Hyperthermia is the medical term used to describe the overheating body. The term hyper means “high” while “thermia” means heat. This means that the person’s body is overheating (Doerr 1). Normally if the body overheats, the body has will just have to sweat the heat out. But there are times when sweating does not work, in some conditions, the temperature rises rapidly that it may place the vital organs at risk (Doerr 1).
Regardless of the environmental factors, the healthy human body has a steady temperature of 98.6° F. However, if the body is challenged over a longer period of time, the body may fail to respond and thus it will experience hyperthermia (Hyperthermia).
People who are at risk of hyperthermia have the following factors. The health factors are poor circulation, aging – wherein it may develop inefficient sweat glands, diseases that are involving the lungs, the heart or the kidney and other illnesses that may cause weakness to the body. The lifestyle factors on the other hand may be environment in the place where you live, overdressing, visiting the overcrowded places and the weather conditions may predispose one to develop hyperthermia (Hyperthermia 1).
Different heat emergencies need to be addressed immediately. One is heat stroke. This condition occurs when the body is not capable in controlling the temperature that rises rapidly and the mechanism of sweating fails and the body temperature reaches 106°F. In this case, you can bring the person indoors or outdoors and give him the cooling remedy. You can either place the person on a cool water or place him under the shower (Doerr, 2).
Another heat problem is the heat exhaustion. This is the body’s response to the excess loss in of water or salt in the sweat. People who are prone to this condition are the elderly people, those who are taking anti-hypertensive drugs or those who are working out. This can be alleviated by cooling down, giving drinks that are non alcoholic and a cool shower to mention a few (Doerr, 3).
Hyperthermia has other symptoms like the heat stress, the heat fatigue, the heat syncope and the heat cramps. These can all be addressed by getting the person out of the heat and bringing him to a cooler place like in an air conditioned room, you can also offer fluids but never give alcoholic beverages, then encourage the person to have a cool shower and rest in a cool place afterwards (Hyperthermia).
Hyperthermia is preventable and some of the ways where you can prevent hyperthermia are to avoid going to overcrowded places, avoid exposing yourself to a very hot weather and have enough fluid intake for you to prevent dehydration (Hyperthermia).
Hyperthermia is a condition that occurs at the time when the environmental temperature is at its highest. These are the facts that you have to remember so that before exposing yourself under the heat of the sun, you can take necessary precautions to prevent hyperthermia. This is a condition that may endanger the function of your vital organs such as the brain. The heat waves that can occur during summers may even cause death like what had happened in the year 2003 where there were thousands of people who due to heat in Europe. Thus excessive heat in our body may put out lives at risk (Doerr, 1).
References
Doerr, Steven. “Hyperthermia and Heat Related Illness Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention on MedicineNet.com.” 2008. Web.
“Hyperthermia – Symptoms, Treatment and Prevention.” Consumer Health News, Information and Resources Updated Daily. Web. 2009.