Episode 68: The Heat and Your Health

The Alzheimer's & Dementia Resource Center

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Transcript

Welcome to Informed Aging, a podcast about health. Help and hard decisions for older adults. I'm Robin Rountree, a former family caregiver, and I've worked in the home care industry. Now, I work for the Alzheimer's and Dementia Resource Center with me as my co host. 

Hi, thank you for joining us today.

I'm Edith Gendron, Executive Director of Alzheimer's and Dementia Resource Center.  I have 40 years working with adults, primarily seniors and elders in need. I'm a certified positive approach to care trainer and consultant, and ADRC is a designated positive approach to care agency.

Also, I'm a certified trainer for savvy caregiver. 

The thoughts and opinions expressed belong to Edith and I, not our wonderful employers and sponsors. This podcast is a service of the Alzheimer's and Dementia Resource Center. We are not affiliated with the Alzheimer's Association. Before making any significant changes in your life or your person's life, please consult your own experts.

Is it hot enough for you? Holy cow. That's what we're going to be talking about right after this. 

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  For over 37 years, the Alzheimer's and Dementia Resource Center, ADRC, has served as a Central Florida based grassroots non profit and community resource center. They are dedicated to providing support and hope for families and individuals caring for someone they love who is living with Alzheimer's disease or other dementia related illnesses.

ADRC empowers caregivers with the knowledge, support, skills, and strategies they need to help them confidently prepare for the challenges that lie ahead. To learn more, visit the website ADRCCares.  org.  

We are back and we are talking about the heat. , we live in Florida, so we know a little something about that. But when you get to heat, and older adults,  it's not the same as it is for teenagers and people in their 30s or 40s.

Yeah. Yeah. Especially 

when you throw in humidity, it's a different ball game altogether. It 

is. And I did a little research with Harvard medicine,  it says studies show that it can be hard for even healthy older adults to tell when it's too hot or if they're dehydrated.

Adding cognitive decline, you're going to get more problems. Older bodies also hold more heat than younger ones when the temperature climbs and our older glands don't release as much sweat, the heart doesn't circulate blood as well. So heat is less released from the vessels in our skin.  Thanks, body. That's just mean.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But boy, it's true. I can attest to that.  Yeah.  Loved the hot summers, right? You were out there and now I, I think of a Florida summer as I used to once think of a New York or Maine winter. You stay in, you stay as cool as you can, or you stayed as warm as you could there, right?

You eat certain things, you know, that are cold and come out of the refrigerator. You avoid the stove and the oven, right? You avoid outdoor activities. activities. , even so far as gardening, you know, in the Northeast, summertime is gardening time. Not down here. It's not. Right. No, no. 

. So what can happen?

So you get a little hot. What's the big deal? 

Yeah. What's the big deal, right? Well, the biggest deal is you can die. 

Oh, 

that's a pretty big deal. We weren't going to 

start small. We're just 

going to jump right in there. That's the biggest deal. But what are the warning signs on the way? Because you will have warning signs.

You won't just walk out. And as much as I sometimes think that, you know, it's like stepping into that sauna. I don't drop dead on my driveway, but you know, you'll, you'll have things like, um, heat cramps are a pretty big warning sign. It's just like any other Charlie horse. Right. And you know what that is?

We have that really nasty. cramping muscle and it hurts and you'll do anything to make it stop. But that's, that is a super warning sign, dizziness too, right? They use that fancy word syncope, but dizziness or nausea. I actually had that happen and I think it's okay to say it Walt Disney world. Um, a few years ago I was wearing foolishly in the dead of summer, a dark shirt.

I thought I would be okay cause it had white stripes in it. I was wrong. Hmm. And I actually started to get dizzy. I started to feel nauseous. It's like, ugh,, so I actually had to buy a different shirt there.  That's an expensive lesson. Yeah, yeah, yeah. , drink water, drink water, drink water, drink water.

No matter how good that frozen margarita looks, drink water. And when you think you've had enough, drink some more. Right, right , at the risk of being a little bit TMI, when you drink enough water, . The, um, color in the bowl. Are you following me? It should be very, very pale, almost non existent.

If you've got some deep color going on there, or even a noticeable color, drink more water. 

Yeah. Your body needs it. 

And that's, It's tough stuff when we're working with somebody who has some form of dementia because even older people, you know, that poor mother in law of mine, right, she does not have any form of cognitive impairment and to get her to drink water, I think maybe I'd have to pay her.

I mean, she's like, no, I'm good. I'm good. She'll take a sip through the whole meal. A sip. It's like drink the water. You know, UTIs are bad news and that can be part of it. 

Yeah.  Okay. So other things that can happen. Dizziness, we know that one.  If you just feel dizzy, what should you do? You drink 

the water.

Right. Drink the water. Sit down. Keep your eyes open. , a real, real quick way to maybe fight back with it is to, sniff some alcohol. , the isopropyl alcohol, you know, the. Okay. Sometimes , people who have type 2 diabetes or have to test their blood, they'll have those little alcohol pads. Rip one of those suckers open and start sniffing it.

That'll help clear your head. Oh, okay. But stop moving. Stop moving because the last thing you need to do is to fall and hit that head. Right. Because now we've got real trouble. Real big issues. 

Unless you're moving right into air conditioning and you have somebody help you get in there. 

Steadily. I mean, hang on to the rails, whatever you've got to do.

Get into air conditioning. Even worst case scenario, stand in front of a fan that'll, , the air passing in your, through your body will cool the sweat. , not sweating is a real big indicator because when you progress into heat exhaustion, heat stroke, your body stops sweating. Ooh. And yeah. And that, that looks like serious danger.

Then if you come across somebody like that in the heat of the day who is, , not sweating, just call 9 1 1. Just call 9 1 1 and start getting some water on them. Don't get it in them because they probably can't swallow. It's kind of like somebody who's having a seizure, right? But , get the body cooled off from the outside, but get 911 on the way because they're going to need help.

You're making me recall a gentleman that was walking around in the summertime where I live with a wool blanket around him. And I was like, okay, 911, you guys. Need to check this out. Um, he didn't look especially friendly, so I did not approach him with any water, but 

very smart. Right. Cause then we'd be calling 9 1 1 for you.

Right. Right. It turns out that was just his thing and he was hydrated, but  it was a clear sign that something wasn't right., 

We see that, right? I see people, , and it's oftentimes are younger people with the, with the hoodies on and pulled up over their heads.

And I think, Oh, it is way too hot. Right. Or people that work for a living and walk, you know, here in Florida economies, tough stuff all over. But yeah. They wear black uniforms to work and they're walking along. It's tough stuff, right? , even something like a cold, wet washcloth draped around your neck or cold water running over your wrists that can help cool you down pretty quickly too.

Yes. Yeah. So dizzy, thirst,   Uncoordinated. 

Yeah. Yeah, you start kind of staggering and getting that gait going on. Are you reaching for something and you miss it? You know, you spill the water on you instead of drinking it. 

Right? Oh, big signs that something bad's happening. And confusion. 

Confusion. 



 But those are just Signs that, and if you are a younger person with an older person, you start to see these things. You may touch their skin and it doesn't feel hot, so you think they're okay. Nope, that is not the case.

No, that is not the case. It's a real big indicator that you've got something going on. , you really, , need to, to really act fast. And again, if you, if you are with somebody, whoa, you know, do what it takes.  Better to err on the side of caution and be wrong. 

Yeah.

Far better than, , maybe somebody who's got a blister on their toe and  that's why they're walking funny, but, um, far better to have it checked out. 

Absolutely. So also you can get edema, which is the swelling of your legs because of heat.  So what happens there should you Put your feet up. Yeah. You 

sit down, you put your feet up, try to put some coolness on there.

Another thing that can cause edema though is, , if you have sun poisoning and I speak from experience, once upon a time when I was not paying attention to the world around me, I was sitting out on a porch in the direct sun, put my feet up on the rail and read for a very long time and burned the daylights out of my legs and they swelled up.

like little toads, and it was sun poisoning. So they called it at that time. For a lot of years, I had to be careful in the sun. I still do, but not as much as then. That's the other thing. And it happened on our recent trip to South Africa. We were taking anti malarial pills, which made us photosensitive, and nobody told us that.

There were no warnings. No warnings on it. We were burning. We were itching. It's like, what is going on? You know, because it's February. But, , yeah, , our, , guide asked us if we were taking anti malarial pills. So the point of that is know your medications. Do they exacerbate The effects of the heat, , the effects of the sun, the effects of humidity,

do they affect the way your body works? So you can't cool off as well.  



So we have heat cramps, heat edema, heat rash, not fun, heat exhaustion. When is the point? Like I said, I called 9 1 1 when it was a stranger, but when it's  your person. Would you say thirsty weak is just get them to a cooler place and water?

Yeah. Get them to a cooler place and water if they'll drink the water. If not, don't play around, just call. , heat stroke is just bad and that's where people die. Yeah. That is where, and you know, we have that happen here. People especially people that have no homes, they're outside in that heat and they can't be in a place to, to cool off.

They don't have access to water, , enough water to drink and , the heat ends up killing them. You see that in Europe a lot where they don't have air conditioning as a matter of course.  The, the higher heat. It's while we're talking about air conditioning, that's something else to be aware of. You need to keep those ACs maintained, right?

Your air conditioner goes out at midnight and it's, it was 80 degrees at my house at midnight last night. You might squeak by, but it's going to get hot real fast and we know, , and it depends on what resource you check or what source you check, but elderly people, 65 and older, you should. Try to , maintain indoor temperatures between 65 and 78.

, but if it gets up around 80, it's too hot and certainly if it gets to be 90, you're in trouble. Yeah. You've got to do something. Get out, go to a mall. But, Go to McDonald's and sit in the cool air. Do something until that air conditioner is fixed.

Right. I saw a lot of movies in my childhood because it was summertime. It was hot and we didn't have air conditioning. 

Yep. Yep. , go to a hotel if you have to.  

Right. So we talk about the heat exhaustion and the heat stroke. You definitely want to seek medical attention, but how, let's talk about just staying cool, staying indoors.

Uh, maybe you don't have air conditioning, but you want shade, right? 

You definitely want shade and again, fans, as long as they're blowing on you, blowing that air over your body to help, evaporate the, the perspiration, right? You know, that's going on , don't move around a lot. Now you're not going to be, no marathon running.

Don't sweep the floor. , no mopping, no rigorous anything. No rigorous anything. anything. Just sit and be quiet. Read a book. That's why reading at the beach is such a wonderful thing to do. Right. 

And call it The Lazy Days of Summer for a reason. For a reason. Too hot and then, uh, like you said, the water, , alcohol. is not going 

to help. No alcohol should be lay off the caffeine as much as we like our iced tea. Yeah. Unless it's some herbal. It's not a great idea when it's real, real hot out. 

And you're not going to want to put on your tight leather skirt.

It's going to be too hot, Edith. I'm so sorry. 

Oh, darn it. Got to put the leather mini away. But yeah, loose, light clothing. , Earlier I had taken off an over shirt I was wearing like a jacket and I said this is like saran wrap. So just because something's light and translucent doesn't mean it's comfortable.

So look at the fiber content, you know, cotton is good, linen people don't like it, wrinkles, but so what. It's still any natural fiber, rayon is a natural fiber, a wick away from the body, right? If you're outside, you want to cover up though. You want the  , long white cotton sleeves to try to keep that sun off your skin.

And now the rash guards, we're seeing those people are wearing that because it, you know, it blocks the sun. It does. 

I used them again in South Africa to still have them here and use them when I'm outside. 

So be careful out there.  And then if you do have to go out, which we've told you not to, so you're already not listening to us, but you better have some sunscreen on.

You better have some sunscreen on. And boy, it depends on who you talk to, doesn't it? Anything over 30 doesn't work. Oh, you need 50. Oh, you need 70. 

Anything over 70 doesn't work. Yeah. Just 

find something that is comfortable on your skin. , there's some spray on ones that work nice, but here's the catch. Yeah. Gotta put it on before you go outside. Usually 20 to 30 minutes ahead of time. And then what do you do? You sweat it off. So you have to put more on. So it's not just a one and done. 

But be safe out there. Drink your water. Stay cool. Don't overexert yourself. Yeah. I think you got the message. 

Yep. Keep track of the fact that you're not 30 anymore.  My shoes are 30. Does 

that count? Yes, it does. It counts for something. Thank you so much for tuning in. 

Please make sure to subscribe to our podcast, Informed Aging.  📍 Tell your family and friends about us. If you'd like to support the work that we do at the Alzheimer's and Dementia Resource Center, please go to ADRC cares. org slash donate facebook. com slash informed aging. Today's episode was recorded at ADRC's podcast studio.

That's it for now. Don't forget to drink your water. We're looking forward to our next visit.