Can you still work in the hot sun?

[shootist]

I've always been a cold weather person, but as I age the cold hurts at times. It's 80 degrees outside and a bright sunny day. I find I start to feel a bit weak after just 30 minutes or so of working hard in it. Starting to bum me out as I have never been a quitter. In the shade I am fine, but how I long for some cool overcast to work in. I know there's guys that thrive in heat like I used to in cold. But do you find yourself backing out from it much sooner than when you were younger?

Ps to keep this in it's proper perspective I mean hard work for a 70 year old, not a younger man.

[BEACH]

I’ve discovered that a growing list of things were easier to do at 37 than they are at 73!

[PNWGirl]

Cold weather, even below zero, doesn't bother me. Love the cold!

Heat, however, is another kettle of fish entirely. I do not do well at all now.

Last year, putting on new sealant and rolling out a new roof just about did me in. It's been that way since I was so sick with the original Covid strain (March 2020). It took me two years to get better and I will always have lasting issues (long Covid). Was not expecting sensitivity to heat to come out of it.

[Ludo]

I couldn't work in the sun when I was 12, which is a problem in Pasadena CA, now I'm 72, nothing has changed. Well, only regarding this issue ��

[bigb56]

I worked in the desert heat for years as a landscaper when I was young and thin. Then as an electrician we had plenty of outdoor work. Hats and lots of water help but now that I am 67 I try to limit it to early morning. If I start feeling overheated or weak I'll stop for the day. Weight makes a difference, I need to lose about 20 lbs. Thinner is cooler. When I was skinny the heat didn't bother me in the least.

[Cooperhawk]

For some odd reason I seem to like the heat. I've been working outside all week trimming trees, mowing lawn, ect in 90+ weather. It surprises me. I'm 82 1/2.

[donr103]

A lot of medicines can cause this.. the body for most of us.. changes at around 60.. if you try Gatorade type drinks.. or power aid zero.. if sugar bothers you.. about one before you start and 1 or 2 after.. you may find it better.. worth a try.. only about 4 bucks..
Good luck and keep us posted

[TandW]

Strange. Most everyone here has a recreational vehicle.
And a topic begins trending about hard work. Hope it passes!

[shootist]

Originally Posted by donr103

A lot of medicines can cause this.. the body for most of us.. changes at around 60.. if you try Gatorade type drinks.. or power aid zero.. if sugar bothers you.. about one before you start and 1 or 2 after.. you may find it better.. worth a try.. only about 4 bucks..
Good luck and keep us posted

Not on any meds. Been drinking a lot of water, and I add 1 of those sodium potassium magnesium powder packets when I start getting cramps or sick feeling. Still at it but had to come in to cool down. Stays hot up here so late by august it will be near 10 by the time it starts to cool.

[Old-Biscuit]

As a young man I worked Oil Rigs in WY....long cold winters/short hot summers

Then Navy down in boiler/engine room........hot environment

Then construction in Southern California.....great environment but lousy work

Finally went to work in Power Plants....making good use of my NAVY training. 25yrs all over Southern California from the Beaches, to the Inland area and finally High Desert

One constant........work around the boilers was HOT so I trained hard and became a Control Operator....Inside Air Conditioned Control Room
Having to cover outside jobs and just working around the yard got harder and harder

I could always handle COLD better then HOT

Now......70 and living in Central AZ. It gets cold and hot and I don't like either........LOL

[shootist]

Originally Posted by Old-Biscuit

As a young man I worked Oil Rigs in WY....long cold winters/short hot summers

Then Navy down in boiler/engine room........hot environment

Then construction in Southern California.....great environment but lousy work

Finally went to work in Power Plants....making good use of my NAVY training. 25yrs all over Southern California from the Beaches, to the Inland area and finally High Desert

One constant........work around the boilers was HOT so I trained hard and became a Control Operator....Inside Air Conditioned Control Room
Having to cover outside jobs and just working around the yard got harder and harder

I could always handle COLD better then HOT

Now......70 and living in Central AZ. It gets cold and hot and I don't like either........LOL

Man you got around. I tended to grow roots.
I stayed in prescott valley one winter. Installed a solar system for an off grid buddy up in ashfork in august and decided to stay in the area. Terrible weather, 2 feet of snow one night, down to six degrees a few nights, they cloud seeded 5 days a week so never any warming sun, rag weed wasn't out of the coach until late January, goatshead everywhere. Loved the people in that town though. About as kind and polite as I've seen in my life.

[TandW]

Like you Biscuit, the Navy taught me a trade I then used the rest of my working life. But my lungs caved to the asbestos and the silicates that replaced that, along with the stack gases with all the nefarious constituents. One of the reasons I live in the south now is because winter air is near lethal for me.
Doctors told me 19 years ago to save what I had left for myself.

[jacwjames]

Just turning 65 this month and age is catching up with me but I get by.

I use to do cold growing up in Northern Wisconsin. Ice fishing down to -30F can't say it didn't bother me but we managed.
Now I live in TN so mild winters but when it gets down into the teens my hand ache and I can't hardly function. I try not to let it stop me but still don't relish the idea of being out in the cold.



Hot weather doesn't seem to bother me as much. I do try to stay hydrated. Last year I spent all of August (pretty much the hottest month) building a covered deck. Had to set three 16' 6X6 treated posts, ~250lbs each, but I got it done, felt it in the morning but that's part of it.
This week my task is cutting and splitting firewood for winter. Saturday it got to 90F and I was out there until ~4PM the hottest part of the day. Will continue through the end of this week, I need +3 cords of wood. Dropped a large dead tree next to the house, had ~15' wide opening in the fence, pretty much hit it dead center.

So heat doesn't bother me as much as the cold. But I get by with either, I ain't going to just sit around.

[2cyber71]

I rather work outside when it’s 50f than when it’s 80f
That’s why I love the Florida Panhandle in January & February.
It’s just right and no one RVs there those months.