METAIRIE, La. (WGNO) — As we get through this week of heat, anyone who works outdoors is going to have to take extra precautions, and the trick isn’t just water.
Working at the car wash can be quite challenging. Just ask the staff at the Pelican Pointe Car Wash on West Esplanade Avenue in Metairie.
“A couple of years I’ve been out here, and this is really the hottest that it’s ever been. We start up at about seven in the morning, and usually within 25 minutes, we’re already sweating our butts off,” Ethan Lae, the car wash’s general manager, said. “It’s just so much to tend with.”
Pelican Pointe Car Wash has a game plan when the temperatures soar.
“It’s more just making sure we don’t leave people out here for too long,” Lae explained. “We try to keep us rotating inside to go do something that’s a little bit in the air conditioning. Try and keep your water bottles filled. We also we try to stock up on some popsicles and some cold rags during the summer to keep us cool.”
Although rare, doctors warn people about water intoxication or overhydration.
“So, it definitely can happen,” Dr. Jordan Harry, the medical director of student health and quality at Ochsner Urgent Care Occupational Health, said. “I mean, we all need water to live, but if you drink too much water too quickly, you know, we think of kind of in the two-liter-an-hour range, your kidneys can’t keep up.”
Harry says the electrolytes inside your body can become diluted, affecting your motor skills.
Drinks containing electrolytes or electrolyte tablets will help your body maintain its natural electrolytes of sodium and potassium.
“Whenever you sweat, you’re losing those, so you have to replace them in some manner,” Harry explained. “That’s why you have to really consider supplementing your water intake with some electrolytes when you’re outside.”
For those who don’t enjoy drinking water, this information isn’t a get-out-of-jail-free card. Drinking water will always be essential, but if you’re working outside or breaking a sweat in extreme heat, make sure you’re getting those electrolytes.
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