how heat hurts

IN MINUTES News and events — visually 

How heat hurtsAs the temperature outdoors soars, you can see its eect on the outside of your body as you start to drip

sweat and your skin turns red. What you may not realize is how the heat aects the inside of your body.

Brain

When the tempera-ture outside goesup, so does thetemperature ofyour brain. Thiscan explain whypeople sometimesget confused whenthey spend toomuch time in theheat.

Protect your body in the heat!• Eat foods that are easy to digest, like simple carbs

• Stay away from alcohol & caefine

• Drink water or sports drinks

• Avoid food high in protein or fat

Sweat: Your body sweatsto keeps its temperature at98.6 degrees.

Sunburn: One of the mostobvious signs of UVexposure and skin damage.Often marked by rednessand peeling.

Heat Rash: An intenseitching and pricklyfeeling in aected areasof the skin due tooverheating. In severeforms heat rash caninterfere with the body'sheat-regulation, causingfever, heat exhaustion,and even death.

Freckles/Moles:Caused by too muchsun exposure. When themelanocytes in the skinget damaged by thesun, we producefreckles which areabnormal collections ofmelanin pigment.

The eects you can see

Heart• When you sweat, your heart has to work

harder to pump blood with oxygen andnutrients to the bodys tissues.

• Your body sends extra blood to thevital organs to keep them functioningand to the skin to keep it cool. Stomach

Since your bodyis sending extrablood to vitalorgans, your bellygets less blood,so digestionbecomes less of apriority. This iswhy you oftendon’t feel likeeating ordrinking, orsometimesfeel sick.

Hot, humid air cantrigger asthma•The lining of the airways become

swollen and inflamed.• The muscles that surround the

airways tighten.•The production of mucus is

increased, leading to mucus plugs.

The eects you can’t see

 Too muc h 

 wa ter•  Wa ter poisoning (rare ) 

• Dilu tes calcium and 

sodium in  your cells, 

causing  them  to s well 

(brain cells included )

No t enoug h  wa ter

• Deh ydra tion —  fa tigue, 

dizziness, ligh t headedness 

and diarrhea

• H yper therima (bod y’s 

produc tion o f more hea t 

 than i t can dissipa te ) — 

 fe ver, seizures and in se vere 

cases shock, coma and 

sudden dea th )

8,015Americans were

killed by excessiveheat exposure

between 1979 and 2003. That’smore than the number who died

from hurricanes, lightning,tornadoes and floods.

Sources: thchart.blogs.cnn.com; Chain Reaction

Kidneys• If you get heatstroke your body will have a

severly elevated body temperature which willcause an altered mental state, dizzinessand/or loss of consciousness.

• Heatstroke can cause muscles to breakdown, which leads to kidney failure.

SUSAN BATSFORD, GRAPHICS EDITOR, TWITTER @SBATS1; INFOGRAPHIC BY TARAMARTIN/QMI AGENCY