The summer is most definitely here with temperatures due to hit 32C by Friday – but before you grab your flip-flops and head to the beach, you need to consider the potential health risks of a heat wave.
Whenever there’s a heat wave in the UK, hospitals are likely to experience an increase in admissions, but by implementing some simple heat-wave survival strategies, you can keep yourself out of the danger zone.
In the above video, Helen Stokes-Lampard from the Royal College of GPs says we must take heat warnings seriously and be prepared for the hot weather.
The people at most risk from suffering in hot weather are the elderly, people with existing health conditions, the very young and pregnant women.
When women are pregnant they tend to have lower blood pressure and be prone to dehydration, so it is advised that they are particularly mindful of drinking lots of water to avoid fainting or feeling light-headed.
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Helen also advises that parents take a proactive approach to the hot weather and offer their children drinks regularly, as very young children can sometimes forget or feel unable to tell adults what they need.
Helen points out that as a nation, we're far better at preparing for cold weather than hot.
"When it snows people run out to stock up on food, but when it's hot people don't seem to be as good about closing the curtains to keep the cool temperatures inside, about keeping lots of fluid and cold drinks and using them and also looking out for elderly people," she says.
Helen says we should all try and look out for our neighbors during a heat wave - it's not just cold weather that puts people at risk, 'good weather' can be just, if not more, dangerous.