How Extreme Heat Can Affect Your Health

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Punishingly high temperatures have been stifling much of the Northern Hemisphere this summer, with record heat reported in swaths of North America and Europe, as well as parts of Africa and Asia. Last month was the hottest June ever recorded, according to the World Meteorological Organization. Early July saw the Earth’s hottest week on record.

The National Weather Service said this week that dangerous heat waves would continue to stifle parts of the U.S.’s South and Southwest. Public-health officials have warned people in hot areas to take measures to prevent heat stress, which can lead to potentially serious and even deadly conditions such as heat stroke. Here’s what to know about the effects of extreme heat on the human body: What is extreme heat? Extreme heat is defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as weather that is much hotter or more humid than average for a particular time and region.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security defines extreme heat as a period of high heat and humidity with temperatures above 90 degrees for at least two to three days. Some public-health experts, however, caution against pointing to a specific temperature as “extreme" as the same temperature could have different health impacts depending on the location and the person in question.

Extreme heat is “what feels unusually hot to you, based on where you live," said Gregory Wellenius, professor of environmental health at Boston University. “That’s because we all to some degree get used to a certain summertime heat. Some places are more accustomed to hot temperatures and others are not." What happens to the human body when exposed to extreme heat? The human body is constantly trying to regulate its core body temperature,