Tips to Stay Healthy in Summer | KDAH Blog

Summer is here! A change of season calls for a change in routine, a revamped diet, and of course, a new exercise regimen that suits the weather. The onset of warm weather can make your body more vulnerable to different types of diseases and certain health guidelines must be followed to ensure a healthy summer.

Here are a few tips to stay healthy this summer

1. Eat healthy and light

Eat light, small, frequent meals. Heavy meals with large amounts of carbohydrates and fats give rise to a lot of heat in the body. Focus on fresh fruits and vegetables that have high water content – such as oranges, watermelon, tomatoes, etc.

2. Treat your eyes well

Protect your vision from the harsh sunlight at work and at play, wear protective eyewear. When outdoors, wear sunglasses that block at least 99% of ultraviolet rays.

3. Avoid Alcohol and Caffeine

Alcohol, fizzy drinks and coffee all can leave you dehydrated quickly. If at all possible, try to reduce the amount of these favourite beverages, especially during hot weather. Plain or flavoured water is a good substitute.

4. Drink plenty of water

Heat and sweat in the summer months can leave your body dehydrated, causing unwanted health outcomes such as fever and chills. Keep yourself well hydrated by drinking at least 2 to 3 litres of water every day.

5. Stay indoors

Restrict outdoor activities to the cooler parts of the day – early mornings before 11. am or late evenings after 5.00 pm.

6. Avoid outside food

Roadside food can be contaminated and may lead to foodborne illnesses. Also in the summer heat if food is not stored properly it may get spoilt and lead to a stomach infection.

Summer Travels

Are you and your family travelling in summer? If you plan to travel within India than you must take a few precautions to keep you safe from the summer heat.

Here are a few tips:

Accessorize right

Wear light colours and natural fabrics like cotton and linen. When you are outside, use proper covering for your mouth, nose and ears to shield yourself from the hot winds, which can cause dehydration. Use a hat or an umbrella for shade and wear sunglasses to protect your eyes.

Wear sunscreen

Apply a good waterproof sunscreen to all exposed parts of your body and reapply it every three to four hours to ensure that your skin remains protected.

Adopt an appropriate skin care routine

Summer can wreak havoc on your skin if proper care is not taken. Excessive oil and sweat can cause troublesome irritation, rashes, prickly heat, and exacerbation of acne. Wash your face often or use tissues to wipe a sweaty face to avoid acne. Use natural face packs with aloe vera gel or sandalwood powder to soothe the skin.

Common Summer Diseases

Summer brings in a host of health problems that range from simple ones like a headache, skin rashes, sunburns, etc. to severe ones like measles, jaundice, and more. You must take necessary preventive measures against summer diseases. Here are a few tips:

Sunburn

Some of the symptoms of sunburn include red or reddish skin, mild dizziness and fatigue. To protect yourself from sunburn, apply a sunscreen lotion on the exposed areas of your body 20 minutes before heading out in the sun.

Heat stroke

Heat stroke is another common summer disease, which if left untreated can be fatal. Some of the symptoms of heat strokes include difficulty in breathing, rapid pulse, high body temperature, confusion etc. Avoid stepping out in peak afternoons.

Prickly heat

Prickly heat refers to red rashes that occur due to an excess of humidity and heat. Prickly heat may be caused by clogging of the sweat glands. You can relieve prickly heat by applying prickly heat powder on areas that show signs of prickly heat.

Food poisoning

Owing to excessive heat in summer, the food can spoil quickly. To prevent the risk of food poisoning, put the leftover food inside the refrigerator. Food must be well-cooked to ensure that it doesn’t get spoiled.

Diarrhoea

Because food gets spoilt quickly, diarrhoea is common in summer. Eating contaminated food and unsafe drinking habits can lead to diarrhoea. To keep away from diarrhoea, make sure that you drink water only after boiling it and wash vegetables thoroughly before and after slicing them.

Skin Rashes

During summers, skin rash is a common skin problem amid children and adults. This typically happens when an individual sweats too much. Bathe often, change your clothes often and avoid wearing tight clothes.

Chickenpox

Chickenpox makes one of the most common summer diseases. It starts in the form of fluid-filled, red and small rashes accompanied by high fever. This is common in children and in people with low immunity and is highly contagious.

Measles

Measles is yet another common summer disease. The paramyxovirus which causes measles breeds faster during the summers. Its initial symptoms are cough, high fever, sore throat, and reddening in eyes. At a later stage, the tiny white spots and measles rash appear all over the body.

Jaundice

Jaundice is a common water-borne disease. It can be a result of Hepatitis A and is mainly caused due to the consumption of contaminated food and water. If not treated on time, this disease can affect the functionality of the liver leading to overproduction of bile.

Typhoid

Typhoid is passed through the oral-faecal route to healthy individuals. The contaminated food and water sources become the breeding ground for the bacteria. Visible symptoms of typhoid are a weakness, loss of appetite, fatigue, pain in the abdomen, high fever.

Mumps

Of all summer diseases, mumps is another extremely contagious viral disease and affects children. It is contagious in nature and gets transmitted when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Some of the visible symptoms include swelled salivary gland, muscle ache, fever, headache, loss of appetite and weakness.

The primary reason behind the outbreak of diseases in summer is the presence of favourable weather conditions for bacteria, virus and other parasites to breed. Take prevention steps and protect your and your family’s health in summer. Please consult doctors at Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital for any summer ailments. Please find website link below:

https://www.kokilabenhospital.com/

Summer Holidays – Health Precautions

Summers are here, and it's holiday time for the kids to relax, enjoy, have fun and travel too. But what about the sweltering summer heat? It is important for children of all age groups to stay healthy and safe in the summer holidays. With the change in weather, increasing temperatures and heat waves, simple precautions can help prevent heat strokes and dehydration.

Here are some summer tips to keep your children healthy:

• Stay Hydrated – The scorching heat leaves your body hydrated. You should make sure that you drink enough water or water-based drinks to keep your body hydrated.
• Sunscreen – In the scorching summer heat, make sure you use a sunscreen lotion. Take precautions, try not going out in the sun when the sun is out, shining brightly.  If at all you are out in the sun for too long, make sure you reapply the sunscreen.
• Protect Your Eyes - It is not just your skin that needs to be protected, but also your eyes. Make sure you wear sunglasses when going out in the sun. Choose sunglasses which provide 99% protection against the ultraviolet rays.
• Watch your foods – Summer also brings with it the temptation of ice creams, however, they are best avoided. Instead, choose fresh fruits and vegetables which are easy to digest.
• Choose indoor play at noontime – Play indoors during the afternoons to avoid extreme summer heat from 12.00 noon to 4.pm.
• Dress appropriately – Wear cotton clothes rather than synthetic ones to avoid skin problems. Also wear lighter colours, to attract less body heat!
• Refresh yourself – Summer is the perfect time of the year to get wet! Start by swimming for 10 minutes and increase the time over the following weeks to beat the summer heat.
• Protect yourself – Kids must wear hats to cover their head from the sun's heat. Also, children should apply insect repellents to avoid insect bites that can cause infections and diseases.

Are you travelling this summer? To stay healthy, take care of these basic precautions. Consume wisely by eating freshly cooked food and drinking only from sealed water bottles. To protect against pollution in the cities, wear a scarf. It is also essential to travel with medications for diarrhoea, headache and other common ailments. Consult a doctor to check if any immunization is needed.

Here are a few tips to keep yourself and your family healthy while travelling.

• Avoid cut and peeled roadside fruits, raw vegetables and meat which are pre-exposed to flies.
• Vegetable and chicken salads are better avoided as we don’t know how old the product is and how safe it has been stored.
• Always carry some instant energy source to avoid situations like vomiting, lose motion and have some lime water with sugar and salts.
• Outbreaks of diarrhoeal disease have also been associated with bottled water.  In most situations, boiling water is the simplest solution in places with poor sanitation and hygiene.
• Always remember, correct food choices while travelling can make the difference between good health and sickness. Avoid places which are tourist traps and densely inhabited. 
• Do not step out into the sun directly from a cool atmosphere like ACs and coolers.
• Cut down on your tea and coffee intake, switch to green tea and cool juices if possible!
• Drink loads of water to prevent dehydration and carry wet wipes to keep your skin hydrated!

Let your children enjoy their summer holidays but with some precautions. It is important that they understand the importance and value their health from a young age. It helps them grow into healthy and responsible adults. Wishing you happy and healthy holidays!

Kokilaben Hospital shares healthcare tips, beauty tips, skin care tips, hair care and body care tips for healthy life. Follow them and be healthy.