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Heat Exhaustion Causes

Heat Exhaustion: Causes


Top Causes

1. Climate of a place

The climate of a place plays a very important role in causing a heat exhaustion. Usually the body cools itself by the process of sweating, and then the sweat evaporation. In some places, the humidity levels are very high. This prevents the sweat from evaporating and thus bringing an imbalance in the cooling mechanism of the body. Even climatic conditions, like low or no air movement and very high temperatures, cause heat exhaustion.

2. Improper clothing

Wearing tight fitting clothes can prevent the skin from sweating. This also leads to heat exhaustion. The skin needs to breath in order to maintain the body temperature. So the choice of clothing must be something that is comfortable and also natural.

3. Personal habits

There are some individual habits like alcohol consumption, smoking, poor diet or caffeine that can lead to dehydration. Dehydration in turn causes loss of body salts and fluids that lead to a heat exhaustion. Alcohol intake affects the body’s ability to regulate the temperature. So the body is unable to cool itself and causes heat exhaustion.

4. Medical conditions and medication

Any person suffering from conditions like hypertension, diabetes and heart problem can cause heat stress. The medication for these conditions can cause intolerance to heat that result in reduced sweats or urination. This affects patients who are in hot conditions and have to take the drugs for the medical conditions. There are other drugs or medications that can interfere with body’s mechanism to regulate the temperature. These drugs include cocaine, beta-blockers, anti psychotic medicines and amphetamines. Those who use these drugs have a higher risk to develop heat exhaustion.

5. Low intake of water

Due to hot climatic conditions, a person can be a bit dehydrated. Lack of proper water intake, this could aggravate in to heat exhaustion. In order to get rid of the dehydration, consuming a lot of water will help.

6. No rest or cooling periods

Heat exhaustion can occur when the body does not have time to cool itself after a work out session or in a very hot climate. When the body does not get time to cool off, the heat in the body causes dehydration that leads to heat exhaustion.

7. Age, weight and general fitness

The physical fitness and the age of a person can also be one of the causes of heat exhaustion. People who are over weight have the tendency to get dehydrated. Even elderly people have a high risk of getting dehydrated, while older women have a higher risk of getting heat exhaustion as compared to older men as they have lesser sweat glands at that age.

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