Keep Your Cool in the Summer Heat

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If you work in construction you know how the outdoor elements can play a significant role in how you experience your job. In the winter, wearing the right clothes to keep you warm and dry are critical to staying healthy and productive over the course of the working day. Just as important is another concern that is sometimes overlooked, and that is staying cool and hydrated in the summer heat.

Often times it is easy to assume you will stay cool when the morning temperature is between 50 and 60 degrees. As the day wears on it can heat up to the point where without you realizing it, you start can become dehydrated. Having ample amounts of purified drinking water is critical to staying hydrated and productive. Liquids like soda pop and coffee are not acceptable. Purified water is what you need. Because of the poor quality of tap water, I would not recommend drinking it. Despite what many people think, the chlorine and fluoride additives are not healthy for your body. Over the long term, drinking tap water can cause health concerns.

According to Mike Adams, editor of Natural News, an online publication, “The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) issued a startling report that admits 2 in 5 children in America show signs of fluoride poisoning (streaking, spotting or pitting of teeth due to dental fluorosis). The agency concluded that fluoride levels need to be lowered in municipal water supplies, reducing fluoride to 0.7 milligrams per liter (the previous recommended upper limit was 1.2 milligrams per liter).”

He goes on to add, “This ends over five decades of the U.S. government recommending up to 1.2 milligrams of fluoride in every liter of water. But even the new lower levels are still more than enough to cause serious harm to children, and when mothers make infant formula using fluoridated tap water, they inadvertently poison their infants with hundreds of times the level of fluoride that would normally be found in healthy human breast milk.”

By purchasing purified bottled water or having a water purification filter installed on your faucet, you are helping to protect yourself against dangerous substances that over the years, have entered the public supply of drinking water.

How much water should you consume? A simple equation to help adults figure their fluid needs, is that for every pound of body weight, you need about half an ounce of fluid intake per day. For instance, if you weigh 140 lbs., simply multiply 140 by .5 to estimate your daily fluid needs in ounces, then divide by eight to estimate your fluid needs in cups per day, rounding up to the nearest full cup. [example: 140 x .5 = 70 ounces; 70 ounces divided by 8 = 9 cups of fluid per day]. If that is too complicated, a general guideline for how much water you normally need to drink is six to eight glasses of water per day. Of course the hotter the day is and the more you sweat, the more water you will need to drink.

To keep yourself productive when working in construction, make sure you drink ample amounts of water. When you do, you will keep yourself healthy and be more productive.

Tom Borg is a consultant in leadership management, team building and customer service. Please see more of his blogs at constructionjobforceblog.com and csjobsblog.com To view additional job postings go to Nexxt
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