Tips To Stay Cool During Demanding Summer Practices
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Monday's hot, humid weather made it tough to complete outdoor tasks.
For some students, those tasks are necessary as they prepare for back-to-school sports.
Students and coaches are making special arrangements when it comes to practicing in this heat to make sure everyone stays safe, CBS2's Elise Finch reported.
High temperatures plus high humidity levels equal dangerous outdoor conditions. When you add strenuous activity to the equation, like the kind student-athletes are involved in to get ready for fall sports, it can easily lead to heat exhaustion or, worse, heat stroke.
Dr. June Ree sees it frequently in the emergency department at Lenox Hill Hospital.
"Often times we'll get children who've passed out from having been in the heat and they haven't been hydrating very well," Ree said. "They'll come in and have rapid heart beat. Sometimes their blood pressure will be on the low side. Sometimes they can even be confused."
MORE: Tips To Beat The Heat: Your Guide To Summer Safety
Dr. Ree said it can occur more easily to kids who play a sport that requires heavy equipment.
"It traps the heat and raises your core body temperature, so more frequent breaks, more water breaks and whenever you have the chance to take off all of that equipment, that would be ideal," Ree said.
Monday was the first day of junior varsity football practice for Mount Vernon teens. They said their coaches shortened practice and kept a close eye on them.
"It was hot, but of course we still put in the work and we got like more water breaks than usual, so that actually helped us to get hydrated." 15-year-old lineman Clifford Campbell said.
"If it's 90 degrees or warmer, we don't practice," Mount Vernon junior varsity coach Carlton Naughton said.
"We give them water breaks non-stop. We let them sit in the shaded area non-stop and we just take care of them," coach Troye Cornwall added.
One parents said while the coaches do their part she makes sure her athlete daughter is doing hers.
"It's very important to speak up and listen to your body because it's too dangerous to be out here," Andrea Hamilton said.
MORE: New York Issues New Heat Index Procedures For High School Sports
If athletes get overheated they should stop the activity and get into an air conditioned environment as soon as possible and then drink lots of fluids. In more severe cases, place ice packs in the arm pit and groin as well as on the forehead and the back of the neck to help lower the body's core temperature even more.
It's important that student-athletes hydrate with water and fluids that have electrolytes and sodium.
