While heat can affect anyone, there is a higher risk of serious injury for certain susceptible groups, such as infants and the elderly.
What you should know about how heat affects the body and how to stay cool is provided here.
What effects can intense heat have on our bodies?
The blood vessels widen when the body temperature rises. As a result, blood pressure drops and the heart has to work harder to pump blood throughout the body.
As a result, there may be modest symptoms like a heat rash that itches or swollen feet from leaky blood vessels.
Simultaneously, sweating causes the body to lose salt and fluids and, more importantly, alters the body’s equilibrium between them.
Heat exhaustion may result from this and the dropped blood pressure. Among the symptoms are:
lightheadedness
nausea
cramping in the muscles
headaches
intense perspiration
fatigue
pallid, clammy, and chilly skin
Heart attacks are more likely to occur when blood pressure falls too low.
Why do we feel this way in our bodies?
Whether we’re in a heat wave or a snowstorm, our bodies work to maintain a core temperature of roughly 98 °F (37 °C).
That’s the temperature at which our bodies have adapted over time.
However, the body has to work harder to maintain a lower core temperature as the weather gets hotter.