Anna Hartz
Traveling With Medicines? Here’s How to Protect Them From Heat
When the summer heat arrives, most people think about sunscreen, hydration, and staying cool.
Few stop to consider how the same heat affects the pills, creams, or injections they may keep at home.
Medications are sensitive products. If they are not stored correctly, they can lose their strength, become unsafe, or stop working altogether. This is especially true when temperatures rise or when medicines are exposed to direct sunlight for long periods.
General Rules and Package Instructions
Health experts stress the importance of protecting drugs from heat, light, and humidity. The package insert always provides instructions, but there are also general rules that everyone can follow.
Many European countries including The Spanish Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices recommends keeping medicines in a cool, dry, and clean place, away from sunlight, writes 20Minutos.
While this rule applies year-round, it becomes much more important in summer.
Some medicines are more fragile than others. Vaccines and insulin, for example, must be refrigerated to stay effective.
The same goes for creams, suppositories, and ovules, which change texture and stability if exposed to high temperatures.
Pharmacist Yasmina El Asri Mennana explains that these medicines can become useless if they are not stored at the right temperature. If their appearance changes, it is safer not to use them.
Medicine and Air Travel
The general advice is simple. If a medicine needs refrigeration, it should be stored between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius, but never in the door or at the bottom of the fridge where freezing can occur.
If it can be stored at room temperature, make sure the room does not exceed 25 to 30 degrees. Always keep them out of direct sunlight.
Summer travel adds another challenge. Many people carry medicines with them when they go on holiday. Leaving them in a car trunk or glove box is not safe, as those spaces can reach extreme heat.
When flying, experts recommend keeping medicines in carry-on luggage, where temperatures are more stable. Insulated bags with ice packs can be useful for medicines that need refrigeration, but the bags should never be left in the sun.
Finally, medicines should be kept separate from liquids or foods that might spill.
When in doubt, check the leaflet or ask a pharmacist. A little care goes a long way in keeping treatments safe and effective.
