Gentle massage and stretching of the affected muscles usually provides relief. Drinking water, preferably with a pinch of salt per liter added, is advisable. Heat cramps do not often occur in someone who is adequately hydrated. Once the pain is gone, exercise may be continued if necessary, but a day of rest is better. Prolonged sweating may move you along the spectrum to heat exhaustion, characterized by headache, dizziness, nausea, rapid breathing, and, of course, exhaustion.
Sufferers are so sweaty they often feel cool, grow goose bumps and complain of chills.
Treatment should include moving the exhausted person to a shady spot and oral rehydration with cool, very slightly salty water. Maximum absorption ranges from 150 to 250 ml per 15 minutes, so it takes about an hour to get a liter back into circulation. Heat exhaustion is not physiologically damaging, but it should be treated aggressively before it progresses to a more serious condition. On the serious end of the spectrum lies heat stroke, a problem that kills approximately 4000 people in the United States every year. There are two varieties of heat stroke.