After what scientists have deemed Earth\u2019s hottest month on record, the impact of extreme heat is being felt more than ever across the globe.<\/p>\n
As temperatures continue to rise, Brock University Kinesiology Professor Stephen Cheung is offering insight into how the body responds to heat and steps that can be taken to stay cool through summer\u2019s remaining weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a big danger whenever there is a sudden heat wave,\u201d says Cheung, whose lab studies the impacts of environmental stressors \u2014 such as extreme heat and cold \u2014 on human physiology and performance. \u201cThe week after a sudden spike in hot temperatures, there tends to be more hospital admissions, more heart attacks and, just generally, more deaths that arise because of the heat.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the body experiences heat, it reacts in two main ways: blood from deeper parts of the body moves outwards to blood vessels in the skin to help heat leave the body; and sweat is steadily released throughout the body to create a film of water on the skin, which evaporates into the environment and cools the body.<\/p>\n
Extreme heat and humidity add challenges to these typically effective ways to rid the body of heat, says Cheung.<\/p>\n
If the air temperature is warmer than one\u2019s core body temperature, which ranges on average from 37 to 39 degrees Celsius when exercising, it is more difficult to expel body heat.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re actually gaining heat from the environment, in addition to the heat we are generating through exercise,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s a very dangerous situation that can rapidly lead to heat exhaustion, hyperthermia and heat stroke.\u201d<\/p>\n