Treatment and recovery

Heatstroke is a medical emergency. If left untreated, an affected person may slip into a coma, often within minutes. Tragically, some people die from heatstroke - the excess body heat can lead to heart failure, kidney failure or brain damage.

Anyone believed to be suffering from heatstroke should be admitted to hospital as an emergency. They will usually be cared for in an intensive care unit where their body temperature will be lowered to a safe level and the abnormal salt and water content in the body corrected.

Fortunately, heat exhaustion rarely causes serious problems and can be treated relatively easily. This is achieved by removing the affected person from the situation causing the problem and by replacing the lost fluids and salts.

Someone affected by heat exhaustion needs to:

Rest in a cool place - an air-conditioned room is ideal

Sip cool drinks - drinks especially designed for rehydration (e.g., electrolyte replacement sports drinks) are useful because they contain a good balance of different salts

Take a cool shower or bath, soak feet in a bucket of water or place a wet towel on the shoulders

They should keep doing this until they feel better.

Avoiding getting into difficulties with heat exhaustion and heatstroke is straightforward:

Stay in the shade as much as possible

Drink lots of cool drinks

Avoid alcohol or caffeine which are dehydrating

Take it easy on hot days - don’t overexert yourself