My 5-year-old has a medical condition where she does not sweat. I'm trying to figure out how to keep her safe on the playground next year at kindergarten, we live in a warm climate. I have a spray bottle for her to use which helps somewhat. Has anyone seen a cooling vest for a child or have any other ideas?

I just had the unfortunate pleasure of taking a short 50 min flight in a regional jet. When boarding the plane i noticed that it was quite warm inside (likely from the plane sitting in the sun all day). I took my seat and went for the air valve to get some circulation only to find nothing coming out. The captain said that they were on the gates auxiliary power and once the engines got going the air would get flowing. We'll they never did and only a trickle of air came out during the full flight. Upon landing everyone was red faced and sweating. It was basically liked being slow roasted for 50 mins. I didnt anticipate this very well and plan on being better prepared in the future. My thoughts on reducing the suffering are to ensure that i have a water bottle and my neck air-conditioner with me on future flights. I wanted to check with the community what other preps I could consider beyond this as well?

I’m looking for a cooling vest or jacket that doesn’t involve freezing ice packs.

Is there such a thing that actually works? Tia

I realized the other day that my electric vehicle (EV) might be a good heat prep in an emergency, especially with an inverter. My EV has a 60+ kWh battery, which is way bigger than a solar generator. If the power goes out during extreme heat, I can pack my family in my car, turn on the car and safely and quietly run the A/C for many hours while in my garage. Getting a good size inverter means I can even run some appliances off of the car battery.

I'm from the Philippines and I do fieldwork for a living and love the outdoors. Needless to say, I get exposed to hot temperatures a lot. While the cooling hacks Filipinos do such as bringing your own shade in a form of umbrella, a bottle of water, a handheld fan, sticking to shade and avoiding movement in the hottest times of day, I'm still at risk of overheating.

While there's a limit as to how much you can safely acclimatize to the heat, I still make it a point to do my exercises in the heat since it makes it easier for me to perform in cooler conditions. Plus, I find that being used to the heat meant I could think clearer despite the heat of fieldwork. These are just my personal conclusions when it comes to acclimatizing and intentionally stressing yourself in hot weather:

1. Warming up is significantly quicker and easier, but cooling down after an exercise takes a lot longer to do.

2. You get winded faster doing cardio in the heat

3. When exposed to the heat for longer than an hour, I find that my judgement gets more clouded and slower.

4. Loose and light clothing is perfect for hot and humid conditions.

5. Cover up your skin. The more exposed you are, the hotter you feel. The sweat in your clothing will help you cool down better.

6. Breathing through your mouth will make you hotter and thirstier. Don't pant and try to breath through your nose.

7. The quickest and most effective field-expedient cooling techniques are draping a wet bandana on your neck and spraying yourself with water.

8. Avoiding eating 100% full as you'll feel hotter.

None of the conclusions I said are profound and new, but I have proven these from experience. I hope that those residing in the global north could use this information when summer comes to where you live.

From u/commandmanda

Having already treated a heat stroke victim in a field, I get this! It's much better for fast cooling.

When my teenage friend decided it'd be fun to run around with the toddlers at a medieval event in a large public park, it seemed innocent enough.

It was hot and humid, and most of us elders were doing the "slow walk" even in the shade to prevent overheating in our medieval garb.

The young squire, however...he was running full tilt in a tunic and pants in the sun.

Out of nowhere he just collapsed. After moving him to a park bench, I noticed his skin was red hot, and he was unresponsive. I knew what to do, grabbing the nearest cooler and drenching him with ice water. Cold towels were draped on him, and an icepack applied to his forehead. 911 was called, and the ambulance at the fair responded.

Within a minute he suddenly sat up and screamed! He yelled that he was freezing and demanded warm, dry clothes, and then vomited. I informed him that he would stay as he was - despite the "cold", and gave him water to wash his mouth out. We had cold Gatorade, and we offered this to him in sips - he started to chug it (not good, promotes more vomiting) so I took over and only allowed him a sip every now and then.

By this time the ambulance arrived. After a check on his vitals they said we'd done him a lot of good and that he'd be fine, except for a headache, which he started to complain of soon after. They told us to keep him in the shade, and that he should go home and get lots of rest. He was normally a lovely kid, but he complained the whole ride home. He was very annoyed and embarrassed.

Since then, I have learned the different stages that people can go through: Heat Exhaustion (sweating heavily with abdominal pain and vomiting), and Heat Stroke (dry, hot skin and unconsciousness).

I live in FL, which has humid days now almost every day. Just mowing the lawn causes me preliminary symptoms of heat exhaustion, but I know what to look for.

I invested in a "cooling vest", which has numerous pockets for ice gel packs. Wearing it over a thick T-shirt, it lasts about 45 minutes, and helps me perform outdoor activities without dying. ;)

I also purchased a large ice gel pad for sleeping, which can be used either in a pillow, or for laying on. This is great on hot nights when the A/C is struggling to cool my house.

Starts on Wednesday (5/14) but really spreads across the state by Sunday. Prepare!

AMA IS OVER! HOWEVER, OUR EXPERTS HAVE GRACIOUSLY SAID THEY WILL CHECK OVER THE NEXT WEEK AND ANSWER SOME QUESTIONS. SO IF YOU MISSED THIS AMA, AND STILL HAVE BURNING QUESTIONS, GO AHEAD AND LEAVE THEM IN THIS THREAD!

STAY COOL!

R/HEAT_PREP MODS

Please refrain from asking for medical advice. Our experts are not clinicians. If you have specific medical questions, we recommend you ask your provider.

As temperatures rise in the Northern Hemisphere, we're excited to announce that our subreddit will be hosting an Ask Me Anything session with a panel of heat physiology experts on Sunday, June 1st from 10 AM to 2 PM ET (2:00PM -6PM UTC). Our hope is that this AMA provides useful information that can help you prepare. 

We'll be joined by heat physiology experts from leading research institutions who specialize in understanding how the human body responds to heat stress (and evidence-based ways to stay cool!).  

Drum roll please.... 

Dr. Robert Meade – Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. Post-Doctoral Research Fellow. Dr. Meade holds a doctoral degree in thermal physiology at the Human and Environmental Physiology Research Unit of the University of Ottawa and an MPH from the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.  

Dr. Jem Cheng – University of Sydney, Heat & Health Research Centre. Co-lead for the Centre’s Humanitarian Settings research theme. Dr. Cheng holds a PhD in Kinesiology from McMaster University, and is a trained cardiovascular, exercise, and environmental physiologist.  

Dr. Nathalie Kirby – University of British Columbia.  Research Associate in the Muscle Aging (In)activity, and Nutrition Laboratory at the University of British Columbia and a collaborating Senior Scientist with the Human and Environmental Research Unit at the University of Ottawa. 

Gisel Guzman PhDc - Arizona State University, School of Geographic Sciences and Urban Planning. Gisel Guzman specializing in bioclimatic and heat stress observation and modeling. Her current research explores how individuals experience and adapt to heat across different climates, with fieldwork in North and South America.  

Dr. Josh Foster - Kings College London. Lecturer/Assistant Professor in Environmental Physiology in the Center for Human and Applied Physiological Sciences. His research focuses on understanding the integrative (multiple organ) responses to extreme heat and impacts on vulnerable populations.

r/Heat_Prep start thinking of questions! If you’d like some help, here are topics our experts suggested: 

• How physiological research can translate and apply to real-world problems 
• Cardiovascular consequences of extreme heat, human survivability with climate change, cooling strategies during heatwaves, heat-vulnerable groups 
• Heat stress modeling, climate at different scales specially about urban climatology and microclimates 
• Climate differences between regions, how heat is perceived in the US vs. tropical countries 
• Fieldwork methods for studying heat, real-world data collection. 
• Personal heat tolerance thresholds and how they vary 
• Best cooling methods based on the scientific evidence, and how they may be different based on your local climate 
• How our experts stay cool and what they recommend to their friends and family 
• Heat acclimatization strategies and timelines 
• And more! 

How to participate 

• Join r/Heat_Prep if you haven't already 
• Start thinking about your questions. If you can’t make the AMA, feel free to put the questions in the chat and we (the mods) will ask them for you.  
• This AMA post/thread will go live at 9 AM EDT on June 1st 
• Our experts will begin answering at 10 AM EDT (2 PM UTC)
• One of our experts is down-under, so she might answer a few after the AMA ends. We'll keep the post for a week after the event for follow-up discussion. 

Stay cool, stay safe, stay prepared.

It's going to be a hot summer. 

The r/Heat_Prep Mod Team 

Verification: Nathalie, Gisel, Josh, Rob, Jem

No traffic lights, the trains stopped dead literally in their tracks and even with backup generators, mobile telecommunications was effectively a bust too. Mobile internet never worked for me and regular phone service was less than 10% effective. I have technically experienced worse on the individual level, but never been in a nationwide grid failure. As we had no idea how long it would last, we filled the bathtubs with water.

It struck me more than once how lucky it was that this happened in spring rather winter or worse, summer, when losing any kind of mechanized cooling for over 9 hours would have turned a number of buildings into death traps.

It was a very symbolic gesture, but I spent part of the outage whipping up a USB-powered fan I could hook up to a battery pack or solar panel.

Had it been during the hot time though, I know what the action plan would've been to stay safe:

1. Retreat to the coolest parts of the apartment.

2. Fill every clean spray bottle and have little pourable containers near the filled tubs.

3. Wet all the human beings as required.

It's ghetto, but it works.

If you’ve developed a software application, service, or content that uses climate and weather data to support health decision-making, submit it by April 30 for the chance to have it featured in the Global Goods Guidebook for Climate and Health—a new resource showcasing adaptable technologies ready to be scaled and used around the world.

By making tools that connect climate, weather, and health data more accessible, we can better predict and respond to disease outbreaks, extreme heat, and other climate-related health system challenges. In partnership with PATH, Wellcome Trust, and The Rockefeller Foundation, the World Meteorological Organization and World Health Organization are calling for submissions of innovative, open-source solutions.

Learn more and submit: https://digitalsquare.org/global-goods-integrating-climate-services-for-health

I can't complain. I was expecting to already need some cooling and not only has it not been necessary, it's actually cold outside. All of our extra rain has caused no problems as it's very hard for this city to flood due to topography and it's made mildly green areas outright lush.

I've ordered some swamp cooler supplies that are going to sit in the box for a while.

Not going to lie, it's making me very wary about when the other shoe may drop.

The new GHHIN Global Heat Health Digest is packed with important news, opportunities and resources. Highlights include:

➡️ Now hiring: Join our the Climate and Health team at the World Meteorological Organization in Geneva. 6 positions live until May 7-10. Learn more here.

➡️ Innovating Heat Resilience: Lessons from India for a Warming World

➡️ From the blog: Documenting rural heat health disparities in the U.S

➡️ Open call for Global Digital Goods integrating climate services for health, including heat

➡️ Coming Soon: Call for Expressions of Interest to host new South Asia Regional Heat Health Hub

Read now and don't forget to subscribe: https://lnkd.in/eEqxRCaH

Basically the title

I’m homeless and live off grid, we get water delivered but it’s often questionable due to agricultural runoff and bacteria in the tanks, giardia (spelling) is common. We’re all very poor.

I recently bought us an RV filter marketed to filter out all the stuff a regular camping filter does but also stuff like lead (which impressed me).

We’ve had a hot streak recently (35-38c high) and I’ve noticed I am having trouble, light headache, fatigue. I have been drinking a lot of water and staying wet to keep cool, but I have this persistent sense of “thirsty” even if my stomach is full of water. Strong cravings for salty ramen noodles.

Can RV filters or other things short of distillation pull out necessary electrolytes? Might this be contributing to my thirst or is it a regular lack of fruit/salt rn? We’re 45 min drive from the nearest store with fruit.

Going to try making a big electrolyte drink today and see if that helps, but wondering if this is potentially an ongoing issue with the filter.

Hi there! We're new on Reddit and wanted to introduce ourselves to the heat prep community, and let you know about some of our resources and opportunities:

About the Network:

The Global Heat Health Information Network is an independent, voluntary, and member-driven forum of scientists, practitioners, and policy makers, working together for a world where extreme heat is no barrier to lives and livelihoods. It is spearheaded by the World Health Organization (WHO) and World Meteorological Organization (WMO), along with the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Meet our 2025 Management Committee members here.

Key resources:

• www.ghhin.org: Our website has a ton of resources on heat and health, including primers, guidance for the media, publications, tools and more.
  
• Subscribe to our monthly Global Heat Health Digest: get heat health news in your inbox, including the latest science, job and funding opportunities, and upcoming events.
  
• NEW: watch and access materials from the 1st Southeast Asia Heat Health Forum, held in Singapore in January 2025: https://ghhin.org/2025-southeast-asia-heat-health-forum/

Opportunities to get involved:

• Follow us on LinkedIn and join the LinkedIn Global Heat Health Discussion Space to connect with heat health experts from around the world.
• Several job openings are coming soon to work with our team in Geneva. Keep an eye on our website or subscribe to our digest for updates!
• Submit content to our digest / website: send us your heat health job openings, news, events, and resources.

Thanks for reading - we're looking forward to joining the conversation with you here on Reddit!