Keeping cool is key to staying healthy
A few years back, my daughter and one of her best friends joined a few dozen other healthy teenagers on a long- distance bike ride in the Idaho panhandle. The problem was, it was REALLY hot, like it has been the past few weeks. Cassie got the flu and had to drop out. Emmy forged ahead. She swore she drank lots of water, but she still ended up in a hospital emergency room with a fever, nausea and vomiting, and a killer headache. She needed IV fluids to cool her down and replace all the water she’d lost.
I thought about her as I listened to the news: Record breaking triple- digit heat across the country, even in San Francisco! (Mark Twain once quipped that the coldest winter he ever endured was August in San Francisco, so what gives?) Global warming or global climate change, whatever you call it, it’s HOT.
With the heat come increases in heat-related illnesses, like Emmy’s heat exhaustion, and sometimes even death. In California alone, 104 people have died over the last two weeks. The elderly, the very young, those with chronic medical conditions (particularly heart disease), and the poor are most often the victims. And these deaths are preventable.
Our bodies have a built-in mechanism to keep us cool. It’s called sweating, and it’s an elegantly simple system. As the temperature around us rises and our body temperature starts to increase, our sweat glands go into action, and we “schvitz”, as my Yiddish grandmother used to say.
The signal to sweat comes from an area deep in the brain called the hypothalamus. When it senses that the body is too hot, it signals the heart to beat faster, increasing blood flow to the skin.
The surface blood vessels dilate, or get wider. At the same time, our 3 million sweat glands jump into action, drawing water from the web of blood vessels. The sweat glands sweat, the water evaporates, and the skin temperature drops.
The blood in the surface vessels cools and circulates to the rest of the body, keeping our core temperature where it needs to be, hovering around 98.6 degrees.
We’re lucky to live in a relatively dry climate, where the sweat system can work efficiently. When I lived in Houston, where summer temperatures were often 100/100 – meaning 100 degrees and 100 percent humidity – the sweat came out alright, but it just stayed there, bathing my skin in stickiness and doing nothing to cool me off. Yuck.
When the temperatures stay hot, like they were recently, we’re all at risk for heat related illnesses. At its mildest, heat-related illness can cause increased swelling in the legs and heat cramps.
Heat exhaustion is more serious. The body temperature rises as high as 104.9 degrees. Nausea, vomiting and dehydration are common, as is headache, dizziness, and general muscle weakness.
Often oral fluids and a cool environment are all the treatment needed, but when nausea and vomiting are present, as in Emmy’s case, IV fluids may be necessary. Recovery is usually rapid.
Heatstroke is even more serious. The body core temperature rises above 105 degrees as the body can no longer sweat to keep cool, and there often are neurological symptoms like seizures or even coma. Of those who get heatstroke, as many as 10 percent will die.
As always, prevention is the key to avoiding heat-related illnesses.
If it’s really hot outside, stay where it’s cool and avoid strenuous exercise in the heat. If you must go out, drink plenty of fluids – constantly.
And stay away from alcohol and caffeine beverages. (They are diuretics and make you pee more.) Wear a hat. Stay in the shade.
And please, look out for your neighbors, particularly the elderly (who don’t sweat as much and frequently have illnesses that make the heat worse for them) and those without air conditioning.
You may prevent an unnecessary death, and that’s a good thing.