When summer arrives, people can’t wait to throw on their shorts and get outside for some hot summer fun. During the warm months, it’s easy to get wrapped up in the rush of activities and forget about your health. Here are five simple ways to stay healthy in the summer.

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Eat Nutrient Dense Foods

Remember the old saying, “You are what you eat?” Well, it’s true. Your body relies on the nutrients in food to function properly. If you eat a bunch of sugar, fried foods and pastries, you’ll not only pack on the pounds, you’ll feel sluggish and unhealthy. For optimum health, go easy on the ice cream and fill your diet with a variety of nutrient dense foods such as lean meats, beans, fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, whole grains, fish and legumes.

Get Plenty of Exercise

Exercise is essential if you want to keep your body in tip-top condition. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends people get at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise five days a week. Exercise can include brisk walking, jogging, dancing, skating, jumping rope, kickboxing or anything else you may enjoy.

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Wear a Medical Necklace

In the summer time, people tend to spend more time out and about. Since the heat can exacerbate some medical conditions, it’s important to wear a medical alert necklace if you have health problems. This will make it easier for medical professionals to give you the kind of help you need in the event of an emergency. If you are fashion conscious and don’t want to walk around with a medical alert necklace around your neck, there are plenty of stylish medical bracelets for women to choose from.

Avoid Overexposure to the Sun

What good is summer if you don’t spend time playing in the sand, swimming, gardening and doing other outdoor activities?  While being outside in the sun is fun, overexposure can increase your risk of skin cancer. Not only this, repeated sunburns can damage the skin and make you look older than you are.

Do yourself a favor and avoid the sun during peak hours. Also, use sunblock to protect your skin from the sun’s ultraviolet rays.

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Drink Plenty of Water

Water helps your vital organs function properly. When you don’t drink water, you’ll become dehydrated and your body will eventually shut down. During the summer, your body loses water at a rapid pace, so it’s important to drink up. It is suggested you drink no less than eight cups of water per day. Some experts even recommend downing half of your body weight in ounces of water daily. This means a person weighing 150 pounds should drink 75 ounces of water every day to stay hydrated. If you exercise regularly, consider adding in a couple of extra cups of water to help replace the fluids you lose when you perspire.

If you eat the right foods, get plenty of physical activity, drink lots of water, be smart with sun exposure and wear a medical necklace or bracelet, staying healthy in the summer will be a breeze.

Santanu Majumdar is a part-time blogger and currently blogs at healthresource4u.com. He is also a health and fitness lover who loves to share her ideas on health, fitness and beauty. You can check him out on Twitter and Facebook