How To Prepare For Triple Digit Temps

By Tara Vreeland, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- Beating the heat is hard to do when temperatures become uncomfortable. When the temperatures rise it can be hard to adjust, but it is possible to prepare your body for the hot weather.

Spend just a moment outside, and your body will start to react to the heat. Your skin can burn, and you'll start to sweat - physical responses as your body learns to handle the hot Oklahoma sun. 

Just when we we're getting used to cooler temperatures, the summer sun is heating things back up. And now we all have to readjust. It takes 10 to 14 days for a person's body to acclimate, and when the weather cools down, you lose some of your tolerance.

"Every two days you are not in it, you lose two days of having been acclimated to the heat," said Kathryn Johl.

And you will have to adjust. The temperatures are forecasted over 100 degrees for the next few days.

"Ninety-eight, 99 - people think it's hot. But when you hit 100 people kind of get that fear factor in their mind," said Jon Coneeley, a personal training for Boot Camp Tulsa.

The heat will almost always make you uncomfortable when the mercury rises, but Jon Coneeley says there are things you can do to prepare your body to handle the heat a little better - whether you work out or not. Drinking water is the best thing you can do for your body. And start drinking it early.

"Alcohol dehydrates you. Caffeine is a natural diurectic. Pulls your liquids out," he said.

"A good rule of thumb right here: take your body weight, divide it into half," Coneeley said. "So say you weigh 200 pound,s you should be get 100 ounces of water a day. That's for a moderately active person."

The signs that the heat is getting to you: thirst, headaches, and fatigue. And you are really in danger of dehydration when you stop sweating.

 "Decreased sweat," said Kathryn Johl. "Also too, when you are not urinating as often, that is a sign that you are not getting enough fluids."

The best advice is simple. Stay hydrated. Don't push yourself. Give yourself breaks -in the shade and in air conditioned areas.

The humidity makes it feel even hotter. But it also prevents the evaporation of sweat off your skin which is the body's main cooling mechanism.

So even though it may seem that you are sweating a lot when it's humid, the sweat is mostly rolling off the skin and is not really doing much to cool you down.