Summer heat always brings me back to memories of lazy day college dancing when contemplative floor practice dominated the studio agenda.  During those days, late summer heat waves were cause for battle between dance profs who grew up on the New York “heat is good for your muscles” dance philosophy and southern California students who refused to move under 105 degree, smog filled skies.  Consensus eventually led to quiet somatic sensing practices.  There’s just something about 91 degree weather that makes the quiet, slow tracking of our senses seem like the only thing a body can and should be doing to process the heat.

Happily today, armed with smarter and more neuroscience evidence, we know that long term athletic or any kind of exposure to excess heat conditions increases the odds of heat exhaustion and heat stroke! With global warming toasting the planet, understanding the effects of heat on your brain and body are more important than ever before! (Teachers/Profs/Parents are you listening?)

Image Credit: City of Ann Arbor

In a must read interview conducted by Scientific American, Mike McGeehin, director of the U.S. Center for Disease Control Environmental Hazards and Health Effects Program, explains the subtle but important difference between the two:

Heat exhaustion is a relatively common reaction to severe heat and can include symptoms such as dizziness, headache and fainting. It can usually be treated with rest, a cool environment and hydration (including refueling of electrolytes, which are necessary for muscle and other body functions).  Heat stroke is more severe and requires medical attention—it is often accompanied by dry skin, a body temperature above 103 degrees Fahrenheit, confusion and sometimes unconsciousness.

McGeehin likens the heating process in human brains to overheating the engine of your car.  You can also think of it in terms of overheating soup or over frying your morning eggs:  Leave the pan on the stove or open campfire too long and you burn your food and melt the pot!

OK so you’re not a cook and you’ve never looked under the hood of your car.  Yet, make no mistake, frying the brain or “fatal stroke” (see image below) is serious biz as once you start messing with the mothership, you can expect the extended brain or body systems — fluids, organs, muscles and hormonal system — start to respond in like manner.  As one US Vet wrote to me back in 2008, the issue of heat stroke is forefront in the mind of the brain-injured Vet who, during active duty, had to stand for hours in searing, endless desert heat.

Image Credit: Whole Brain Atlas, Harvard Med Ed

BIS Better Brain Tips for Staying Cool this Summer:

1. Perspiration is a good thing!  If you are not sweating and you start to feel dizzy, call for immediate help!!!

2. Be sure to hydrate. Rest. (Now’s the time to take up that meditation practice you’ve been wanting to learn).

3. For extreme heat waves, limit your time in baking heat and use air conditioning over a ceiling fan!  (Celling fans blow heat against a body causing it to rise in temperature!)

To read the rest of the Scientific American interview, click here

For suggestions on meditation or contemplative practice, click here