Hello Warhawks! I hope all your summers are going exactly how you planned and you are truly “living the dream”. For many of you, there is a magical, almost mythical object that creates cold air, also known as Air Conditioning. For many students, when they return home for the summer, the A/C is on and life is great. But for some people at home, and most students that stayed here in Whitewater, A/C is simply a luxury that hasn’t felt the desperate need to be used yet. If you live in a house like mine which means your walls are basically porous and electric bills are in the hundreds, A/C isn’t a very smart financial decision. But staying cool isn’t just about how comfortable you are while you’re at home, staying cool is a crucial bodily function and while you don’t have A/C on, your body can go into overdrive to stay cool. Some of the most common and threatening heat related problems are as follow:

1. Heat Rash: Heat rash is a skin irritation caused by excessive sweating during hot, humid weather. Heat rash looks like a red cluster of pimples or small blisters.

2. Heat cramps: A person who has been exercising or participating in other types of strenuous activity in the heat may develop painful muscle spasms in the arms, legs, or abdomen referred to as heat cramps.

3. Heat exhaustion: Heat exhaustion is a warning that the body is getting too hot. A person with heat exhaustion may be thirsty, giddy, weak, uncoordinated, nauseous, and sweating profusely. As with heat syncope and heat cramps, the body temperature is usually normal in heat exhaustion. The heart rate (pulse rate) is normal or elevated. The skin is usually cold and clammy.

4. Heat stroke: Heat stroke is a serious, life-threatening condition that occurs when the body loses its ability to control its temperature. Victims of heat stroke almost ALWAYS die, so immediate medical attention is essential when problems first begin. In heat stroke, a person develops a fever that rapidly rises to dangerous levels within minutes. Symptoms and signs of heat stroke may include confusion, combativeness, bizarre behavior, feeling faint, staggering, strong rapid pulse, dry flushed skin, and lack of sweating. Delirium or coma can also result from heat stroke.

So for everyone who may not be so lucky to enjoy air conditioning OR maybe you work outside all day, here is a few tips and tricks to help you stay cool! I selected the ones that require the least amount of items and would be easiest to accomplish.

Pamper your pulses. Need to cool down, stat? To chill out super-fast, apply ice packs or cold compresses to pulse points at the wrists, neck, elbows, groin, ankles, and behind the knees.

Fill up the tank

Get a leg up on hydration by drinking a glass of water before bed. Tossing and turning and sweating at night can result in dehydration, so get some H20 in the tank beforehand. (Pro tip: Just eight ounces will do the trick, unless you’re really into those 3 a.m. bathroom runs.)

Go old-school

Remember when refrigerators were iceboxes that contained actual blocks of ice? Us neither. This stay-cool trick is straight out of the icebox era, though. Make a DIY air conditioner by positioning a shallow pan or bowl (a roasting pan works nicely) full of ice in front of a fan. The breeze will pick up cold water from the ice’s surface as it melts, creating a cooling mist.

While I like to bash summer on how hot it is, I can’t help but to think about the negative temperatures in winter… It truly is a double sided sword…

Stay Cool Warhawks!

“Success is a journey but we treat it like a place and it doesn’t make sense if you don’t you enjoy the ride.”

-Riley Pink