The summer is turning out to be unusually hot with the mercury crossing the 45 degrees Celsius mark. With this, the number of heat stroke cases is likely to go up.
In fact, doctors have demanded that the public be acquainted with the idea of ‘heat index’.
‘Heat index’ is a measure of how hot it really feels when the relative humidity is factored in with the actual air temperature. Periods of high heat index adversely affect human health.
How the body works
According to Dr. K.K. Aggarwal, the human body cools itself by sweating. But, high relative humidity reduces the rate of evaporation.
This causes the body to retain more heat than it would in dry air.
Consequently, the body temperature increases and leads to heat exhaustion, cramps and heat stroke.
While heat cramps are a mild form of heat disorders, which are a result of dehydration, heat exhaustion is when the body does not sweat enough.
Among the symptoms of heat stroke are high fever, dehydration and absence of sweating.
A heat stroke can be lethal if not treated on time.
In fact, you can detect the absence or presence of sweating with the simple armpit test.
A dry armpit may mean severe dehydration.
“During summer, everyone should pass urine once in eight hours. Not doing so may indicate severe dehydration. Avoid eating cut fruits and vegetables to prevent jaundice, typhoid, gastroenteritis and cholera,” said Dr. S.S. Agarwal, national president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA).
In case of a heat stroke, the body’s internal temperature may shoot up and it may not respond to injectable or oral paracetamol.
Armpit test
Clinically, both heat exhaustion and heat stroke may show symptoms like fever and dehydration, he added.
Explaining the armpit test, the IMA said in a statement: “Normally, the axillae will be wet even if a person has severe dehydration. If the axillae are dry and the person has high fever, this means he has progressed from heat exhaustion to heat stroke. Such a situation should be treated as a medical emergency.”
According to Ayurvedic doctor Dr. Pratap Chauhan, heat strokes cause the temperature of the body to increase and take away its ability to cool itself.
The temperature of the body increases, but does not come down easily.
