back-to-school is not just about hitting
the books it also means sports drills
band practice outdoor gym lessons so how
do you make sure your child is protected
from exhaustion and dehydration here to
help us answer that question is Kaitlin
moon Lee University Health System
pediatric sports medicine physician
thank you so much for being here let's
talk about what heat exhaustion is and
how common it is sure thank you
heat exhaustion is one of the types of
heat illnesses that occur when we
exercise in hot wet hot and humid
weather it ranges from cramping which is
heat cramps to heat exhaustion which is
one of the less severe types of heat
injury to heatstroke
so this heat exhaustion is when you
start to sweat more you start losing
more fluid you might feel dizzy
lightheaded sometimes people even might
feel nauseated and then when it
progresses the heatstroke people
actually start getting confused
sometimes even their basic functions of
their body starts shutting down so see
right so those are some of course the
warning signs you know that you might go
oh my gosh might be time to seek some
help yes okay now young athletes are
most at risk
tell us why so young athletes are most
at risk probably because they're the
ones out there in organized sports a lot
more than older athletes although we do
definitely have marathoners triathletes
and other people like that who are
participating the sports very young
children also don't have a mature
cardiovascular kidneys have system and
they have more body area so they will
actually lose more heat or lose have a
harder time cooling themselves as well
and also some kids don't always aren't
as good about staying hydrated as say an
adult who might know know better as well
and and just kind of with what you just
said kids may not also be aware of what
the warning signs are that they're
happening you know so it's good to have
that dialogue you know with your child
I think it's always good to tell your
your own student athlete or athlete at
home what to tell a coach about right
because some kids are very concerned
about being different or being pulled
out and that's sometimes where they run
into trouble they won't tell someone
that they feel light-headed or they
won't tell someone that something is
going on right until it gets to be to
the point of heatstroke where they're
actually getting confused and vomiting
now there's also banned practices but
one of our co-workers daughters just had
a three hour band practice you know so
they're out there in that heat also not
necessarily you know doing football or
another sport but that's still out in
the heat what are some other activities
or you know other ways that could lead
to heat exhaustion I have seen
heatstroke in a band member I think both
band and football both have a lot of
times can have a very uniform that might
not be the best for the weather so they
are high risk anybody who is sick also
could be at higher risk so if you have
fever or you have vomiting it's probably
not good for you to go outside and
participate in your sport also keep in
mind that people who are on certain
medications like ADHD medicine might be
at higher risk for heat illness and but
any really any sport where you're
outside in high high temperatures and
high humidity you're at risk so runners
can be at risk although it's not nearly
as common as football soccer depending
on what time of year you're
participating and how long you're out
there especially tournaments but I have
seen a band and football being there in
the preseason mode where it's really hot
here in South Texas and they're out
there for a long time so real quickly
before we go you mentioned of course
kids need to stay hydrated what fluids
do you recommend them to be drinking so
for under 60 minutes of exercise I
recommend water it has no sugar it's
really helps you stay hydrated it's what
our body is made out of for over 60
minutes you might need electrolytes so
something like Gatorade Powerade any of
those are okay just be careful about how
much sugar you're add a fleet is in
taking and there is now low calorie low
sugar options for most of those major
companies and stay away from the
caffeine stay away from the caffeine
alright thank you so much Caitlin for
being here today for more information
just call two one zero three five eight
five four three seven that's three five
eight five four three seven or head to
University Children's Health dot-com