Category Archives: Hazard

heat-illness
Hazard, Water

Summer Threats: Heat Illness

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The temperature of the body is auto-regulated within very narrow limits. You’ve to  pay particular attention to whatever destabilizes this delicate balance. Heat can sentence  to death the body, pushing it over and above its capabilities . In a normal situation your inner thermostat generates sweat that evaporates and cools down the body. However, in a humid and  hot environment , evaporation is decreased and it’s necessary an extraordinary effort to keep body temperature at 36.8° ± 0.4°C.

To prevent these illnesses, make sure you keep up your body efficiency by:

  • drinking enough water
  • taking sufficient salt
  • eating adequately

Should you spend more calories than you take in, you will be more vulnerable to heat illnesses. You might lose your wish for food because of high temperature  but you should consume your required ration, arranging the more substantial meal at the cooler hours.

Roughly 75% of the human body is fluid. All chemical functions in the body occur in a water solution that helps in the elimination of toxic body waste products and plays a crucial role in the maintenance of an even body temperature. A loss of 2 liters of body fluid (around 2.5% of body weight) lessens efficiency by 25% and a loss of fluid corresponding to 15% of body weight is generally lethal.

Heat Illness Progression

  1. Deficiency of salt results in heat cramps.
  2. Lack of salt and insufficient water leads to heat exhaustion.
  3. General failure of the body’s cooling system causes heat stroke that can be lethal.

Heat Illness Symptoms

  • Sunburn: skin redness and pain, possible swelling, blisters, fever, headaches.
  • Heat cramps: muscle cramps of limbs or stomach. Profuse sweating  and excessive thirst.
  • Heat exhaustion: heavy perspiration with pale, moist, cool skin; headache, weakness, dizziness, appetite loss; heat cramps, nausea without or with vomit, accelerated respiration, confusion, prickling of the hands or feet.
  • Heat stroke: perspiration quits; red, flushed, hot dry skin.

It is vital to identify heat illness symptoms quickly. When affected by heat stroke the most harmful condition, there is an inclination for the victim to slip away from his team and try to hide in a shady and secluded area: if not discovered and treated he’ll perish.

 

Thermal Body
Hazard, Survival Skills

Heat loss mechanisms

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Most people know that the normal temperature of the human body is 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, or 37 degrees Celsius. But many of us don’t properly understand what it takes for our bodies to maintain this constant temperature. To survive in a cold climate when you are out in the wild, it helps to understand how the body loses heat.

Heat is produced by metabolism of food. If you’re hungry, you will not be able to create as much heat as when you stay well fed. When it’s cold out, you need to eat more food to stay warm and satisfied, because your body uses more energy just to maintain body temperature. And when you aren’t able to just stop by the grocery store for a snack, this form of heat regulation is a whole different challenge.

Anytime the temperature of your environment is lower than the temperature of your body, you will be losing heat and your body will be working to keep your body temperature at a normal level. While most of us can avoid hypothermia because we’re not out in the wild for long periods of time, and we can go home when we want to, it is not uncommon for even the most experienced hikers and backpackers do underestimate the importance of staying warm, sometimes when it is too late.

Learning About Heat Loss

We lose heat through conduction, convection, evaporation, radiation, and respiration. You can’t avoid respiration, also known as breathing, so you will always lose a little bit of heat in that way when you are out in the cold. But there are things you can do to avoid the other four ways you lose body heat.

Evaporation

Evaporative heat loss is what occurs when the wetness in your clothing evaporates, drawing heat away from your body. Waterproof clothing is critical, but so is ventilation and avoiding sweating by staying cool to begin with – which may seem counterintuitive. If your clothing gets sweaty and you have spares, change into your dry clothes before you get cold.

Conduction and Convection

These are two fancy words for pretty simple concepts. Conduction refers to the way heat is transferred from you to cold surfaces you are touching. If you sleep on the ground without enough padding, you will conduct heat to the ground much more quickly than if you increase the padding.

Convection refers to the way that warm air rises and moves away from you. If you wear the right clothing, you will be trapping the air you have warmed with your body instead of letting it get away.

Radiation

Heat radiates away from your body the way that a campfire radiates heat. Radiation is the least of your worries, because it takes a very cold environment to cause you to radiate a dangerous amount of heat – well below zero.

Finding ways to stay dry, keep your body warm, and avoid transferring heat away from you are all very important. Knowing what to wear, what to do when you are cold, and how to avoid getting cold can save your life.