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Extreme Heat and Your Body: What Happens When It Gets Too Hot? - The New York Times

nytimes.com · 946 words · saved by 1 readers

HEAT IS THE LEADING CAUSE of weather-related deaths in the United States. While the human body is able to withstand high temperatures, unprecedented extreme heat driven by climate change is challenging our ability to adapt. As heat waves become more common, it’s important to know why heat can be so dangerous and who is most at risk for heat-related illnesses. Here’s what happens inside your body when it gets too hot. When you start to heat up from exertion or the temperature outside, your body works to cool itself by moving warmer blood away from your internal organs and cooler blood toward them. It has two main techniques for doing this. Blood is redistributed from your body’s core to its periphery in order to release heat through your skin. Capillaries at the surface of the skin fill with blood, which is why people often look flushed when they are hot. You also start to perspire. As sweat evaporates, it cools the skin, lowering the temperature of the blood below. That blood then trav

Heat is the leading cause of weather-related deaths in the United States. While the human body is able to withstand high temperatures, unprecedented extreme heat driven by climate change is challenging our ability to adapt. As heat waves become more common, it’s important to know why heat can be so dangerous and who is most at risk for heat-related illnesses. Here’s what happens inside your body when it gets too hot. How the body handles heat When you start to heat up from exertion or the temperature outside, your body works to cool itself by moving warmer blood away from your internal organs

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