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Brian Lehrer: WNYC. At the end of yet another heavy show this week, we will end again with something a little bit on the lighter side. But it is 93 degrees outside in New York City. Here's what we're going to do. We're going to invite anyone listening who works outdoors to give tips to everyone else on how you cope with the heat, because nobody knows it better than you if you have to be out there to make a living. What are your tips and tricks for dealing with yet another 93-degree day? 212-433- WNYC. Or if you're not working right now and therefore able to listen to the show, maybe you are a retired construction worker or somebody whose days off happen to include Wednesday, 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. Construction workers, outdoor restaurant servers, landscapers, delivery drivers, how do you beat the heat? Your tips and tricks for your fellow workers, but really for everybody else who may not be as professionally up to speed on these things.

212-4433-WNYC, call or text, 212-433-9692. There's one that comes to my mind just observationally. I notice as I go around town on these brutally hot days that a lot of people I see working outside are wearing long sleeves. I understand the hats that come down way over your neck or that have the gators or whatever you call them that come down over the front of your neck, but they're wearing long sleeves. That, I guess, is a hedge against sunburn, but is it also a tip in a certain way, if it's made of a certain material to stay cool? 212-433-WNYC with your tips and tricks. There is also a labor law aspect to this.

Last summer, we talked about this a little bit with a labor expert named Terri Gerstein about how extreme heat puts outdoor workers in danger and how most of the country still lacks enforceable protections. Maybe you can talk about your workplace policy on that as well, and maybe what is enforced at your workplace or offered. 212-433-WNYC but this call-in is for people who work or have worked outdoors on extremely hot days with your tips and tricks for each other. Even for people who don't do that, who may never have thought of it as deeply as you have had to, what do you do to cope when you're outside for an extended period of time? 212-433-WNYC, call or text. We'll take your calls right after this.

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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Coming up at noon with Alison Stewart is just five minutes away. We will get to as many tips and tricks from people who work or have worked outdoors for managing the heat when you have to be outdoors as we can. Veronica in Manhattan, you're on WNYC. Hi, Veronica.

Veronica: Thank you for taking my call. I'm a dog walker. I start working at 6:00 AM. It can end at 8:30 at night. Number one, imagine that you're in the Bahamas, where it's always cool and even the heat is still warm and cool. A wet bandana around your neck and around your dogs, loose clothing. You slow down and you keep a good Caribbean beat going in your head. You know exactly where the shade is. You take your dogs there. You sit there for a few moments. The minute you feel a little dizzy, you sip a little room temperature water and you get yourself straight, and you move on. The day goes slow and the breezes are balmy.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you, Veronica. Here's Yisrael in Goshen, who runs a summer program for kids. Yisrael, you're on WNYC. Hello.

Yisrael: Hi. I run the Yiddish Farm Education Center in Goshen, New York. We grow wheat and spelt for Shmura Matzah production. We have tons of camps that come through in the summer. We had about 200 kids yesterday come up right in the heat of the day. I put an ice pack in my shirt. I made sure that the camp brought tons of semi-frozen water bottles. We had plenty of places in the shade to stop on the way and shade cloth over the hay wagon so that everybody was happy. You can find out more at yiddishfarm.org.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much. On a hay wagon, 200 kids, a lot of shade breaks, a lot of water. John in Tenafly, you're on WNYC. Hi, John.

John: How are you? Thanks for taking my call.

Brian Lehrer: Thanks for making it. What you got?

John: Okay. I started landscaping. I was 13 years old, 1978. I came from a big Irish Catholic family, and we had to work. I learned the hard way. Back then, you didn't have thermoses, things to take with you, so you drank from garden hoses. Back then, we wore shorts, and I would take my shirt off. That's just what we would do. It's funny because I worked with a Sicilian gentleman who told me, because he kept watching me get water, and he said, "Don't drink any more water." I said, "Why?" He said, "Because you sweat too much." It was the exact opposite of what we should do.

We should be hydrating ourselves and sweating. I had it in my head like, this is the right thing to do. Then, as the years went by, I started bringing cold water. My trick was, because eventually I had my own business, to go home for lunch, take a cold shower, and put on fresh clothes. When I could do that, it was like I was a different person.

Brian Lehrer: John, thank you very much for that one. A listener texts, "Pretty simple, peppermint oil mixed with water in a spray bottle applied to the back and around the neck." Lisa in Stamford, you're on WNYC. Hi, Lisa.

Lisa: Hi. Thanks for taking my call. I am a guide in an outdoor museum in Westchester called Kykuit. Most of our tours are outdoors in the middle of the day. We give our guests handheld fans that they can use to cool themselves. We also, like the dog walker, follow the shade. I use a frozen neck ring from Amazon that does not get my clothing wet, but keeps the jugular veins cool and lots of hydrating. The biggest thing for me personally is that I began early in the season acclimating to heat by wearing too many clothes indoors, wearing fleeces inside in the summer to try to get my body acclimated to heat so that then when I'm either playing tennis in the heat or guiding in the heat, my body is used to that warmth. That's a key for me.

Brian Lehrer: A classic beat-your-head-against-the-wall because it feels so good when you stop kind of strategy. Lisa, thank you very much. Let's see. Can I sneak in two more texts? One says, "Cooling vests, they're a thing. They help a little, but quality vests are expensive." Another dog walker writes, "I think wearing loose linen clothes or very light woven cotton." Thanks for your calls, outdoor workers, on beating the Heat. Stay tuned for Alison's.

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