Bill Spencer’s essential hydration and clothing tips for high-intensity sports in scorching-hot heat

Heat stroke and heat exhaustion are two dangerous and miserable heat illnesses that can strike anyone who is working out, training or playing high-intensity sports outside in the kind of heat we are experiencing now in Houston.

As a former collegiate tennis player in California and current 8th ranked tennis player in the state of Texas, I have had to often play 3 and 4-hour matches in conditions where the feels-like temperature is well over 105 degrees.

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That means I have to pack the right clothes, drinks, sunscreen, and yes medical aids and gadgets to survive these long matches and hopefully win at the end of the day.

Here are the main tools I bring:

• Clothing: Several pairs of lightweight, sweat-wicking, tennis shirts and shorts. The kind that pull excess water away from your body and allow that water to evaporate, sometimes called Dri-fit.

• Hydration drinks: It’s critical that you fully hydrate your body before and during your workout with sports drinks that are loaded with electrolytes. I use a combination of 50% water mixed with 50% Powerade or Gatorade and I bring a lot of it. At least 6-to-8, 20-ounce bottles of the stuff to last me for 2 to 3 hours. That means drinking about 16 ounces of that mixture every 15 to 20 minutes. You should know I am a very heavy sweater when it comes to sports.

• Sunscreen: I am prone to skin cancer problems so I really have to protect myself from our intense sun here in Houston. So it’s vital that I spray on a broad spectrum, 60 SPF or higher, sweat proof sunscreen at least 15 minutes before I head outside to play and continue reapplying that spray every 60 to 80 minutes.

In the following television story, I show you several other things I bring to the tennis court every time I play.