Dear Doctors: Can you please talk about why hot weather is so dangerous? We've had a couple of heat waves with high humidity, and my grandfather didn't even realize he had heat exhaustion. Air conditioning isn't common in our area, and our kids are struggling, too. Honestly, it's been a bit scary.
Dear Reader: A series of extreme heat waves, often with high humidity, are making for a difficult summer in much of the United States. Even regions where the climate is typically mild are getting hit hard. The result has been a sharp increase in heat-related illnesses, hospitalizations and, tragically, deaths. This occurs because, in order to function properly, warm-blooded creatures need their core temperature to stay within a narrow range. For humans, it's somewhere in the neighborhood of 97 to 99 degrees Fahrenheit.
When ambient temperature, physical activity or a combination of the two cause us to overheat, our bodies use various physiological processes in an attempt to cool down. The first ones are flushing of the skin and sweating. The former sends blood to the surface of the skin in order to cool it, and the latter moistens the skin itself, allowing for an evaporative and cooling effect.