¿Do you live in a heat-stress area? 🤔

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Researching a bit more about the topic I uploaded in my previous post, which I found curious, I decided to look further and found the following.

As you can see this image shows the areas where the thermal stress is higher depending on where you live.

This image shows an analysis made by the European Centre for Medium-Range Forecasting (ECMWF) launching the first data set showing climate-induced human heat stress.

These data provide a complete historical reconstruction for a set of indices representing human heat stress and discomfort in outdoor conditions. These data are based on two main variables, namely The Mean Radiant Temperature (MRT) and the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI).

These two variables describe how the human body experiences atmospheric conditions, precisely air temperature, humidity, ventilation and radiation.

Now I'm going to talk a little bit about thermal stress, the consequences and how to avoid it as much as possible.

Heat stress is the feeling of discomfort experienced when staying in certain environmental conditions that demand excessive efforts, and where the body must do more work to maintain the internal temperature of the body.

There are 2 types of heat stress, one is heat stress from heat and the other from cold.

Heat stress is the time we are exposed to excessive heat, which can be uncomfortable and even cause health problems.

This is why it is important to take into account the time we are exposed to heat, however when the temperature is not very high, just being exposed for many hours causes heat accumulation which is dangerous.

Thermal stress due to cold is the period of time we are exposed to a low temperature environment and this is excessive, that is why the body tends to cool down and that is where our body makes a greater effort to maintain the internal temperature.

Now, how can we avoid this? Keep in mind this that I am going to mention to you now.

For heat stress:

a) Avoid places where heat and humidity are high.
b) Drink plenty of fluids to keep your body hydrated.
c) Keep in mind a place to rest that is usually cool.
d) Facilitate natural ventilation so that heat is not concentrated.
e) When carrying out any work that requires many hours of exposure to heat, take breaks during the work according to the needs of each person.
f) Take into account the correct and adequate use of clothing in each situation of exposure to heat.
g) If your work exposes you to a lot of sun, consider modifying your schedule to take advantage of the less hot hours.
h) Drink water even if you do not feel thirsty.

For heat stress due to cold:

a) Drink warm liquids to help your body maintain a stable internal temperature.
b) Reduce the time exposed to low temperatures.
c) At work, try to do your work indoors or in places where the cold does not enter.
d) Wear appropriate clothing to maintain the internal temperature of the body.
e) In case of freezing in the most vulnerable areas, do not use direct heat such as hot water, dryers, as the sudden change in temperature also causes problems.
f) Good protection in the most vulnerable areas to prevent certain areas of our body from freezing.

Consequences for thermal stress produced by heat:

a) Fatigue.
b) Weakness.
c) Abundant sweating.
d) Nausea.
e) Headache.
f) Muscle cramps

Consequences of thermal stress produced by the cold:

a) General discomfort.
b) Numbness of certain parts of the exposed body.
c) Freezing of hands, feet, ears and nose being these the most vulnerable.
d) Hypothermia.

Information: weather stress, heat stress, cold stress, images, ECMWF.



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