{"id":254,"date":"2014-08-15T14:46:04","date_gmt":"2014-08-15T14:46:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.cooperhealth.org\/healthyheart\/?p=254"},"modified":"2014-08-28T14:59:00","modified_gmt":"2014-08-28T14:59:00","slug":"heat-and-your-heart-know-the-warning-signs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cooperhealth.org\/healthyheart\/2014\/08\/15\/heat-and-your-heart-know-the-warning-signs\/","title":{"rendered":"Heat and Your Heart – Know the Warning Signs"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sajjad A. Sabir, MD<\/a><\/p>\n

\"beattheheat\"<\/a>The dog days of summer can take a toll on many people and it\u2019s smart to take precautions when dealing with the hot, humid days of the summer months. Heat can cause an extra strain, and even potentially become dangerous, for those\u00a0who are already compromised by cardiovascular disease.<\/p>\n

In general, your body should stay at a regulated temperature and has ways of doing just that, shivering (in the cold months) and sweating when it\u2019s hot. Most people can tolerate some heat and will be just fine. But for people with a damaged or weakened heart, or older people whose bodies do not respond and recover as fast as they used to, they need to take it easy and take precautions.<\/p>\n

When temperatures rise, the body normally sheds heat in two ways, both of which stress the heart. One way is for your body to \u201cradiate\u201d heat. In other words, heat in your system radiates out into cooler air. Radiation of heat causes re-routing of blood flow to the surface of the skin, which in turn makes your heart work harder by beating faster and pumping harder. On a very hot day your heart rate can quadruple compared to its rate on a normal day.<\/p>\n

Radiation reaches its maximum when the air temperature reaches your body temperature. Literally, the heat has nowhere to go, your body resorts to sweating to cool off and eliminate heat.<\/p>\n

Sweating is your body\u2019s way of whisking away heat through the skin and for evaporation to provide a cooling effect. This is fine for days when the humidity is low. But on days when the humidity approaches 75 percent or higher, there is too much water vapor in the air to provide sufficient evaporation to cool you down. Evaporation also strains the heart because\u00a0sweat contains minerals such as potassium, sodium and other substances needed for cardiovascular functioning and water balance. Due to this strain, your body secretes certain hormones to counteract the loss of minerals. This may result in dizziness\/fainting (syncope), muscle cramps, heavy sweating, nausea or vomiting, and weak or rapid pulse.<\/p>\n

For a person with a compromised heart this can be a serious problem for the following reasons:<\/p>\n