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Dear Sara:
The answer is a definite YUP! You know how you can bake in the sun when you're at the beach? The
remarkable thing about your body is that most of the time if your body is getting too warm, you
sweat. The evaporating sweat cools your body down and allows your inside temperature to stay
"normal" despite the beating hot sun.
Sometimes the heat is so great, or your body's lack of salt and liquid so severe, that your
body can't cool itself down anymore and your body's internal temperature begins to rise. First
symptoms may be weakness, or a headache, nausea, or confusion. Your skin may be pale and clammy, or
if a more severe heat condition, hot, red and dry. You may have developed heat exhaustion or
even heatstroke.
In either case, find shade immediately! Sip fluid, preferably slightly salty fluid, and then
sip some more. Lie down and call for an adult. But you can protect yourself from the heat with some
simple but important precautions: drink lots of liquids, don't play too long and too hard in the
heat and, if you begin not to feel well, come in, find someplace cool and take a rest. These are
simple suggestions ones even a worm can live by!
Signed,
Wendell
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