Heat Stroke Risks?

Hi Kathy

Thanks so much for posting, giving your feedback and expressing your concerns.

I believe that thousands of people are exposing themselves to unnecessary danger in MANY hot yoga rooms around the world.

While they don’t (or may not) have heat stroke, they have its less severe sister ‘heat exhaustion’. I know this by the many, many posts that I have received on this forum and the thousands of people whom I have met, and those who write to me personally, from around the world.

You’ll find reliable information about heat exhaustion and heat stroke online. I DO know what you’re saying though, where’s the information about how it works with hot yoga, the problems, the signs, the protocols and how to guard against it happening under your watch?

It is simply NOT true to say that hot yoga works for everybody and even more ridiculous to assume (as many people do) that ‘the hotter the better’. While people may not be collapsing in the studios so much that people see it’s a problem, they’re complaining of classic problems of heat illnesses. Some of the people who are most affected don’t come back to class, so it’s a matter of creating conditions that are good for everybody that chooses to come. It’s not a competition to see who can withstand the highest temperatures as many studios seem to believe.

Keep the heat (and heat index) at a reliable level. Know how heat and humidity combine to create conditions that can be even more risky. Work the heat and humidity to get that cleansing sweat and that feeling but don’t heat about that point.

Ensure, as you have been doing, that your students drink plenty of water, but PLEASE make sure they’re taking sea salt too, (or yes, they could also take expensive electrolytes). You want to avoid the problem of hyponatremia. Please go and find some information about heat exhaustion and hyponatremia and then see how much overlap these conditions have. Many people take too much water and not enough salt to balance it.

Most people listen to their doctors when they tell them to reduce salt in their diets. Unfortunately that misinformation is based on decades of clinical studies based on table salt (devoid of electrolytes beyond sodium and chloride). Your body NEEDS its electrolytes and so make sure you encourage sea salt use, on food, a dash in water, whatever. Get rid of table salt and NEVER consume that if you can help it.

In general terms most people need about 2.5 liters of water per day. Increase that by at least 1 liter and probably 1.5 when they do a class of hot yoga.

I think that your temp and humidity levels seem very acceptable and would be what I aim for generally speaking. Now, if you have the gauges in the room you’ll be able to make sure that neither value rises up too high. Just keep an eye on it during class. The higher your humidity the lower you can drop the temp, and vice versa.

I hope that helped you!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂