How to keep your kids cool during summer

Getting good education for children is important, what’s more pertinent is the fact that you need to take good care of their health as much as their education. Having a bit of sun-ray is revitalizing. Not only does it give you that warm and fuzzy sensation during the summer days, but it also help provide your body with vitamin that regulates the absorption of other elements like calcium and phosphorous.

It’s true that you can get a daily dose of vitamin D from tuna and sardines or multivitamin pills, but nothing beats directly getting it from the source, raw. Top that with the fact your risk of getting a serious disease like melanoma is cut by 80% when you get a sensible exposure to sunlight for 2-3 times a week.

Some schools will provide clinic workshops to educate students about these topics. To further emphasize about this, school systems are set up to send messages to parents’ phones to keep them updated about their children, sort of like SchoolVoice app.

Why is it important you may ask. Well for starters, it’s the main purpose behind developing healthy bones. Getting sufficient amount of sunlight will help in regulating high cholesterol and blood pressure (which can be imperative for people with diabetes or obesity problems). It will also help boost the body’s immune system and fight colorectal cancer.

Even though epidemiological studies reported that higher intake of vitamin D by the body will lower the risk of developing cancer, you shouldn’t buy a sunbed, dismantle it in your back garden and sit sizzling in the sun for hours. 30 minutes is more than enough. Too much of something is not good. Balance is the key here.

Here are some tips to help you beat the scalding heat of the city.

• At recess, stay in the shade

I know how very mundane this might sound, truth be told, you’ll be doing yourself a favor by just not getting tethered in this from the start. Try avoid getting out in the sun when you can. Wait for the bus or for your parents inside the corridor of the building. It’s not enough to just hide under the shade as the heat and humidity by itself will be too much to handle. Try to find a spot where constant ventilation is available.

Naturally, the body will maintain its relative temperature through perspiration – a process known as sweating – which will cause the sweat glands to produce fluids. The heart starts pumping more and more blood through the epidermis layer (outer skin layer), vessels dilate and capillaries on our skin come into play. It’s innate. Our skin can handle about 90 percent of the body’s heat dissipating function. Why put your body through all of this if you can just sit in the confinement of an air-conditioned room.

You can always buy a hat if there is scarcity of shaded spots. And by hat we mean a giant sombrero that will likely cover your silhouette as you stand idle in the street. Any hat with a three-inch brim will be good at this point. That’s your protection done against UVA and UVB rays.

• Sunscreens in schools

Sun protection factor (SPF) creams will give your skin protection from UVB rays that will cause sunburn, skin abnormalities and some types of skin cancer. Every skin type varies on average circumstances, but putting lotion on your skin will help you remain under the sun without getting blisters for almost 150 minutes. Before heading to school, ask your kids to use sun lotion every morning.

There are 2 types of SPF scale: SPF 15 (which gives 93% average protection against sun-rays) and the SPF 30 (which gives around 97% protection).  There is also the water proof sunscreen protection cream – the duration varies depending on the brand. Have your pick depending on your day. Brands have their claims and testing mechanism to prove their legitimacy. They need to anyway if they want to pass the “over the counter” monograph process according to FDA regulation.

• Rehydrate, rehydrate, rehydrate

  

Drinking between 6 to 8 glasses a day is ideal in normal days. During summer, you’ll have to increase that. Fruits that are chopped up into little cubes and sold in plastic containers which you can easily buy from grocery shops nowadays or supermarkets contain electrolytes which your body wants are also a good supply for an ample amount of water or simply have fruit smothie.

Sports drinks will also give you more than you bargained for as they’re rich with electrolytes: magnesium, calcium, potassium and sodium. Rest assure either one will provide your body with a surge of refreshing energy you richly need to keep you going through the day.