Healthy Happy Loving Life: 4 Top Tips for Thriving in the Desert Summer

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heat exhaustion, heat stress, heat stress tips, heat stroke, heat tips

© 2021 Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM.  World Rights Reserved.

Photo © Kebba Buckley Button.  World Rights Reserved.

Today, in Phoenix, it was 100 degrees.  Longtime residents of Phoenix and other desert cities may shrug off temperatures around 100.  After all, it easily gets to 115.  However, if you are new to the Desert, you’ll do better with some hot tips to keep you cool!  Here are 4 top tips to help you to thrive and actually enjoy your life all during the hottest weeks.

1. Limit your heat exposure.

Know that heat exhaustion and heat stroke are serious medical conditions. Heat illness is a major cause of death worldwide.  Symptoms include dehydration, electrolyte loss, and failure of the body’s ability to regulate its temperature. Key organs can be damaged, and people can die. Just read those daily newspaper articles on passport-free border-crossers. To completely avoid heat illness, drink water, carry water with you at all times, recharge your electrolytes (minerals) frequently, and never stop to think or chat in the full sun. Park your car in the shade and/or use portable sunshades in the windshields when it’s parked. Call for medical help if any faintness/weakness/head pain/red face doesn’t subside in 15 minutes or so.

2. Limit your sun exposure.

The solar radiation index in Arizona is very high, and Phoenix is the number 2 city for skin cancer in the world. Stay in the shade when possible. Wear a high-SPF wide-brimmed hat, good sunglasses, and sunscreen of SPF15 or higher. There are nonsticky SPF 110 products available now.  When you’re tubing, re-apply to your ankles after hooking them under the tube.  Water doesn’t prevent sunburn. When you’re out walking and see a friend, step together into the shade to have your conversation.

3. Keep your energy up.

Too much heat is just tiring. In Chinese medicine, too much yang becomes yin. In desert areas, the summer is the most important time of year to practice personal energy management. In your diet, emphasize fresh fruits and salads, which contain many enzymes, vitamins and minerals not present in processed foods. Carefully choose where you put your energy each week, in projects and people.

4. Keep your mind and heart fresh.

The most hidden danger of the hot months here is that the brain and creativity go flat, and with them, the emotions. Relationships may suffer from blahs, boredom, and crankiness. If you don’t keep yourself healthy, energized, and clear-minded, you may damage some relationships and bore yourself sick. So get out your cool clothes, your sense of humor, and the events announcements. Try some new places, festivals, groups, and events. Check the e-calendars from your city, nearby cities, your arts center, church or social groups. Try a moonlight hike with such groups as the Sierra Club. Tour the Botanical Garden at 7 am. Watch a friend audition for a theater troupe. Call old friends and meet in the evening for cool drinks and hot bands, at trendy rooftop clubs. Try a night at a resort where they show movies over the pool and give you your own inflated rafts to watch from.  There are many options!

These strategies can help you this summer, so you’re not just surviving, you’re thriving! Make this your best summer ever, so far.  And that’s you, being more and more Healthy Happy and Loving Life^sm!

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Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM, is a stress solutions expert, holistic guide, and award-winning author who celebrates life.  She has a longtime energy healing practice and is an ordained minister. Among her books are: Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), Inspirations for Peace Within:  Quotes and Images to Uplift and Inspire, and Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine.  The books are available on Amazon and through Kebba’s office.   To email us, kebba@kebba.com .

Books by Kebba Buckley Button

UpBeat Living: Best Cooling Drinks to Outsmart Heat Stress

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Feeling energized, heat stress, Kebba Buckley Button, stress, UpBeat Living

© 2016  Kebba Buckley Button, M.S., O.M.  World Rights Reserved.

 

 

What cooling drinks do you reach for on a blazing hot day?  What will you drink to outsmart heat stress?  The best ones may not be the sweet, carbonated, icy, creamy, and alcoholic drinks you might think of, to cool you off.  The most important thing is to make sure you serve your health with what you drink.  If you want to feel good, or even great, on hot summer days, you’ll need to switch what you swallow.  That means following these two tips:

First, stay hydrated!  Drink filtered water, that is, water with the chlorine removed.  Do not pay for an expensive water-conversion system to alter the water molecules (which we’ll discuss in another article), without first removing the chlorine.  Chlorine is a poison to microorganisms (germs) which is the exact reason they put it in the public water supply.  Your body doesn’t need it, and it’s bad for you.

A simple table-top carbon-filter pitcher will filter out the chlorine, fluoride, and other bad-tasting elements of tap water.  You may find this water more refreshing if you keep it in the refrigerator.  You may also want to ask your local health food store about mineral drops to add to filtered water.  If your body is low on minerals, the drops added to your beverages will bring your stamina up the same day, or sooner.

Second, water is the most hydrating liquid you can drink, so drink it!  If you hate plain water, try adding a little cherry juice concentrate, which will also give you a few carbs, potassium, and anti-inflammatory compounds.  If you’re hiking or working outside, you may enjoy half water and half organic apple juice, which again will provide a few carbs calcium and a lot of potassium.

If you will be working or exercising outdoors a lot, do eat salty snacks!  They’ll make you thirsty and keep you from losing too much of your body’s moisture through sweat.  Check with your doctor about your ideal personal sodium-potassium-calcium balance.

 

Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.

– Thomas A. Edison

 

Avoid sugary foods and drinks, and alcohol! These dehydrate you!  These will make you more thirsty and tired after the initial refreshing sensation.  Avoid all artificial sweeteners (which we’ll discuss in a future article), going for fruit juices and concentrates as flavors.  Anything with sugar, alcohol, or caffeine will give you a little boost, then put the squeeze on your kidneys.  Alcohol is, for some purposes, a super sugar.  So limit that, plus all refined sugars and caffeine, when you’re hot.  The decaf coffee drinks still are loaded with antioxidants, so you still will get a boost, but a healthy one.

This is the fourth and last article in our Summer 2016 series on outsmarting Heat Stress. Try these strategies to feel your very best.  After all, it’s your life, and aren’t you worth it?  And that’s Upbeat Living!

________________________________________________________________

Energy – Peace – Meditation

 

• Kebba Buckley Button is an ordained minister whose passion is helping people find their Peace Within. She also a  stress management expert and has a natural healing practice.  She is the author of the award-winning book, Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), and Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core, Second Edition. Her newest book is Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine.  Both that book and Peace Within are available through her office.  Just email books@kebba.com. 
• Would you like  an appointment or to ask Kebba to speak for your group? Just email  calendar@kebba.com .

UpBeat Living: Best Foods to Beat Heat Stress (Not Always What You Think)

Tags

Feeling energized, heat stress, Kebba Buckley Button, stress, UpBeat Living

© 2016  Kebba Buckley Button, M.S., O.M.  World Rights Reserved.

 

Is Summer blazing hot and really dry where you live?  Some only think of the heat stress. Yet, life can be beautiful in these conditions.  I want you to thrive all the time.  That’s Upbeat Living^sm.  And in the Summer heat, that goal can be challenging.  But you’ll soon be up for it if you’ve read all 4 of my summer thriving articles, and started following the tips.  This is the third of the 4 articles.

In the last 2 articles on dealing with the hottest Summer days, I covered :

• Protecting your body and skin
• Getting enough rest, and
• Strategizing to have the most energy you can

In this article, I offer ideas on how to eat cool to keep cool! [Yes, we’ll cover what to drink, next time.]  This is not always the cold foods you would think.  Follow these three tips to switch what you swallow, to feel your best:

1. Set your goal to get the most energy out of whatever you swallow. Think of it this way: part of the art of eating well and healthfully in the hottest times of summer is having quick food to grab—the right quick food.  Because you and your family will often come home tired on blasting hot days, you’ll be grateful to yourself for keeping healthy cool foods ready to eat.  Some of these could be:  celery sticks, jicama sticks, cucumber slices, cherry tomatoes, avocados, cherries, berries, grapes, bananas, pineapple chunks, dates, peaches, nectarines, yogurts with live cultures, sushi California rolls, roasted chicken (available at your grocery store), pan-broiled salmon (you made it last night and chilled it), tuna salad (you made it last night and chilled it), hard-boiled eggs, boiled organic potato chunks, cans of organic beans or chick peas, raw almonds or cashews, and a variety of olives.  You might call this collection, “the fastest slow food you can get”.
2. Buy it and bring it home. Your grocery store now has trays of veggies, trays of fruits, prepared chicken, and even heat-and-eat ribs. There are organic salads ready-to-go and organic salad kits in bags. Green salad is your friend, and as light greens go, Romaine lettuce is the most energizing.  It’s the lettuce in every “Caesar Salad”, prepared or in a kit.  As dark greens go, kale is the star of the nutritional show. Have a large dark green salad for dinner almost every night, with pieces of potato, avocado, and chicken.  Topped lightly with your favorite dressing, it’s a quick and restorative meal.  You’ll feel alert and clear-minded all evening, and then you’ll sleep well.
3. Order ahead and pick it up from a café. Many cafés and other restaurants have salad bars and other fresh menu options that match the criteria in Tip #1: if you’re going to eat it, it has to give you energy.  Put the phone numbers of your favorite restaurants in your phone.  Make it easy for yourself and your family to feel good and be healthy.

Can you have great days and wonderful relationships in the desert summer season?  Absolutely, you can.  Eat well for the weather, follow the other tips in this series, and you will sail triumphantly through the hot season!  And that’s Upbeat Living!

_________________________________________________________________

Energy – Peace – Meditation

• Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert and the author of the award-winning book, Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), plus  Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core, Second Edition, and Sacred Meditation.  She also has a natural healing practice and is an ordained minister.
• Liked this article?  You can buy Kebba’s books:  just click the links or email books@kebba.com .           
• Would you like  an appointment or to ask Kebba to speak for your group? Just email  calendar@kebba.com .

Upbeat Living: 4 Top Tips to Stay Energized on Blazing Hot Days

Tags

Feeling energized, heat stress, Kebba Buckley Buton, stress, UpBeat Living

© 2016  Kebba Buckley Button, M.S., O.M.  World Rights Reserved.

~Chihuly Glass Yuccas at the Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix~

 

Last time, I covered the defensive basics of heat stress:

• Your skin needs extra protection
• Your body needs to get out of the heat
• You need to get enough sleep and general rest.

In Phoenix, our highs are often 110 and up, for several months each year.  In Delaware, Denver, and Desert Hot Springs, it may only rise into the 90’s, but the humidity can be 30%.  It’s sticky.  You’re slimy. You can’t think or get motivated.  So in any of these cities, how on Earth can you keep your energy and attitude up?

Here are 4 easy strategies for staying upbeat and energized, thriving rather than just surviving, when the weather is searing.   You can do this!   Mall shopping is obvious, but what if you don’t want to shop?

Use the cool hours to stoke your energy for the day.It’s coolest around 4 am, depending on how urban your area is.  The sun rises a bit after 5 in midsummer, so take advantage!  Run errands before 10 am and after dark.  Use 24-hour grocery stores. Play tennis at 5 am or 10 pm.  In Phoenix, visit the Desert Botanical Garden, open at 7 am, but for members, now open at 6 am Wednesday and Sunday.  The DBG is also now open until 8 at night, and the property is much cooler than the surrounding city. Phoenix City parks are open until 11 pm.  Try moonlight hikes, such as the Sierra Club’s monthly full moon hikes.

Schedule runs, workouts, picnics and hikes as close to daybreak as you can.  Even your dog would rather go out early. The air will be 30 degrees cooler than later in the day, and you can be active and even enjoy it.  Also, do your yard work or gardening at sunrise, while it’s cool.  Then plan other outdoor chores according to when your yard, or the activity area, will be in shadow; this may be after 4 pm.  Sun-sensitive walkers can use the hallways at malls as early as 7 am, and then stay for coffee.  And yes, you can use MeetUp to find a walking group, or form your own.  Stack your day like this, and you’ll be surprised at how much better you feel all Summer.

Missed the early morning coolness? Go to the air-conditioned comfort of entertainment.  Shopping malls, movie theaters, and indoor ice skating rinks are waiting for you.  Many malls now have indoor playgrounds for your kids, and you can sit with your iPad while your kids play safely.

If you like water fun, remember the City parks systems have swimming pools.  Also, many resorts have “day use” for their pools complexes, with water slides and cabanas—a new generation of high-end water park, with towels provided.  There is even poolside food and beverage service.  Just remember your sunscreen and re-apply often!

 

If you saw a heat wave, would you wave back?

~Steven Wright

Try a change of location.  Feeling the need for a re-set?  Go to a town or campsite at a higher elevation, to a lake or to a coast, and take a cool climate break for a day or three or longer.  This will give your metabolism, your brain, and your emotions a time-out.  You’ll get a fresh start on your return.

Keep your attitude and activities fresh.The most damaging aspect of the desert heat, for some, is the tendency for the brain cells to bake until they don’t work well.  With heat stress, you can lose your concentration quickly, then your attitude, and then your enthusiasm for anything at all.  Filled with heat-blahs, you can make mistakes with people and actually damage relationships.  So resolve that you’ll stay as positive and perky as you possibly can.  Please, do not get sucked into conversations about how hot it is!  This will increase your sensation of being hot.  Ignore the comments or say something cheery like, “Yes, it’s almost like Phoenix in the summertime!”  Then talk about fun things you have been doing.

Novelty will help you stay alert and enthusiastic about life.  Do things differently.  Have you been to all your local art museums and galleries?   Round up friends to go try a new restaurant, or the dining room of a cooking school.  Go to Summer concerts and plays in locales like Sedona and Laguna Beach.  Go to any ski town, ride the ski lift, and take photos. Visit Santa Fe on Labor Day weekend for the Arts Festival; you’ll need your down vest after sunset.  Got other ideas?  I would love to hear them.

Keep it cool and keep it fresh, and you’ll have your best Summer ever, so far!  And that’s Upbeat Living!

Next time:  How to eat to stay cool.  Yummmm!

________________________________________________________________

Energy – Peace – Meditation

 

• Kebba Buckley Button is an ordained minister whose passion is helping people find their Peace Within. She also a  stress management expert and has a natural healing practice.  She is the author of the award-winning book, Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), and Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core, Second Edition. Her newest book is Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine.  Both that book and Peace Within are available through her office.  Just email books@kebba.com. 
• Would you like  an appointment or to ask Kebba to speak for your group? Just email  calendar@kebba.com .

 

Upbeat Living: Top 3 Tips to Beat Heat Stress

Tags

Feeling energized, heat stress, Kebba Buckley Button, stress, tips, UpBeat Living

© 2016  Kebba Buckley Button, M.S., O.M.  World Rights Reserved.

It’s a brutal truth that three smart adults died in the Phoenix area recently, of heat stress; clearly, they needed good tips to beat heat stress.  One of those who died was a fitness trainer, hiking at mid-day with two other health professionals.  It was a 114-degree day.  Sadly, intelligent professionals sometimes confuse personal strength of resolve with physics.  You have to pay attention to the heat.

Understand that when the National Weather Service says it’s 114 out, they are providing the temperature taken in a protected environment.  Those temperatures are read from instruments in a white louvered box at certain qualified locations.  Those are not the temperatures of the air in the full sun, which are higher.  Nor are they the temperatures of the pavement, which is often 150 degrees.

In the Summer heat where you live, have you felt great today?  Or were you hot, tired, and fog-brained?  Maybe even a little sick? So what can you do to protect yourself?

1.  Get out of the heat. Do get 15 minutes of sun on your hands and face each day, for your body to produce enough Vitamin D. But you can get that while driving to an errand. The rest of the time, get out of the sun or wear sunscreen and sleeves.  And don’t stop to think in the full sun!  Adjust that grocery list before you go out the front door!

If you love to be outside, you can now buy special sun-blocking clothes from travel companies. You can get shirts designed to provide SPF 50 or higher, plus broad-brimmed hats with mesh-side crowns for through-flow of air. More difficult to find is the safari hat with its own built-in fan, but they are great for hiking. Cooling neck scarves are now widely available. Soak them to activate the gel inside, and store them in the frij between wearings.  Water bottles, with a battery-operated personal fan attached, are amusing and do actually help you keep cooler.

Photo by Kebba Buckley Button

If you get too much heat, you’ll generally know it. But if people tell you your face is bright red, this is not good.  If your skin is totally dry, or if you feel nauseated or are vomiting, or if you feel totally drained and confused, these are clues you have heat exhaustion or heat stroke. Get to a cool, dim place, put a cool, damp cloth on your forehead, and try to drink water (with the chlorine filtered out).

Remember what Rudyard Kipling said:

Only mad dogs and Englishmen

go out in the noonday sun.

2.  Protect your skin. If you don’t want to cover it, at least wear some sunscreen. There are new generations of sunscreen in clear or opaque forms, or colored to function as makeup foundation. Many moisturizers and makeup products contain SPF 15 or higher for day use. Powdered mineral-based foundation makeups provide non-chemical SPF 15. If you’re wild to have tan skin, and you weren’t born with it, check out spray tanning or tanning moisturizers. Be aware that these do not provide sun protection, however, and skin cancer is a concern.  And remember to drink water to hydrate your skin. Support your skin by also eating foods that can help it stay moist and young-looking: fresh fruits, avocados, and dark greens like kale and baby romaine.  Get the organic versions if you can, and you’ll have more energy.

3.  Use common sense. Rest if you need to. Plan extra time to get enough sleep every day.  Nap if you need to.  And focus on thriving, throughout the month.  And be resolved to stay in your Upbeat Living!

Next time: Keeping your energy up when it’s over 100!

________________________________________________________________

Energy – Peace – Meditation

 

 

 

• Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert and the author of the award-winning book, Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), plus  Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core, Second Edition, and Sacred Meditation.  She also has a natural healing practice and is an ordained minister.
• Liked this article?  You can buy Kebba’s books:  just click the links or email books@kebba.com .           
• Would you like  an appointment or to ask Kebba to speak for your group? Just email  calendar@kebba.com .