Important guidelines for preventing heat waves in the summer

With the continuous rise in temperatures during the summer, heat waves have become one of the most severe climate phenomena affecting the lives of individuals and economic activities. Which often drives people to search for an answer to the question: What is the reason for the intense heat these days? The answer lies inclimate changewhich has made these waves more frequent; Which prevents achieving the third goal of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): good health and well-being.

This high temperature has a severe impact, accompanied by dangers to human health and harmful effects to agricultural crops and livestock. The groups most affected by these dangers are:

• Pregnant women
• Infants
• Children
• Older people
• People with chronic diseases

Most of these dangers can be prevented by drinking sufficient amounts of water, avoiding direct exposure to sunlight during peak hours, wearing light cotton clothing, and staying in well-ventilated places.

For all this, experts recommend following preventive health and agricultural guidelines. If you are wondering about the best ways to prevent heat waves at the level of health and agriculture, you will find in the following lines a practical guide that lists information about heat waves, and provides the most important instructions and recommendations for dealing safely with high temperatures. So keep reading.

How to protect yourself and your family from heat waves?

Health authorities recommend following a set of simple measures that contribute to reducing health risks resulting from hot weather, primarily:

• Drink a lot of water and natural juices; To compensate for what the body loses in the process of sweating.
• Avoid direct exposure to sunlight, especially in the afternoon hours.
• Wear light cotton clothing in light colours.
• Use hats or umbrellas when going out during the day.
• Stay in well-ventilated places as much as possible.
• Monitoring children and the elderly; To ensure that there are no symptoms of dehydration orheat stress.

Signs that require attention

Some symptoms may appear that indicate that the body is affected by high temperature, and when they appear, you must immediately go to the nearest health center or call an ambulance. These symptoms include:

• Extreme thirst, dry mouth
• Dizziness, headache
• Fatigue and poor concentration
• High body temperature
• Increased breathing rate

Tips for farmers during heat waves

The repercussions of heat waves also extend to the agricultural sector, which is directly affected by these climate repercussions. How can we protect against heat waves in this sector?

The most prominent guidelines recommended for farmers

• Adhere to appropriate irrigation times, and avoid watering during times of extreme heat.
• Irrigation is carried out early in the morning or before sunset; To reduce the waste of water that can evaporate.
• Reducing the time interval between each irrigation operation and another, while rationalizing the amounts of water used.
• Use Recommended Agricultural Guidelines; To prevent plants from being exposed to heat stress.

Protecting livestock and poultry from heat stress

As for the field oflivestock raisingand poultry, it has its share of the impact of heat waves. These waves affect growth and production rates, and may cause economic losses if appropriate measures are not taken.

The most important preventive measures

• Providing shaded places for animals away from direct sunlight.
• Ensuring the continuous availability of clean water.
• Improving ventilation inside barns and shedsPoultry.
• Monitoring temperatures and humidity inside animal breeding places.
• Reducing stress factors that may affect animals during times of extreme heat.

Adapting to a new climate reality

Recurring heat waves confirm that adaptation to climate change is a necessity that affects public health and food security at the same time. Therefore, following preventive guidelines represents the first line of defense to reduce human losses and economic damage, and enhances society’s ability to deal with changing climate conditions efficiently and sustainably.

In the end, heat waves appear to be an accelerating phenomenon due to climate change, and they have become one of the reasons for shaping health and production equations. Because every additional temperature burdens health systems, depletes water resources, and doubles the burden of heat stress on humans, plants, and animals, making prevention a door to sustainable development socially, economically, and environmentally.

Therefore,The Earth Guards Foundationsees such health and agricultural guidelines related to heat waves, as part of the culture of adaptation to climate change, a culture that should be rooted in the behavior of individuals and institutions, through building effective awareness, and developing rational practices in water and energy management; Then the conservation of people and resources becomes an integrated path, not separate measures imposed by current heat waves or future heat waves.