Heat exhaustion...we've all heard of it, but did you know that if left unattended, it could turn into heat stroke, which can be fatal?

Every year you hear of some unnecessary death of a senior caused by heat stroke. Heat stroke is heat exhaustion that has gone unattended. So, the solution is to prevent the heat exhaustion.

Heat exhaustion occurs when your body gets too hot. Its symptoms are profuse sweating, dizziness and weakness, nausea and vomiting, rapid heartbeat, flushing of the skin, headaches, muscle cramps and extreme fatigue. These are the warning signs that you need to do something quick.

An example of a warning sign is: when you have been working in your garden, stand up, are woozy and almost pass out. Another example is the "oh, I'm so tired, I just have to lie down and take a nap" feeling that comes over you after a morning on the Little League bleachers. It could be as subtle as a slight headache after a day at the beach.

Most people realize that "something" is wrong and perhaps they had better get out of the sun and lie down. Many people know that they should at least get something to drink.

However, "working until you just need to get out of the sun and lie down" is not always an option, especially for athletes and people who work outside for a living. It's also important to know what to do to protect your children from the effects of heat exhaustion, especially if they are going to be out in the hot sun when you're not with them.

The solution for preventing heat exhaustion is an understanding of its causes. Heat exhaustion is caused by the depletion of fluid, salt, potassium and electrolytes in the body. Electrolytes are dissolved salts in the body's fluids that are able to carry an electrical current. They are the form in which most minerals circulate in the body.

When it's hot, your body uses its ability to sweat as one of the means of cooling itself off. When you sweat, you're losing water, salt (sodium), potassium and other minerals from your body.

Sweating, as a means of cooling down your body, works best in an area that has low humidity. If you happen to be in an area that has high humidity, your sweat will not evaporate as well. You will still be sweating a lot (possibly more than usual) and losing the essential fluid and minerals your body needs, but no cooling off. Therefore, it's even more important to ensure that you are drinking plenty of water along with salt and potassium when you are in warm and humid climates.

So what is "enough water"? You should be drinking half of your body weight in ounces of water a day, For example, if you weight 160 pounds, drink 80 ounces of water, or 10-8 oz. Glasses.

There have been many articles written about the different kinds of water, so I'm not going to get into a discussion of water types here...I'll leave that choice to you. The point that I want to make is that the cells need to be hydrated and you need to drink water.

If you want to drink an "energy" drink, then stay away from the drinks that are high in sugar content. There are some "better" energy drinks that can be found in your local health food store, but that's not a substitute for good water.

Along with the water, you need to have, salt, potassium and cell salts. These are the components that are necessary to drive the water into the cells instead of straight into the toilet.

The fact that urine is a dark color is a sign of dehydration (unless you have recently taken excessive Vitamin C.)

Some experts state that for every 16 ounces of water you drink, you need 500 milligrams of salt. The body uses potassium to help regulate salt through he process of urination. So, you actually could take potassium every time you urinate.

This is a lot to keep track of. But, there are solutions to getting your body enough of what it needs when you are out in hot weather, working or playing sports.