Southern Ontario will see some of the hottest temperatures of the summer over the next 72 hours, leading to heat alerts being issued by Niagara Region Public Health and many municipalities.<\/p>\n
Brock University Kinesiology Professor Stephen Cheung, one of Canada\u2019s foremost experts on how extreme weather conditions impact the body, says caution needs to be taken by athletes and everyone else headed outdoors this weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest problem right now is the humidex,\u201d says Cheung, who runs a research lab at Brock that is able to simulate temperatures ranging from -30 degrees to +50 degrees. \u201cWhen the humidex is high, you can be sweating a lot, but it\u2019s not really evaporating and helping you lose heat. It\u2019s just dripping off you and making you uncomfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The inability to efficiently cool your body\u2019s core temperature can be extremely dangerous, he says, especially for people working out and generating even more internal heat than people simply outside in the sun.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom a physical perspective, it\u2019s a lot more difficult to cool yourself down than when you\u2019re in a hot, but dry environment,\u201d Cheung says. \u201cThere\u2019s not a lot you can physically do. If you just pour water on your skin, it might make you feel better for a brief period, but it\u2019s not actually helping you.\u201d<\/p>\n
The professor\u2019s recommendation is to keep workouts indoors during extreme heat. But if you must head outside, find shade if you can, drink plenty of cold water while exercising, and take frequent breaks.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you are working out in extreme conditions, don\u2019t try to train or exercise as hard as you normally might,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The advice is also important for families headed to a park, backyard or local beach.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlan appropriately to not be out as long, reduce your level of exposure to the sun and the amount of activity you do,\u201d Cheung says, adding that drinking lots of cold water is key even if you\u2019re just lounging around.<\/p>\n
He also encourages everyone to wear sunscreen.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re getting sunburned, your skin and sweat glands aren\u2019t able to work as well,\u201d he says. \u201cReapply sunscreen more regularly because you\u2019re sweating more and it tends to wash it off more quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Brock University Kinesiology Professor Stephen Cheung, one of Canada\u2019s foremost experts on how extreme weather conditions impact the body, says caution needs to be taken by athletes and everyone else headed outdoors this weekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":58917,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[36,7,3319,4052,55,1,4,5],"tags":[8094,8093,7488,15,2998],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59264"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59264"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59265,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59264\/revisions\/59265"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}