The Impact of Hot Weather

The Impact of Hot Weather

The nervous system in humans controls body temperature and keeps it in a healthy state. When body temperature rises you find it trying to maintain normal temperature, thus. Seating and blood flow to the skin which is known as thermal control (Thermoregulation) helps to maintain the normal temperature of the body by heat transformation. Humans are inflicted with heat-related or specifically heat diseases when their bodies are not sufficiently capable of transforming the heat and maintaining body cooling.

The intense rise of the body temperature can develop at a rapid pace in the extreme environment of heat, as in the case of a child left in the car under the summer heat. The temperature rises also in small spaces where there is no adequate ventilation such as machine rooms.

Thus, people working in such environments or circumstances might experience intensified body temperature quickly.

The rise in body temperature caused by fever differs from heightened body temperature resulting from diseases caused by sunlight and high air temperature, so, fever is usually the reaction of the body to infections and other symptoms, including simple and dangerous.

The increase in body temperature resulting from the heat is a result of not being able to convert heat efficiently or because the external heat gained is too high.

Diseases associated with weather rising temperatures are as follows: heat rash due to the skin lacking sweat producing rash with the need for rubbing the skin and a feeling of discomfort.

  • Muscle spasm that occurs after exercising because sweating makes the body lose water, salts and minerals.
  • Swelling in the legs and hands, which may happen when you stand or sit for a long time in severe hot weather conditions.
  • Interruption of breath and tension caused by the heat, which usually occurs to some people in hot weather conditions.
  • Fainting from hypotension when the heat causes dilation of arteries and body liquids transfer to legs due to gravity.
  • Exhaustion, when a person is working or exercising in hot weather conditions, with inadequate water intake to compensate the lost liquids from heat.

Heat stroke when the body fails to adjust its rising temperature, often reaching 40.6 degrees Celsius or higher constitutes an emergency condition, and even when such cases are promptly treated , they are still endangered and might suffer from complications on the long run.

In most cases, the physical and environmental conditions may make it difficult for the human body to retain its cooling. The cases associated with hot weather often result from thirst, dehydration or exhaustion. In other cases, they may worsen the situation such as exercising, working or wearing heavy clothes under such conditions which increase the risk of injury. Also, caffeine and alcohol increase thirst and dehydration.

Also, many drugs increase the risk of having heat associated symptoms. There are some medications that reduce the amount of blood pumped by the heart and thus, inadequate blood reaches the skin limiting the body’s ability to cool itself through sweating. Other drugs lead to thirst increase body’s heat production especially when taken regularly.

Thus, it is important to see your doctor to discuss the activities you perform under heat so as to advise you in this regard and avoid sunstroke.

Prevention: Most of the heat associated symptoms can be prevented by maintaining a cooler body and avoiding thirst and dehydration in hot weather conditions. For mild cases, heat symptoms can be usually treated at home. Whereas, extreme exhaustion and sunstroke require prompt medical treatment.

Among the factors that increase the risks of having health symptoms related to heat are:

  • Age: Infants or babies lose heat faster because their bodies are larger than their weights and they sweat less. Whereas adults sweat occasionally and they usually have other health symptoms which affect their capability of losing heat.
  • Obesity: Obese people suffer from inadequate skin blood supply and they retain heat due to fat tissues and it is difficult to cool their bodies due to their heavy body mass.
  • Summer heat weather conditions: People living in urban areas are more prone to suffer from such diseases in Summer and its hot weather since high buildings and polluted air retain heat.
  • Chronic diseases: Diabetes, heart and cancer.

Travelling to remote countries which have high humidity and hot weather conditions.

So, according to the symptoms you have, you can visit specialists of Internal Medicine, Nephrology or Dermatology.