Heat Illnesses - General

Hyponatremia is a relatively rare form of heat illness in which sodium levels in the blood become dangerously low due to excessive water consumption.  It usually occurs in endurance and ultra-endurance events lasting four hours or longer. While children do not ordinarily participate in these kinds of activities, hyponatremia is so dangerous that it something sports parents should know about.

There are several ways to check a child or teenager's hydration status or a change in hydration status over time. A youth's hydration status before and after a sport practice and how their status change are particularly important.  MomsTeam's hydration expert, Dr. Susan Yeargin, suggests using the mnemonic WUT (Weight Loss, Darker Urine, and Thirst) as a way to remember the three main ways to tell if a young athlete is dehydrated.

 

The National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA) has issued a first-ever set of high school-specific pre-season heat acclimatization guidelines as part of its ongoing effort to reduce the number of heat-related athletic injuries in secondary schools.

A child who stops sweating, is nauseous, or cramping could suffer a heat illness if he continues to exercise.

Athletes who exercise in hot or humid weather are prone to three different types of heat illnesses: heat cramps, heat exhaustion or heat stroke.

Because children tolerate heat and humidity less well than adults, there may be times when it will be necessary to modify or even cancel practices due to extremely hot or humid conditions. In deciding whether to do so, you should keep in mind that hot, dry weather can be extremely dangerous. Because sweat evaporates very quickly in such conditions, your child won't feel sweaty, and neither you nor your child may recognize how much water he or she has lost. As the relative humidity increases, the effectiveness of sweating in cooling the body also decreases. When the relative humidity is high, sweat drips off the skin so that the cooling benefit of evaporation is lost even at cooler temperatures, resulting in a build-up of body heat.

Between 1997 and 2001, eighteen student athletes died from heat stroke. In less than a two-week period this summer, football players in Indiana, Florida and Minnesota succumbed to the heat. It is imperative that, as parents, we recognize the signs of heat-related illness and take steps to prevent any more tragedies. Here are ten steps to preventi heat stroke among football players, guidelines that are applicable to every sport and recreational activity.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has developed a heat index chart parents and coaches can use to determine when heat and humidity have reached the point where athletes are at serious risk of heat illnesses, such as heat cramps, heat exhaustion or even heat stroke.

In addition to educating young athletes about both the importance of hydration and the dangers of heat-related illness, ensuring that they drink enough fluids, and taking precautions to reduce the risk of heat injury in children in hot and humid weather, you need to watch your child for symptoms of impending heat illness.