Man oh man was it a hot one today! Across the country — on the east coast, throughout the Midwest, and over on the west coast — temperatures soared. On Sunday, the National Weather Service issued excessive heat warnings for Las Vegas, Chicago, Saint Louis, Philly, Tulsa, and parts of New York and New Jersey, expecting today’s temperatures to reach a hundred degrees or more.
With temperatures like these, you need to be watchful for heat-related illnesses. Under normal conditions, your nervous system maintains a healthy body temperature through sweating and thermoregulation — the blood flow to your skin. If your body can’t transfer enough heat to keep cool, you are at risk for a heat-related illness.
- Hyperthermia is an excessively high body temperature. It can develop rapidly in extremely hot environments, like the inside of a car parked in the sun or a poorly ventilated attic.
- Heat rash or prickly heat is caused when your sweat ducts become blocked. The affected area may swell or itch.
- Heat cramps occur when sweating causes the body to lose water, salt, and minerals. Your muscles may cramp up after exercise if you are not drinking enough water or a sports drink like Gatorade. You should avoid exercising during the hottest parts of the day — work out early in the morning before it gets too hot or after the sun has started to go down.
- Heat edema, or swelling in the legs and hands can show up if you sit or stand for a long time in a hot environment. Keep moving, if you can, to help keep your circulatory system working. Swing your arms, march in place, and take stretch breaks regularly.
- Heat exhaustion generally develops as a result of dehydration. If you are working or exercising in hot weather and do not drink enough liquids to replace what you sweat away, you may end up with a case of heat exhaustion.
- Heatstroke, or sunstroke, is a medical emergency that can be life threatening. If your body cannot regulate its temperature, you may run a fever of 105 degrees or higher. Seek immediate treatment!