C-Force: Travel Advisory: Don't Underestimate the Threat of Extreme Heat

It stands to reason that extreme heat in certain circumstances can pose a severe threat to a person's health. From everything I'm reading, this year's vacationers need to take special heed if, for example, Europe is their destination. As The New York Times' Ceylan Yeginsu recently reported, "Last year, large parts of southern Europe experienced prolonged periods of extreme heat with temperatures reaching 118 degrees and lasting up to two weeks or more. ... Visitors collapsed from heat exhaustion at crowded tourist sites, and wildfires led to evacuations in Greece, Italy and Spain."

According to Todd Crawford, vice president of meteorology at Atmospheric G2, this summer's heat is expected to be similar to 2022's, "the hottest summer ever recorded in Europe," Yeginsu writes. Despite this news, "travelers, once again, are heading to the hot spots" as the demand remains high for destinations where "temperatures reached 100 degrees or higher in recent summers." At the very least -- the most being changing your travel plans -- take a deep look at adapting your itinerary. Your life literally could depend upon it.

You'd think it would be common knowledge by now that hiking in the middle of the day during a heat spell is not just a bad idea but a potentially dangerous one. Yet even people who should know better don't seem to be heeding this advice. As reported by the Times, on June 5, Dr. Michael Mosley, a well-known British medical journalist and health guru, died during "an afternoon hike in a 104-degree heat wave on the Greek Island of Symi. Four more tourists, including an American man, have recently died in Greece as temperatures have continued to soar."

But you don't have to visit another country or be on vacation to be susceptible to the dangers of extreme heat. At this moment, "A heat wave is once again blanketing the Northeast, South and Midwest" United States, according to the Times' Dana G. Smith. "High temperatures can have an alarming effect on our bodies, raising the risk for heart attacks, heatstroke and death, particularly among older adults and people with chronic diseases."

"The body's resting core temperature is typically about 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit," reads a recent Associated Press report. "That's only 7 degrees (4 Celsius) away from catastrophe in the form of heatstroke," says Ollie Jay, a professor of heat and health at the University of Sydney in Australia, according to the report. "Heat kills in three main ways, Jay said. The usual first suspect is heatstroke -- critical increases in body temperature that cause organs to fail."

"That sets off a cascade of effects," Jay said. "Clotting around the body and multiple organ failure and, ultimately, death."

"But the bigger killer in heat is the strain on the heart, especially for people who have cardiovascular disease. ... The third main way is dangerous dehydration. As people sweat, they lose liquids to a point that can severely stress kidneys, Jay said," according to the AP report.

Dr. Renee Salas, a Harvard University professor of public health and an emergency room physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, explains that "dehydration can be very dangerous and even deadly for everyone if it gets bad enough -- but it is especially dangerous for those with medical conditions and on certain medications."

"We call (heat) the silent killer because it's not this kind of visually dramatic event," Jay says. "It's insidious. It's hidden."

Heat also affects the brain.

"Many of us think that we are immune to heat," says Jose Guillermo Cedeno Laurent, assistant professor of environmental and occupational health and justice at Rutgers University. As a Harvard researcher in 2016, he was faced with an opportunity to test whether this was true.

A heat wave was about to hit Boston, "with daytime temperatures averaging 92 degrees for five days in a row," Smith writes. "Some local university students who were staying in town for the summer got lucky and were living in dorms with central air-conditioning. Other students were stuck in older dorms without A.C." Cedeno "had 44 students perform math and self-control tests five days before the temperature rose, every day during the heat wave, and two days after. ... During the hottest days, the students in the un-air-conditioned dorms, where nighttime temperatures averaged 79 degrees, performed significantly worse on the tests they took every morning than the students with A.C., whose rooms stayed a pleasant 71 degrees. ... Numerous studies in lab settings have now produced similar results to Dr. Cedeno's research."

While researchers don't know exactly why heat affects our cognition and emotions, what these studies have revealed is that heat does indeed take "a toll on our brains, impairing cognition and making us irritable, impulsive and aggressive," Smith writes. A condition known as "reactive aggression" tends to be especially sensitive to heat. This most likely is because "people tend to interpret others' actions as more hostile on hot days, prompting them to respond in kind," writes Smith.

"One of the first symptoms you're getting into trouble with the heat is if you get confused," University of Washington public health and climate professor Kris Ebi explains to AP.

When temperatures are soaring, "one thing that doesn't help is if you are taking medications that interfere with your body's ability to cool itself down," writes Dr. Merle Myerson in an AARP report.

"It's crucial to pay attention to this often-overlooked side effect during heat waves, which the Environmental Protection Agency says are increasing in both intensity and frequency -- but it's not just those stifling stretches that can be dangerous," Myerson writes. "Research shows that older patients with chronic medical conditions who take heat-sensitive medications can have medication-related problems throughout the entire summer."

According to Myerson, "some examples? of commonly used medications that can make it harder for your body to handle the heat" are heart medications, antidepressants and central nervous system stimulants, such as Adderall and Ritalin, as well as antihistamines and decongestants. "If you are taking a medication that can be problematic in the heat, it's a good idea to set aside time to discuss this with your doctor and hatch a plan for hot-weather days."

Follow Chuck Norris through his official social media sites, on Twitter @chucknorris and Facebook's "Official Chuck Norris Page." He blogs at http://chucknorrisnews.blogspot.com. To find out more about Chuck Norris and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

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