OTTUMWA — The sun may feel good to most people, but it can be a dangerous thing.

Overexposure to hot temperatures can increase the risk of heat-related illnesses such as heat stroke, dehydration and infected sunburns.

Eunice Harden said she knows the basic rules of what to do and not to do when you are outside.

“I don’t typically stay out long enough to get burnt or heat stroke,” she said. “If I get too hot, I get inside or in the shade or take a dip in the pool.”

The Otttumwa woman was at Ottumwa Park on Monday with her boyfriend and his little girl, playing on the swings and relaxing.

Harden said she always brings water with her wherever she goes when it is this hot.

“It’s nice when you’re at the park on the swings, because you get a little breeze,” she said. “It feels good.”

Occasionally, she said, she goes for walks around her fields in the country. But, she said it only takes her about 20 minutes to get around, then she goes back inside for a break before going out again.

“Sometimes I will go out again and sometimes I will just stay inside in the air when it is extremely hot,” she said.

Dr. Veronica Butler at Ottumwa Family Medical Center said people usually think of heat stroke occurring in individuals who work strenuously outside. But a lot of times it can be older or younger individuals who are just at rest, sitting in a hot environment.

Some symptoms that heat stroke may be setting in include muscle cramps and rapid heart beat.

“If you don’t recognize that as a warning sign, the next sign is cold, clammy skin and profuse sweating, headaches and nausea,” she said. “After that it gets real serious ...”

At that point the individual would become confused or delirious.

“By then, the skin is dry and the body can’t perspire anymore,” Butler said. “That is when someone needs to call 9-1-1.”

She said 400 people a year die from heat stroke.