Where I lived and a few other places we had heatwaves. Heatwaves is intense heat around you(duh), but I want to know is how do people die from heatwaves? I can understand ashtma(can't spell), but how do old people die from it? also I heard people die from getting out of the pool and having a heat suffercation.

 

Any experiences?

I lived in Italy a few years ago, and all of Europe (I think) experienced a major heat wave, we were hit, too. I remember laying around the house in my underdrawers, with ice packs on me. I think some French people (or somewhere else, but I'm pretty sure French. Anyone know?) died from it.

 

 

 

The heat, I think, gets to be so much that cells start exploding. That's how you die from it (I think).

Dehydration as well is a major role in the killing, I think it's more of dehydration than anything else.

When your body gets too hot, really important enzymes denature (i.e. they don't work anymore). Enzymes basically catalyse metabolic functions in your body, so if they don't work, your body won't work. Also, I don't think your body can produce more enzymes.

 

 

 

That's probably not the only factor, though.

Hey I found a couple of sites you might want to read and find the answer to your question :

 

 

 

http://qjmed.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/con ... l/98/3/227

 

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/14/healt ... ref=slogin

 

 

 

http://www.niapublications.org/agepages/hyperther.asp

 

 

 

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/ ... ekey=82348

 

 

 

http://www.internurse.com/cgi-bin/go.pl ... _2_1_30_34

When your body gets too hot, really important enzymes denature (i.e. they don't work anymore). Enzymes basically catalyse metabolic functions in your body, so if they don't work, your body won't work. Also, I don't think your body can produce more enzymes.

 

 

 

That's probably not the only factor, though.

 

 

 

That would have been my response, basically. Add in the suggestion from the New York Times that people sweat less as they age (and hence overheat easier) and there could be something to it.

 

 

 

Dehydration as well is a major role in the killing, I think it's more of dehydration than anything else.

 

 

 

I think that's the reason why people in general die more often when it's hotter but as for why old people die at a higher rate than others, I'm not so sure.

Hey I found a couple of sites you might want to read and find the answer to your question :

 

 

 

http://qjmed.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/con ... l/98/3/227

 

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/14/healt ... ref=slogin

 

 

 

http://www.niapublications.org/agepages/hyperther.asp

 

 

 

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/ ... ekey=82348

 

 

 

http://www.internurse.com/cgi-bin/go.pl ... _2_1_30_34

 

 

 

well that answered my questions. :)

 

 

 

i live in the western part of the US, no heat waves here.

Most of the people were elderly aswell? There immune system doesnt work as well so when there was a big change their bodies couldn;t adapt as fast. Also dehydration and people not being prepared for that sort of heat (airconditioners and such)

I was on a holiday in england in 2003 when they had a heatwave, a whole week with temperatures up around 38-40 degrees C. Being from Australia, where in the middle of summer that's pretty common, i just couldn't understand how all the people who died did. In a way, i've still got the 'Mate, just deal with it, quite complaining' attitude ha. It's interesting how being acclimatised to a specific climate affects you so much.

It's interesting how being acclimatised to a specific climate affects you so much.

 

To me anything above 35C+ is too hot for me. 30 is the average where I live in Canada for the summer, but those extra degrees are a killer.

 

 

 

I really don't know how people just end up dying within a day of a heat wave though, I'd think it would take more to take down a human than just heat in 24 to 35 hours.

My pool was 96 degrees from a heat wave a week ago.

Its sucks the moisture out of you. Sort of like when you have a sun stroke and you feel dizzy and you are tired. But heatwaves are normally longer so that will mess with your body more. :ohnoes:

I live in south-west BC. We've had three days of sun in June. A heat wave here is 30 degrees. =D I love this place.

Tbh everything more than +25 c is too much for me. Went to croatia, walked long time outside, ended up puking...a lot. Suppose i had a heatstroke or something like that...

Its sucks the moisture out of you. Sort of like when you have a sun stroke and you feel dizzy and you are tired. But heatwaves are normally longer so that will mess with your body more. :ohnoes:

 

 

 

Sun stroke? like what?

 

 

 

O and did anyone here ever get a heat headache? God I hate them!!! :evil:

We had a pretty big heatwave here last week (In Massachusetts, the Boston area - Runescapeloser probably knows what I'm talking about... ;) ). Sure, it gets somewhat hot here during the summer, but before that, it was generally cool. We basically skipped spring. Anyway, there were some times when I got heat headaches, and I was also forced to get off my computer, since there's no AC in the room it's in.

 

Though it gets much hotter in Taiwan. I have no idea how I survived it when I was little...Sometimes it gets 100+ F (37-38 C) for a week or two in a row, but there are a lot of air conditioners there.

 

I love how I moved from a really intensely hot place (Compared to most...?) to one of the coldest places in America. The minimum I ever experienced in Taiwan was like 60 F (~15 C), the coldest here...Probably like -10 F, maybe even lower.

I've only suffered one heat wave from camp, it was about 110 degrees fahrenheit (look where I live), it didn't bother me too much, but it made some of the weaker folk cringe.

It peaked at 102 degrees F last heatwave (39 degrees C), and I had to turn off my computers and lights and lie on my bed with a cold drink, it was so uncomfortably hot.

I lived in Italy a few years ago, and all of Europe (I think) experienced a major heat wave, we were hit, too. I remember laying around the house in my underdrawers, with ice packs on me. I think some French people (or somewhere else, but I'm pretty sure French. Anyone know?) died from it.

 

 

 

The heat, I think, gets to be so much that cells start exploding. That's how you die from it (I think).

 

 

 

Air conditioner....?

 

 

 

My house is 20C (69F) year round.

I lived in Italy a few years ago, and all of Europe (I think) experienced a major heat wave, we were hit, too. I remember laying around the house in my underdrawers, with ice packs on me. I think some French people (or somewhere else, but I'm pretty sure French. Anyone know?) died from it.

 

 

 

The heat, I think, gets to be so much that cells start exploding. That's how you die from it (I think).

 

 

 

Air conditioner....?

 

 

 

My house is 20C (69F) year round.

 

 

 

Some people just can't afford AC's :|

It's not that we couldn't afford AC, but pretty much every power source in the area ran on a gas commonly known as "Bumbola" to the locals. It's kept in a storage shed in the yard and runs into the house. Our use of it is limited to ensure that it lasts as long as possible, so we could eventually run our AC, but for a good bit of the day we weren't able to. Hence the ice packs.

We had a pretty big heatwave here last week (In Massachusetts, the Boston area - Runescapeloser probably knows what I'm talking about... ;) ). Sure, it gets somewhat hot here during the summer, but before that, it was generally cool. We basically skipped spring. Anyway, there were some times when I got heat headaches, and I was also forced to get off my computer, since there's no AC in the room it's in.

 

Though it gets much hotter in Taiwan. I have no idea how I survived it when I was little...Sometimes it gets 100+ F (37-38 C) for a week or two in a row, but there are a lot of air conditioners there.

 

I love how I moved from a really intensely hot place (Compared to most...?) to one of the coldest places in America. The minimum I ever experienced in Taiwan was like 60 F (~15 C), the coldest here...Probably like -10 F, maybe even lower.

 

 

 

I remember that too, it was way too hot for me. Then again, the beach was cooler than my house, since we only have one tiny AC. I got a sunburn that saturday at the beach.. I'm still peeling from it. Then again, I grew up in this area, and I prefer it cooler, but not too cold.

I live in So Cal so it gets REALLY hot here, but we rarely get heat waves. When we do, though, they're really bad.