Event Safety Insights Issue One | Fall 2016 | Page 21

peratures, drastic changes begin to occur. When
your internal body temperature increases, unseen
changes inside of you occur. Granted, you may
feel as if you are melting, but if your body temperature begins to increase, other health issues
will soon follow.
When your internal body temperature increases,
your body starts to enact its own built-in emergency plan. Your body was born with an internal
set of decision triggers in your brain that try to
counteract changes in body temperature. These
decisions are made automatically. If your body
temperature starts to increase, corrective actions
occur inside of you to try and cool things down.
You will notice some of these actions (perspiration), while others are hidden (changes to blood
circulation). It is important to note that your body’s
internal emergency plan is hardwired to continue
to operate as long as the internal body temperature is not 98.6F. This means that if you continue
to expose your body to extreme heat conditions,
your body’s emergency plan will continue to run
unimpeded, and invisible changes inside your
body will continue to occur.

Signs of Heat
Stroke:
-Body temp exceeds 104 F
-Lack of sweating
-Nausea, vominting or both
-Flushed/red skin
-Rapid, shallow breathing
-Headache
-Confusion and/or unconscious
-Muscle cramps
-Strong and rapid pulse
*according to the American
Heart Association

Pe r s p i r a t i o n
The likely first indication that the movement of water
and blood in your body is underway is perspiration.
The body uses perspiration in an attempt to cool itself
down. Water is forced through the pores in your skin in
hopes that evaporation of that water will lead to cooling.
You have noticed this evaporative cooling if you have ever
exited a swimming pool on a hot day. Evaporation cools you
through the removal of latent heat (or “hidden heat”) from
your body. Although you didn’t learn about the latent heat of
evaporation until you were in a middle school science class, it’s
been part of your body’s emergency plan since birth.
But, here is where things get complicated again. No two people
are the same in terms of their water and food intake, salt intake, etc.
That means that no two people will perspire at the exact same rate.
In addition, alcohol consumption, drug use, etc. will speed up (you
run out of water faster) or slow down (your internal body temperature
continues to rise) the perspiration process. Note that both of these outcomes can lead to significant health complications and even death! It is
simply easier for you to help your body cool down by removing yourself
from the extreme heat in the first place. Unfortunately, people at outdoor
events typically don’t even realize this is occurring.

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