The high in Denver today is forecast for 97 degrees.
Which, because this is Colorado, means all the local news and Twitter feeds focus on the heat, the high temperature that will possibly break records today, the dangers of such a hot sunny day, AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, HAVE WE MENTIONED THIS TERRIBLE HEAT?!?
People, I come from the Gulf Coast, where – let’s not even talk summer temperatures – just the humidity often reaches 90% this time of year. In comparison, the humidity here today may reach 30%. This is nothing.
However.
In all fairness to Colorado, the reverse happens in Florida when winter temps dip below 40 degrees and everyone there freaks out. Plus, 97 degrees broils your whole day no matter where you live, and hot weather and especially smog can also trigger asthma. So can pools for that matter, for some people and depending on the facility.
How do you maintain health and sanity on the hot days, especially if high temps or humidity trigger your/your kid’s asthma attacks?
Avoidance? Immersion in a cool body of water somewhere? Movie theaters and shopping malls?
Me, I like to head into the Rockies on the weekends, where cooler mountain air prevails. I think that’s pretty clear in light of recent posting.
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Image: ESA/NASA/SOHO
Here, the highs lately have been high 90s to close to 120F after Humidex is factored in (high 30s to mid 40s Fahrenheit) lately. Before Humidex, it’s been 80s to low 100s.
I cope by: twice daily cool showers, frequent water breaks, hanging out in the basement, and going to the mall to shop for books or watch a movie, or going grocery shopping (freezer section, yay), and if I’m really overheated, a cold bath.
Hmmmm, I try to stay very still for the most part! Drinking water helps.
Air conditioning is a bad trigger for me so I avoid it (sooo glad I live in Canada)
Air conditioning? Really? I’ve never heard of that one. Interesting. I’m lucky that it doesn’t trigger me, since without A/C, the lab would be about 50 degrees Celcius this week! Even with three A/Cs running on max, they’re about 40 degrees. Labs are horrible for heat since you have all sorts of heat-generating equipment running.
We turn the AC on in May (it helps pull out the humidity, even if we don’t need the cooling.) On VERY hot and humid days, unless I’m crazy and sending my kids to camp during record breaking heat and humidity, we stay in the AC, we push fluids (M works harder to breathe if she’s dehydrated) We will go in the outside pool. Mostly, we pretreat for humidity, and stay in the AC (Danielle, I’ve never heard of AC being a trigger…Is humidity a trigger for you at all? I don’t know what we’d do if we had a humidity trigger and an AC trigger)
I don’t know if it’s the AC itself, or just dirty AC filters that trigger me but I do need to stay away from it. Humidity is a trigger for me but luckily I spend my summers in a nice dry place (it doesn’t even get that hot) so I can deal. Like I said, on the rare day that it is hot and humid I just try to stay veeery still!
Having grown up in an area where 85% humidity, 90-100 degree highs, and yellow air quality are the norm for 3 months of the year. I would say the best advice I can give is drink water lots and lots of it. I average 4-5 liters/day in the heat of summer. Also, staying inside in the cooled air during the heat of the day. When it’s unavoidable to go out wearing lightweight (wicking preferably) clothing and a big brimmed hat and pretreating. Also to cool off putting a cold water bottle or wash cloth on my wrists, and back of my neck has helped head off heat sickness.
I’ve never heard of an AC trigger, either, and Sara’s right – it would be beyond difficult to deal with that one and a humidity one.
And thanks for the reminder re: fluids, everyone. It’s so important to stay hydrated with asthma, but especially during the summer. On Sunday, when we went hiking, AG drained her 1.5 liter Camelbak in the time it took me to drink just half a sports bottle of water.