Extreme heat makes it particularly difficult for your body to cool down. Therefore, you need to be particularly careful when playing sports or playing sports while baking outside.
Your brain will try to keep your body within the order of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit or 2 degrees Fahrenheit, but it does so by causing sweat in part. When sweat dries, it carries heat from the surface of the body.
When sweat cannot do the job – your body produces a lot of heat, and is hot and not wet, so you are at risk of dehydration and getting heat-related illnesses such as heat fatigue and heat stroke.
Bharat Venkat, an associate professor at UCLA and director of UCLA Heat Lab, says that Heat can affect your whole body. “We often talk about heat convulsions. We talk about heat fatigue. We talk about heat strokes,” he said. “But it’s actually much broader than that. The fever can really affect all our bodies, our minds, our lungs.”
When Heat Is Hazardous – and Why Humidity Is Important
The higher the temperature, the more difficult it is to keep your body cool, but humidity also plays a major role. High humidity reduces the effect of sweating, making it hotter than the temperature. There is already a huge amount of water in the air, and it doesn’t get any more water, including the water in the sweat.
The humidity factors and the heat index included in many weather forecasts provide a sense of how hot you are actually feeling and how dangerous it is to prolonged exposure and intense activity.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says that “caution” should be exercised when the thermal index reaches 80-90 degrees and “extreme attention” from 90 degrees to 103 degrees. Label everything beyond the 103 “danger” or “extreme danger.”
NOAA has a chart showing how the heat index is affected by humidity. For example, a day of 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) can reach “dangerous” levels with 70% humidity.
When the temperature starts to rise, it is important to know what you should and shouldn’t do to keep you and your loved ones safe. Here are some tips.
Tips for staying safe if you exercise in the heat
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, if you want to exercise in the heat, here are some safety tips.
– Time your exercise and outdoor activities of the coolest parts of the day.
– Try exercising in the shade as much as possible.
– I take frequent breaks.
– Drink plenty of liquids and limit drinks containing sugar, caffeine and alcohol. Don’t wait until you’re thirsty and drink more.
– Exercise with someone so you can check on each other or pair them with your teammates.
How to recognize that you may be overheating
If you start to feel any of these symptoms, stop exercising, get in a cool place and seek medical care.
– Muscle convulsions or weakness
– Running breath
– Dizziness
– Headache
– Nausea
If you go too far, you could risk serious fever-related illnesses
“Athletes and others who regularly engage in intense activities often think they can handle it,” UCLA’s Venkat said. “But a lot of research shows that it’s really bad for us to measure how hot it is.”
A common fever-related illness is thermal fatigue. This can be marked by rapid heartbeat, fast breathing, headache, nausea, weakness or convulsions.
When the body loses control over temperature, it can develop into more severe heat strokes. Symptoms include confusion, obscure speech, seizures and even loss of consciousness.
Fever also increases the risk of a rare condition called rhabdomyolysis, causing rapid breakdown of the muscle. If you or a fellow athlete thinks they are at risk, call 911 and give them liquid (preferably water) and try to cool your body with cold water or cold compresses.
And even if you think you can handle the heat, Venkat said, “It’s better to take a step back and take it easily.”
___
AP video journalist Laura Bargfeld contributed to this report.
Source link
