How Does Extreme Heat Affect the Body?
b'The Korey Stringer Institute at the University of Connecticut was named after an N.F.L. player who died of exertional heatstroke. The lab\\u2019s main research subjects have been athletes, members of the military, and laborers. But, with climate change, even mild exertion under extreme heat will affect more and more of us; in many parts of the United States, a heat wave and power outage could cause a substantial number of fatalities. Dhruv Khullar, a New Yorker contributor and practicing physician, visited the Stringer Institute to undergo a heat test\\u2014walking uphill for ninety minutes in a hundred-and-four-degree temperature\\u2014to better understand what\\u2019s happening. \\u201cI just feel puffy everywhere,\\u201d Khullar sighed. \\u201cYou\\u2019d have to cut my finger off just to get my wedding ring off.\\u201d By the end of the test, Khullar spoke of cramps, dizziness, and a headache. He discussed the dangers of heatstroke with Douglas Casa, the lab\\u2019s head (who himself nearly died of it as a young athlete). \\u201cClimate change has taken this into the everyday world for the everyday American citizen. You don\\u2019t have to be a laborer working for twelve hours, you don\\u2019t have to be a soldier in training,\\u201d Casa tells him. \\u201cThis is making it affect so many people even just during daily living.\\u201d\\nAlthough the treatment for heat-related illness is straightforward, Casa says that implementation of simple measures remains challenging\\u2014and there is much we need to do to better prepare for the global rise in temperature.'