UPDATE | Health First Athletic Trainer on Staying Safe in Extreme Heat

High heat stress is a combination of temperature, humidity, sun’s rays.
July 19, 2023

 

HEALTH FIRST'S CHRISTINE CLANCY, a Certified Personal Trainer, visited WESH 2 News' studio July 19 to caution athletes and their parents that practicing outdoors in extreme heat calls for precautions and planning. "When you're thirsty, you're already dehydrated," she said. The interview was the second she's given the station in as many months as above-average temperatures have settled over Central Florida and much of the South this summer. (See below for Clancy's June segment.)

 

 

IN FLORIDA, experts use the WetBulb Globe Temperature to gauge danger from heat stress and sun exposure. This differs from the heat index, and if you work or exercise in direct sunlight, this is a good element to monitor – military agencies, OSHA and many other nations use the WBGT to manage outdoor work in  heat, according to the National Weather Service.

 

In Florida, experts use the WetBulb Globe Temperature to gauge danger from heat stress and sun exposure. The WBGT considers temperature, humidity, wind speed, sun angle and cloud cover (solar radiation), according to the National Weather Service.

“It’s a lot higher in Florida," Health First Athletic Trainer Christine Clancy told WESH 2 NEWS

Clancy said Floridians don’t have to stay inside during the day, but they should be aware of the full stress that sun and heat puts on a person, and make accommodations.

Local athletes, especially football players who practice outdoors, often with thick equipment on their bodies (shoulder pads and helmets), in the mid-summer months of July and August, often schedule their workouts in the mornings and the evenings in order to avoid high sun. Clancy is a personal trainer for Melbourne High School athletics, and she discussed her duties – including monitoring the heat and players' output in it – with Spectrum 13 News.

 

At the beach, the UV rays are very high because the water and sand reflect sun rays up. Proper protection, hydration, and breaks should be part of the plan. This is especially true for elderly people and parents of small children who cannot regulate body temperature as well.