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What can be done to lower the number of deaths from heatstroke?

35 Comments

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Drink lots of water? Turn on the A/C? Don't work outside in the heat of day if you are elderly. Just really use common sense - of course that is often a problem with people.

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Watch Animal Adaptation DVD and Learn...!

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Drink water and stay inside, next question.

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Why? It's natural selection in action. It's only the weak and stupid that die.

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Drink a lot of water, cut off drinking beer which tends to dehydrate you when you are drunk, stop wearing suits to work and start to use air conditioners rather than fans that blow only hot air around.

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A lot of people are not sure what to eat and drink in such intense heat as we are experiencing now. One girl in my office doesn't have any hot food, just salads for lunch and cold noodles for dinner. I told her she should have at least one hot meal a day. And many guys drink a lot of carbonated beverages, which of course only makes them thirsty.

By the way, I read somewhere that drinking too much water on a hot day is also not good for you and will make the body languid. Does anyone know if that is true? The report might have been saying that too much water and not enough food leaves the body without energy.

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Stop with all the paranoia about the A/C making you unhealthy. So many deaths occur because lunatic old people buy into weird myths about air conditioning making you sick, refuse to turn on the A/C, and die of heat stroke.

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@smartacus-It's called water intoxication. It's rare, but it happens.

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Stop those ridculously stupid commericials implying that if you use your air conditioning you will contribute to global warming and we will all be living under water. WTF planet are some of these people from?

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Is this a serious question??

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lots of good advice here, I am sure I will survive now. thank you JT! saving lives!

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Drink water, wear light clothes (thin fabrics and light colors) and for crying out loud, go in the shade if you start to overheat. Kids on my school's sports teams keep getting mild heat stroke from practicing outside in the hottest hours of the day - come on guys, this thing is preventable! It's just common sense!

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Actually I think Japanese have a lot of sense when it comes to hot weather - fans (sensu and uchiwa), towels or tenugui, cold drinks anywhere and everywhere you look, not to mention kakigori.

Face it, it's just a particularly hot Summer. And some people are more suspect than others. Infants and elderly are usually the first to suffer, in any country, not just Japan.

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DeepDrifter - Is this a serious question??

With the large amount of people hospitalized and dead it is obvious that a large part of the local population have no idea what the answer is. Just put it down to Darwin's theory of evolution. Only the strong and the intelligent will survive.

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genji17 Thanks for clarifying that, all this stupid global warming stuff has been getting really inconvenient, I was worried that I might have to stop driving my pickup truck. I don't wanna have to think about it anymore, I'm busy.

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Use aircon and turn it to lower than 28 c. don't wear cardigan when out and about. Look after the oldies. Don't walk 2 km's to nearest hospital when feeling a little faint.

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Do we really want to lower the number of deaths from heatstroke considering most of the deceased are elderly? A lot of money can be saved from not paying their national pensions.

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bengoshi - That's harsh. I can believe you're a lawyer.

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I'm not sure what the question is. Does it mean what can YOU do to lower YOUR chances of suffering heat stroke or what can society do to lower the number of people who suffer heat stroke?

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All the sexy ones should streak naked to cool off.

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stop doing whatever they have been doing all this time (like others said - light clothes, drink water, etc - the obvious really) and for chrissakes, stop that uchimizu nonsense!! it doesn't get any cooler.

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Ignorance isn't bliss, it's fatal. Especially on your health issues.

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The obachan and ojiichan should just stay at home instead of going out to fill up their time with activities. I have even seen an obachan with mobile oxygen pack at the gym. I wonder why can't she just stay at home and watch TV instead of coming out in the hot Summer day?

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Legalize guns

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If it's really old people, the theory might exist that they're doing a service for their country by going when they go. But to suggest such a thing would be crass, of course.

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I told her she should have at least one hot meal a day.

Why?

By the way, I read somewhere that drinking too much water on a hot day is also not good for you and will make the body languid. Does anyone know if that is true? The report might have been saying that too much water and not enough food leaves the body without energy.

This is dangerous misinformation. It is not keeping your body properly hydrated to replenish what you lose when you sweat and urinate that causes heat exhaustion and potential heat stroke. The Japanese eat foods that are high in sodium, which require even more water to dilute the level in the bloodstream, combine this with the need to replenish water from sweating and you have a potentially dangerous situation.

For someone to develop hyponatremia, you would have to drink an excessive amount of water continuously, i.e. really work at it and forcing yourself to drink more than a liter per hour.

Elderly people often have other medical conditions, and take medications, that make the heat hard to deal with. People with asthma often have attacks in high heat and humidity.

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Stay home with air conditioners on until the weather gets cold.

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How about warnings over public speaker systems?

"Be careful if you go out today. It is hot (in case you didn't notice)."

Seriously, I think the heat problem in Japan is air conditioning. Should you dress for the inside or our outside temperature? Dress appropriately for the outside temperature and you will freeze indoors and on the train.

Also, water consumption is a problem. Some people, especially old people with no income, may not want to pay 100 yen or more for water, a drink which always used to be free. Free water fountains in buildings and at stations are no longer commonplace as selling water has become such a profitable scam.

How many of these deaths were really caused by heatstroke? Many were probably caused heart attacks or just age.

Personally, I don't like air conditioning. In this weather fans and open windows are sufficient, but then I live in the countryside and not in a noisy city, so I can open the windows.

Perspective, I use little salt and drink lots of liquids such as water or fruit juice. I agree with your opinion.

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Keep cool, that means turn on and turn up the A/C, stop whining about how it hurts the environment, by that concept, you shouldn't drive or use your fridge or washing machine. Get over it. Drink lots of Sports drink/water NOT ONLY TEA! Drink cold drinks NOT HOT! I still can't understand why some people want to give you hot tea in this hot weather. Use fans, women need to stop covering themselves from head to toe dressing up as if it were winter, allowing their skin to breath, WEAR SUNGLASSES, I cannot emphasize this enough!

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Check on your neighbors.

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I can't believe no one has mentioned that it's better to drink water that is at room temperature, not cold. Lukewarm water is absorbed by the body quicker than chilled water. If you want to keep cool, use one of those towels with ice packs in them that they sell at Matsukiyo.

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Your skin can breathe fine when covered from head to toe (just ask ladies in Saudi Arabia), but it's a matter of the fabric. Light or dark colors don't matter as long as the fabric breathes. Dark are actually better at protecting you from UV rays. Everyone wears rubber shoes in the summer (which do not breathe) and then look at me like I'm nuts for wearing leather (which DOES breathe) shoes.

Hot drinks are not necessarily bad for you. As long as you're drinking it doesn't really matter what temperature your drinks are.

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Dark are actually better at protecting you from UV rays.

The opposite is true.

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I heard this suggestion more than once, take a train/subway and enjoy the air conditioning and the company, with a book or whatever. I keep an eye on my bills (aircon, etc) and I would consider that option if it weren't so boring. Economical, nonetheless.

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