Summer Tips: What to Do and What to Avoid to Stay Healthy During Summer
Now, it is time to embrace the warm weather. It is essential to keep your body cool during the summer, as hot weather impacts our digestive system and increases the risk of perspiration and dehydration. Some countries also experience continuous heat waves during this season. Therefore, choosing the right foods and clothing that help you beat the heat is important.
Things must be kept in mind:
Stay hydrated:
During the summer, it is crucial to stay hydrated. Our bodies continuously lose water and electrolytes through sweating. Therefore, providing enough fluids to meet the body's demands is essential. Individuals experiencing symptoms such as headaches, fatigue, constipation, dry mouth, and strong-smelling, yellowish urine are likely suffering from dehydration. Thus, always keep your body hydrated in the summer.
Merely drinking water in the summer is insufficient. Due to high temperatures, our bodies continuously lose electrolytes along with water through sweat. An electrolyte imbalance can lead to headaches, muscle cramps, and other issues. Ensure you maintain your electrolyte balance during the hot season. A healthy adult can consume 3 to 3.5 liters of fluid daily in the summer. You can incorporate healthy drinks like buttermilk or lassi, sattu drink, lemon water (with a little salt and sugar), lime-mint water, coconut water, wood apple drink (Bel sarbat), and raw mango drink (aam-panna sarbat) alongside water. All these beverages not only keep you hydrated but also provide nutritional benefits for your health.
In summer, many people, including children, often come indoors and drink chilled water or other beverages directly from the fridge. This practice is not advisable as it may lead to colds, coughs, or respiratory discomfort.
Water-containing fruits:
Like other foods, fruits are always a good option for health. During summer, various water-containing fruits are available in our local market. Watermelon, litchi, grapes, muskmelons, iced apple (Tal sash), mango, wood apple, cantaloupe, coconut water, etc., are summer special fruits especially in India. Try to add 2-3 servings of different types of fruits to your daily diet. It not only helps to meet the water balance in the body but also helps to benefit from different nutrients.
Maintain hygiene:
Maintaining hygiene is crucial during the summer. Food-borne illnesses and water-borne diseases are common during this season. Hot, humid temperatures create ideal conditions for bacterial growth. Therefore, it is advisable to clean utensils and water bottles thoroughly. Be sure to carry your own water or purchase sealed mineral water when outside. Try to avoid drinking juice or other beverages available from roadside vendors.
When coming indoors, ensure you take a proper bath. Sweating is common due to the heat. A good bath helps you feel fresh and can prevent bad odors, skin irritation, and other infections. Don't forget to wash your hands before eating. Proper handwashing helps prevent the spread of summer-related diseases, like food-borne illnesses, to others through food.
Eat freshly cooked food:
In summer, always try to consume fresh foods. Due to the hot and humid weather, food spoils quickly. Therefore, it's advisable to cook small quantities and enjoy fresh meals.
Try to eat easily digestible food:
Digestive issues are quite common during the summer. In the hot season, the body redirects blood flow to the skin to cool down, which decreases circulation to the digestive system. As a result, this system becomes slow and bloated, leading to frequent indigestion. If you choose to eat spicy foods regularly, it may cause digestion-related problems.
Things to avoid:
During summer, many people love trying various cold drinks from roadside vendors. It is best to avoid these. In summer, waterborne diseases are prevalent due to hygiene issues; contamination risk arises as you cannot be certain about the water source or whether the utensils and containers used for making juices are adequately cleaned. Thus, you have a significant chance of contamination. Always ensure the hygiene level of the shop before consuming drinks.
Avoid spicy food. Spicy foods can raise body temperature, leading to discomfort during the summer. Additionally, our digestive system operates slowly in summer; therefore, consuming spicy food regularly can result in indigestion and heartburn.
Limit coffee intake. Excess caffeine may contribute to dehydration due to its diuretic effects. Also, avoid sugary drinks, as they can cause dehydration owing to their high sugar content. Moreover, sugary drinks elevate blood sugar levels and are responsible for weight gain.
Avoid entering the cold air-conditioned room immediately after coming in from outside during summer. A sudden temperature change may cause discomfort for the body. Colds, coughs, and nasal infections are quite common, especially among children, in the hot season. Therefore, when you come in from outside, sit under the fan for a short while; this helps your body acclimatize to the cool temperature before turning on the air conditioning.
Bottom line:
Summer is the season when you must take care of yourself properly. During this time, you should wear a light cotton dress, eat foods that make you feel light, drink enough fluids to protect yourself from dehydration, and wear sunglasses to shield your eyes. Outdoor activities are very common in the summer; therefore, fitness is essential. If you are fit and energetic, you will be able to enjoy the season fully.
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