© Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM. World Rights Reserved.
It’s blasting hot outside—again! Phoenix, famous for being Amazingly Hot in the Summer, is setting records for the most consecutive days over 110 degrees! I have lived here for 39 years, and every year I get better at managing my energy in the Summertime. You either have to be mindful and proactive or you have to take a nap from mid-June to mid-September. With a cool cloth on your head. I would rather you thrive! Like the single white cereus blossom in the giant cereus plant above, you can thrive! So here are 5 ways to make sure you do!
- Watch 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. This is the tip you expected: 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—that’s floating down the Salt River on a big intertube you rent– re-apply sunscreen to your ankles after hooking them under the tube. Water doesn’t prevent sunburn. When you’re out walking and see a friend, don’t stop! Just step together into the shade to have your conversation. Since I had melanoma, I tell them, “I just need to step into the shade”, I gently pull them into the nearest shadow, and they always say, “oh, great idea!”
2. Limit your heat exposure.
Please realize 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. This is horrible! 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 (see Strategy #1). Park your car in the shade and/or use portable sunshades in the windshields when it’s parked; leave your windows down an inch or so while the car is parked. Call for medical help if any faintness/weakness/head pain/red face doesn’t subside in 15 minutes or so. We want you alive.
- Drink the right cool stuff.
Water is the best beverage for hot days! Second best is iced tea, either black tea or green tea. Both types of tea contain antioxidants that are strengthening. Contrary to rumor, it’s not the caffeine in the teas that lifts you. It’s the antioxidants. If your restaurant offers passion fruit green tea, be aware that passion fruit has supportive and healing properties. So try it! Alcohol, unfortunately, is both a depressant and a liver stressor. It will weaken you when you did not even realize you had gotten too much heat. So limit your adult beverages!
- Keep your energy up.
Too much heat is just tiring. In Chinese medicine, too much yang becomes yin. Too much heat makes you weak. 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. Also, limit sugary snacks, which will actually drop your energy fast. Have fruit instead, or an all-fruit smoothie. Also, carefully choose where you put your energy each week, in projects and people. And take naps whenever you want to. Being in searing heat is taxing!
- Keep your mind and heart fresh.
The best-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 fracture 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 Meetup, your city, nearby cities, your arts center, your big bookstores, church or social groups. Try a moonlight hike with the Sierra Club or Unity Church of Phoenix. 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. Try a night at a resort where they show movies over the pool and give you your own inflated raft to watch from.
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 Lifesm!
Kebba Buckley Button is a stress/energy management expert, holistic healer, and award-winning author who celebrates life. She has a longtime holistic 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. They are also available in Scottsdale, Arizona, at the Franciscan Renewal Center bookstore and at the bookstore at St. Barnabas on the Desert Episcopal Church. Or simply email us to order: kebba@kebba.com . Thank you!