
6. Don't get too much sun. Sunburn reduced your body's ability to dissipate heat.
7. Do not take salt tablets unless specified by a physician.

NWS also suggest that those without air-conditioners should go to a library, store or other locations with air conditioning for part of the day.