Here Comes the Sun!

As the lyrics of the song Here Comes the Sun by The Beatles goes, "it's been a cold lonely winter" but here in the Philippines particularly in our place, it's been long on and off rainy days for the past two week in March. Rainy days from January until the early weeks of March do not usually happen during these months. Can this be a sign of global warming? Here comes the sun and I can feel its scorching heat. Summer is finally here. It is an anticipated period every and signals the start of a long break from school, camping, beach outing, resort hopping, swimming, surfing, mountain climbing, wakeboarding, wakeskating and waterskiing.

The big S is for swimming. Summer is time of year and the best time to dig out our summer wardrobes and dust off our swimming stuffs for a cool adventure. When the temperature soars, swimming is a great fun to perform that can be enjoyed by people of any age and at its best to beat the summer heat.

Swimming is the best exercise which helps us to keep our body fit because it involves the use of almost all the muscles required for movement, without the weight of our body pounding us with each move like when we are walking or running. It controls the blood flow in our body and helps in maintaining good health especially if done once a week.

In our place, Fountain Spring Resort offers summer swimming lessons from basic and advance to competitive. Swimming course starts on April 14, 2009.

Other health benefits that swimming can offer:

• Tones almost every major muscle in the body

• Burns calories

• Regulates breathing

• Stimulates circulations

• Soothes the mind

• Improves stamina

• Improves cardiovascular (heart and lungs) fitness

• Offers a non-impact environment, unlike running or weight training

• Provides social interaction

• Persons who know how to swim can help save in an emergency situation

Cool tips to survive the summer heat:

The best ways to keep the kids safe in the water starts with proper supervision or watching the kids when they are in or around water even if they know how to swim.

• Disinfect the swimming pool to avoid recreational water illnesses (RWIs) like infection and diarrhea by swallowing contaminated with germs water.

• Protect yourself from the sun by limiting sun exposure during the peak intensity hours between 10am to 4pm. Excessive sun exposure can be at risk to develop skin cancer.

• Stay indoors whenever possible or stay in the shade or if can’t be avoided, apply sunscreen at leas 30 minutes before going outside. The SPF should be at least 15 (for young children) and SPF15 or greater (for older children). Be sure to reapply sunscreen every two hours or after swimming or sweating to protect against UVA or UVB rays.

• In addition to putting sunscreen, it is also top recommendation to wear hat, dark sunglasses that block 99 to 100 percent of UVA rays.

• If you must go outdoors, wear lightweight and light-colored cotton clothing.

• In summer when the temperature is high, it is advisable to drink plenty of water to keep the body cool to shun heat stroke. Heat stroke is the most severe form of heat illness when the body overheats and cannot cool down.

• Avoid heavy meals and eating too fast. In doing so, it would mean an increase in body’s metabolic heat and would generate sweat which leads for more body’s water loss.

• Know the perils of outdoor eating. Warm summer weather is a perfect breeding ground for bacteria so it important to keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold until ready to eat them to keep away from food poisoning.

• Be sensible with alcohol. Hot weather speeds up the effects of alcohol so extra care should be taken when drinking. Alcohol will lead to dehydration so make sure to alternate alcohol drinks with water.

So before we pack our swimsuit, chill out our mood for the action ahead and beat the heat with those cool ideas.

Do you have chilly ideas and experiences that you would want to share to beat the summer heat?