How to have a happy, healthy holiday

Sunstroke, stomach upsets, dehydration and insect bites are all ailments experienced by holidaymakers from time to time. But with a little planning and a few precautionary steps, people can avoid some of the upsets that might interrupt their holiday.

After spending months complaining that summer just couldn't come soon enough, we're now in the throes of it - and suffering from those pesky ailments that only the hot months bring.

You might think that your summer wouldn't be complete without a heat rash, a minor heatstroke, an upset tummy, itchy insect bites or a peeling sunburn - but these are all problems that can easily be prevented by following our simple guide to dealing with common summer irritations.

Heat rash

So you've finally got yourself out into the sun, and now your skin has broken into a prickly and itchy red rash (this is why heat rash is also known as "prickly heat"). If you're in a hot or humid climate, this is probably due to the fact that you're sweating more than usual: the sweat is actually blocked underneath the skin, which causes the rash.

But heat rash can also occur after applying certain kinds of sunscreen.

There's one particular ingredient, avobenzone, that seems to cause this kind of reaction in people. If you do develop a heat rash, avoid the sun, avoid sunscreen, eat lots of fruit and vegetables for the antioxidants in them, drink lots of water and cut out strawberries, nuts, alcohol, coffee, and red meat as they could all make it worse.

Take a cool shower - a hot one will just make it worse - and get some low-grade hydrocortisone cream from the pharmacy, or some calendula cream to soothe the skin. Taking some vitamin C and calcium supplements will also lower the histamine response in your body and help to decrease the rash, which should go within a week.

Heatstroke

If you've been in the sun for a while lapping up the rays, watch out for heatstroke, which occurs when the temperature of the body rises sharply - either due to high outside temperatures or severe sunburn.

Heatstroke is associated with severe headaches, nausea, vomiting, hallucinations and potential fainting and collapsing. The problem isn't just the heat - it's that you get overheated and over-dehydrated and lose a lot of salt because you're sweating it all out.

Drinking loads of water, staying cool, and wrapping your body in cool sheets can all help.

Drink masses of water, take a lot of minerals - like magnesium - as you'll be losing them through the skin, and neutralise the heatstroke with the natural antioxidants in fruit and vegetables. And next time remember that staying cool, by drinking water and staying out of the sun, can help you avoid heat exhaustion and heatstroke.

Heatstroke can prove fatal if left untreated, so seek the advice of a doctor if you suspect you might have it.

Sunburn

After all those months of pasty skin, who wouldn't be in a hurry to get a five-minute tan? But sitting out in the sun for hours at a time not only increases your risk of melanoma, it can also cause skin blisters and severe burns.

What generally happens on holiday is that people eat too much, drink too much, and then pass out in the sun and turn bright red. If you know you'll be going out in the sun, take some vitamin E, selenium and betacarotene supplements in advance, as they've got natural sunscreens in them, and wear cream of at least SPF 30 when in the sun.

A lot of people think that if they're swimming they don't need any sunscreen, but just because you're in the water doesn't mean you're protected - the water actually reflects more light onto your skin.

Doctors recommend drinking at least two litres of water a day, and soothing the sunburn with calendula cream or aloe vera gel. If, however, your sunburn has turned into blisters, be careful with the delicate skin.

What you don't want to do is break the blister. Try and protect the skin and seek advice. You don't want the blister to get infected. Ultimately sunburn is a burn and you have to be careful about healing in that situation.

Holiday tummy

After waiting months for your holiday to come round, you've finally made it out of the office into sunnier climes - and straight onto the toilet.

The number of people getting food poisoning is definitely on the rise and that's because we tend to go on holiday tired and exhausted and our immune systems are down.

Taking a good probiotic before and while you're away will help ward off any bad bacteria and stabilise your gut.

Being cautious about local water and ice is key to staving off holiday tummy. Don't ever drink the local water and never take anything with ice in it. Avoid salads and unpeeled fruits too. You need to be really cautious about how the food you're eating abroad has been prepared.

Another thing to look out for is ice cream. You want to avoid ice cream that's been melted and refrozen, as there's a reasonable probability that you could get a gastro-intestinal infection from it.

Doctors recommend grapefruit seed extract to help ward off any problems and drinking loads of bottled water. And be aware of who is making your food.

At the end of the day, it's all about personal hygiene. You know where your hands have been and when you last washed them - but it's dangerous to assume that other people have done the same.

Insect bites

Out comes the sun, and with it all the bugs too. Whether you're walking on the beach, in the country or by the sea, it's likely that you'll be bitten by a sandfly, horsefly, or just a normal midge at some stage this summer.

For those of you susceptible to insect bites, taking B vitamins, like B-12 or B-complex, can help prevent the pesky bugs from getting close to you - as do lavender and rosemary essential oils. Or you could just carry some insect repellent.

If you react badly to any sort of bites, take some antihistamines. A nifty trick is to put toothpaste on the bite.

It takes the sting right out and cools the bite down. A cold bath with oatmeal is also very soothing, whether you're covered in insect bites, have a rash or a sunburn.

Oatmeal is an old remedy and can be surprisingly healing. Your insect bites should die down within a day or two, but if they don't, watch them closely.

If you start to get flu-like symptoms after you've been bitten, or the soreness starts to spread into general aches and pains you should go to hospital straight away as you don't want those bites to get infected.