In summer the people are exposed to direct sunlight and face the risk of suffering from sunstroke. According to family doctor of the Family Doctors Center No. 1 Veronica Trofimov, this illness, except for the most serious forms, is not treated by medication. The person who experiences sunstroke should be placed in a cool room and should drink a lot of liquid at particular intervals of time. Walking in the open air between 11am and 5pm is not recommended, IPN reports.
Sunstroke is a form of heatstroke caused by prolonged exposure to intensely hot sunlight, accompanied by fever and often loss of consciousness. Heat stroke is a potentially serious medical condition where a person has become so hot that their body can’t cool down and their temperature gets dangerously high. Although it normally affects people during a heatwave it can also happen if the person does not drink enough non-alcoholic liquid and is doing very strenuous physical exercise.
To prevent sunstroke, the family doctor recommends eating healthily, protecting oneself from sunlight by wearing white and loose clothes from natural fabrics and hats of light colors and drinking as much liquid as possible.
“The people should definitely avoid open air walks between 11 am and 5pm and in the period should be in a well aired, cool room. The villagers need such protection the most as it is the period of agricultural works and most of these suffer from sunstroke because they work in the fields. I would advise them to have a break after noon and to do all the agricultural works in the morning,” stated Veronica Trofimov.
In case of isolation, the doctor recommends cooling the skin, especially on the forehead, hands and legs. In the case of children, hydration is very important because these swiftly lose water. If a child is suspected of having sunstroke and this is conscious, they should be made to drink fluids and then taken to the hospital.
The elderly people who suffer from chronic diseases such as diabetes, infants and pregnant women are most exposed to the risk of suffering from sunstroke. The teens can also be affected given their special hormonal status.
The doctor said that so far this year she had only patients with suspected sunstroke, but the suspicions didn’t come true. The persons were either overtired, with preexistent diseases, mainly respiratory or cardiovascular diseases, or had an old age.
