Photo by Clay Larsen on Flickr
With more extreme heat days and heat waves expected as a result of climate change, we can naturally expect more heat-related illnesses. Here are some ways to stay cool and safe, including some words of wisdom from Dr. Elizabeth Rhoades, who works on Emergency Preparedness and Response for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
--
--
Drink cool water on extreme hot days -- even if youre not thirsty. Its important to remember that the body can only replenish water at a set rate, said Rhoades. Also worth noting: Its possible to become dehydrated without evident symptoms, as certain medications inhibit the bodys ability to sweat.
Not all fluids are good for keeping you cool. Alcohol and caffeine are dehydrating drinks, while sugary drinks like soda can make dehydration worse. Cool water is best; make sure your water is cool but not too cold, as iced cold water can cause cramping.
Even those without medical conditions are affected by extreme heat. While the most vulnerable to the effects of extreme heat include children, seniors, outdoor workers, and those with chronic medical conditions, we are all impacted. Heat places stress on the body -- its useful to think of it that way for everyone, said Rhoades.
When it comes to outdoor activities, heat evens the playing field. That is, even the physically fit are vulnerable to heat-related illness, including heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke. As an example, serious hikers in serious heat are still impacted, said Rhoades. When its hot enough, theres no way to replenish enough fluids to stay cool. Its sad to say, but in certain conditions theres no way to go on a healthy hike.
Cool off in water. Take a cool shower or cool your feet; a quarter of the bodys sweat glands are in our feet, so keeping them cool in extreme heat can help cool your body.
Know the signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. If untreated, heat exhaustion will lead to heat stroke, a serious condition that can cause brain damage and death. Heat exhaustion signs to look for: muscle cramps, excessive sweating, weakness and fatigue, skin that is pale and clammy, headaches, dizziness or confusion, fast and shallow breathing, nausea and/or vomiting, and fainting. Treatment for heat exhaustion includes rest in a cool and shady area, drinking lots of fluids, applying cool, wet cloths to skin, and elevating feet 12 inches. Someone with heat exhaustion will appear pale, while someone with heat stroke will appear flushed. With heat stroke, the bodys temperature control system is disabled and the affected person stops sweating; the person with heat stroke can become confused and dizzy, develop a throbbing headache, and/or have a rapid or strong pulse before becoming unconscious. If you or a companion are showing signs of heat stroke, get help immediately.
Protect yourself from the sun. Dark-colored clothing absorbs heat from the suns rays, so wearing light-colored clothing and a hat can protect you from the sun and help you stay cool. You can also cover windows with shades or blinds during daylight hours to prevent sunlight from overheating your home.
Power down during heat waves to prevent outages and keep your home cool. Power outages during heat waves put more lives at risk, and setting your air conditioner between 75-80 degrees will help prevent blackouts. Its also recommended that you unplug lights and equipment youre not using and to limit the use of appliances during peak energy hours in the evening.
On extreme heat days, LA opens free cooling centers. Libraries, pools, and shady parks offer respite from the heat, as well as other cooling centers opened on extreme heat days. Call 211 or check online for centers from the Department of Public Health and the City of LA.
Fans are for people, not rooms. No air conditioning? Aim that fan right at the people you want to keep cool. Dont count on it to make the room itself cooler. Fans in a hot room just move hot air from place to place. Using a fan in a hot room will not cool the room, but by helping your sweat evaporate it can cool you. (An exception: if youre blowing cooler evening air from outside into a house thats still overheated from the daytime. During the day, its often hotter outside than in and a window fan may make things worse.)
By being a good neighbor, you can save lives. We also recommend that people keep track of people around them who might vulnerable, said Rhoades. Make an effort to check on neighbors who live alone, especially seniors and those with medical conditions.
You can make your home cooler with shade trees and cool roofs. If you are a homeowner and in a position to do so, planting shade trees and installing a cool roof will keep your home cooler. Were also trying to proactively work in Los Angeles on urban heat island solutions, so people will feel less affected by heat, said Rhoades. You can request shade trees from CityPlants or the Citys Street Trees program.
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
Photo by Clay Larsen on Flickr 
