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Winter Health Tips
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Winter Health Tips
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Winter’s various dangers can occur suddenly, like a heart attack while shoveling snow, or slow and stealthy like carbon monoxide poisoning. The Ohio Department of Health offers these tips to help keep you and your family safe this winter season.
Snow Shoveling
Snow shoveling can cause serious injuries or death to people who are elderly, have chronic health problems or are not used to strenuous activity.
Tips:
- Never smoke while shoveling. Tobacco smoke constricts blood vessels just as cold air does; the combination can be dangerous.
- If you become short of breath while shoveling, stop and rest. If you feel pain or tightness in your chest, stop immediately and call for help.
- Have a partner monitor your progress and share the workload. If a heart attack happens, your partner can call for help and, if trained, perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, until help arrives.
- If you have a known health problem, use a snow blower or hire a snow removal service. Keep in mind, pushing snow blowers through heavy, packed snow can also present a health risk. Don’t assume using a snow blower alone will eliminate your risk.
- Each shovelful of dry snow weighs about four pounds, while wet snow can weigh significantly more. Warm up before shoveling by walking and stretching you arms and legs for a few minutes. Warm muscles are less likely to be injured and work more efficiently.
- Wear sturdy shoes with rugged soles to help prevent slips and falls.
Hypothermia
Each year in the United States, more than 700 people die of hypothermia (low body temperature) caused by extended exposure to cold temperatures both indoors and out. At least 220 Ohio residents lost their lives to hypothermia from 1989 to 2001. Most were male and about 70 percent of the victims were 50 or older.
Warning signs of hypothermia in adults include shivering, confusion, memory loss, slow pulse, drowsiness, exhaustion and slurred speech. Long exposure when it’s wet, windy and 30 to 50 degrees can be just as hazardous as dry, calm subzero weather. Wet clothes quickly draw heat from the body.
Tips:
- Watch for the “umbles” – stumbles, mumbles fumbles and grumbles which show change in motor coordination and levels of consciousness.
- Hypothermia can occur even inside a building. The thermostat should be set no lower than 65 to 70 degrees if the occupants are 75 or older. Infants younger than one year of age should never sleep in a cold room and should be provided with warm clothing and a blanket to prevent loss of body heat.
- People with medical conditions such as diabetes, kidney problems and arthritis are at higher risk of hypothermia than other people. Use of alcohol and certain medicines also increase the risk of accidental hypothermia. They include drugs used to treat anxiety, depression or nausea and some over-the-counter cold remedies.
- Do not participate in outdoor sports activities alone. Drink plenty of nonalcoholic beverages to stay hydrated in cold, dry air.
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