Having fun while staying cool outdoors and during sporting activities

Hot summer days can sometimes be called “The Dog Days of Summer”, or hot summer days! In places and cities and states where the temperatures start to rise, and it’ll be hot for more than a couple of days, people/residents in those areas can be affected by the change.

“As you get more and more hot, your body systems just don’t function as optimally because they’re not designed to be functional at 90 to 100 degrees. Your body has a hard time with homeostasis, which is its ability to regulate its own processes,” said Amery Robinson, M.D, Emergency Medicine Physician at St. Luke’s.

During those times and days, everyone can and will feel the heat, but there are two age range groups that can be vulnerable to most of the heat.
“The very young and the very old. Just because they have a reduced ability to auto-regulate their homeostasis, they need some help from outside to be able to keep themselves warm or to keep themselves cool. Also, people with underlying medical illnesses.”

Around the times when the heat rises, tons of outdoor activities take place like at Duluth East High School. The girl’s soccer team is hosting a summer camp and with higher temperatures expected to travel to the northland in the coming days…the staff members are looking at ways to keep the girls safe and protected during times on and off the field.

“On Wednesday, it’s supposed to be really hot, so we’re going to combine both groups to make sure that we got more numbers and give the girls more rest, and we make sure that we’re keeping the kids as cool and not overheating as possible,” said head coach Steve Polkowski.

Doctor Robinson also shared that with sporting activities having that early morning or later afternoon practices and everyone staying hydrated can certainly help with helping to keep the body cool.