Japan… is HOT. The end of July through August is the hottest time of the year here and if
you haven’t experienced a true Japanese summer… it’s oppressive. Last Sunday we
recorded a video at the cosplay summit, and it was 37°C or Jun says it was almost 38°C,
which is about 100°F, with 70% humidity. And it’s that humidity part that makes it
so rough. On days like that you only need to be outside walking around for a couple
minutes until you are completely drenched with sweat. I remember when I studied abroad
here, when I’d go to my classes in the summer, just from walking from my dorm to the classroom
I would sweat so much that I would have to bring a sweater with me, because the air conditioning
in the classroom would make me really cold and wet and freezing.
So adjusting to the heat here can be a bit of a challenge. But it can also be really
dangerous, and that's what I want to talk about today. When we went to the cosplay summit
on Sunday several observers left in ambulances with heatstroke, and these aren't just like
old and the sickly people who are getting heatstroke. These are young people who are
getting this, too. And actually according to the Fire and Disaster
Management Agency, the one week from the 27th of July through the 2nd of August saw 11,672
people taken to the hospital in Japan for heat stroke. Only half of those people were
elderly, and 25 of them died. So I want everyone who comes to Japan during
this type of weather to realize that this can happen to anyone, and I want you to be
prepared and be safe. So today I'm going to give a PSA (a public service announcement)
on how to prevent heat exhaustion and heat stroke.
So what are the differences between heat exhaustion and heat stroke:
Heat exhaustion is the lower level of these two and you’re going to go through it before
you get to heat stroke. You’ll know you have heat exhaustion if
you're outside on a really hot day, you’re sweating a lot, and you start feeling like
you’re going to pass out. The symptoms of heat exhaustion are:
Sweating heavily, feeling weak and/or confused, dizziness, nausea, headache, fast heartbeat,
and dark urine from dehydration. So I have actually had heat exhaustion a few
times in my life. I am not a human being who was built well to handle the sun. I have actually
passed out standing in formation in the military before, and I almost passed out at the parade
on Sunday. If you’ve never passed out before, what
going to happen is your eyesight is going to go blurry, it's going to be hard for you
to see. And your ears are going to feel kind of like they popped. It’ll be difficult
for you to hear as well. And if this is happening because of heat exhaustion you're probably
also going to start feeling a little nauseous. So when you start feeling these symptoms,
you need to step out of the sun, go sit down somewhere cool, and drink some water or sports
drink. When this happens, do NOT ignore it and try to power through. Your body is telling
you it’s halfway to passing out and if you try to ignore it you’re going to end up
on the floor. I really want to stress this part. Do not try to power through because
you won’t. I realize it can be kind of embarrassing to tell your friends "I need to go sit down"
or something. You don’t want to be seen as weak, and you don’t want to be an annoyance
to anyone. But it's going to be significantly more embarrassing if you pass out, someone
calls an ambulance for you, and the paramedics show up with a stretcher when all you really
needed was to sit down and drink a glass of water. If you don’t take action when you
notice these symptoms, you are endangering your life for no reason at all, and you’re
tying up paramedics who may have someone else they could have gone to who REALLY needs medical
attention.
So, think about yourself and others. When you start feeling some of these symptoms,
step away from the heat, go sit down somewhere cool, and drink some water or sports drink.
Once you get some sports drink or water back in you, you should start feeling normal again
and you’ll be good to go back out. But if you ignore all of those symptoms, it
can turn into heat stroke, and this can be life threatening. Symptoms are a high fever,
severe headache, dizziness/light-headedness, red skin, a lack of sweating, muscle weakness
or cramps, nausea or vomiting, fast heartbeat and breathing, confusion or disorientation,
and seizures. Untreated this can lead to organ failure and
death. Once someone reaches heat stroke, they can no longer treat themselves and you need
to call them an ambulance. The number here in Japan is 119. So that's 911 backwards.
119. I know all this sounds really serious, but your health isn’t a joke and even if
this doesn’t apply to you, if you're able to recognize the symptoms then if this happens
to someone else, you'll be able to help them get the care that they need.
I also want to give you guys some tips on preventing these things BEFORE they happen,
which is really the best scenario. Starting 24 hours before you go out, make
sure you’re drinking a lot of water and hydrating yourself. Since most people go out
pretty much every day, basically this just means make sure you're always drinking water.
Also, the morning you go out, make sure you eat your breakfast. It can be really easy
to wake up late, be in a hurry and head out without eating anything, but if that's the
case make sure you at least stop by a conbini and get some nutrition bars like Caloriemate
and eat it while you're on your way. This breakfast part is especially important for
people who don’t exactly have healthy diets or may not be getting all of their nutrients,
or people who have issues with low blood sugar or may be anemic. If you don’t eat your
breakfast you are significantly more likely to pass out. That passing out stage of heat
exhaustion can sometimes be completely avoided if you just eat your breakfast. Your body
needs the nutrition and energy. And of course make sure you're wearing sunscreen.
Wear light and loose-fighting clothing. If you want, you can wear a sunhat. I wore a
sunhat on Sunday. Hand fans are extremely common here so you can get one of those. Or
you can take a parasol with you, which is an umbrella for the sun. Jun and I have used
those before, too. And most importantly, bring water or sports
drink with you, and make sure you're drinking ALL DAY. Especially when you’re sweating,
you need more water than you’d think. So I was at the cosplay event for three hours
and I drank this much sports drink, plus I had several glasses of water during lunch,
and at the end of the day I peed out this much and I was still dehydrated. So make sure
you are drinking a lot. And I recommend that throughout the day you are drinking at least
one thing of sports drink. It's kind of rare, but if you are losing a lot of water and electrolytes
and you're only putting a lot of water back into your system, you can get water intoxication,
which can also be very dangerous. When we were in the military for example we were required
to drink at least one thing of sports drink with every meal throughout our training. So
I highly recommend drinking at least some sports drink. As you can see, most of mine
were sports drink. And another thing is make sure you're drinking consistently throughout
the day. It's a lot better for you than trying to gulp down a whole bottle all at once, because
that can make you kind of nauseous and sick. So this was public service announcement video.
I know a lot of you guys are probably like UGH WHATEVER but just keep these things in
mind. I want all of you who are watching our channel to take care of yourselves and be
safe. Your trip here to Japan is probably going to be a lot more enjoyable if you don’t
get heat exhaustion, so just be safe, guys. Thanks for watching! See you guys later! Bye!