Hi, I’m Dr. Alida Fiamengo, pediatrician at Tahoe Forest Health System. I’m here to talk to you today about summertime safety tips.
In the summertime we love being out in the sun. It has positive effects: Vitamin D for bone health, mood-boosting chemicals that send our happy signals off. But what we want to be careful of is too much exposure can be dangerous to our health. One of the things we can do to stay safe is wear a sunscreen. There are plenty of healthy products out there, mineral sunscreen, wearing loose-fitting clothing. UPF of 50 is a good option. We start sunscreen at 6 months of age.
Heat exhaustion can look like confusion, dizziness. Sometimes your kids may or may not be sweating, and so if they look flushed, they look a little out of it, make sure to take a break, get some water, get those electrolytes, and get them lying down if need be so that they can have more fun doing the things that they love.
Bug spray is important when you’re out in the woods, so make sure to use DEET less than 15% if you can, and cover that skin up with those long clothes.
We hope you have fun out there. Thanks for listening.
