HOUSE CALL
Keep Your Cool
in the Heat
You can enjoy summer outdoors and still be
healthy if you take a few precautions to avoid
stressing your heart.
BY Sharonne Hayes, M.D., FACC
Beat Stronger. Live Longer.
WHEN TEMPERATURES SOAR, your body
has to work harder to keep delivering blood
and oxygen while also keeping you
cool. There are some simple
steps you can take to minimize
the e;ects of heat and humidity
on your body—including your
heart. Your health care team also
may be able to make changes in
your treatment plan to keep you
active and feeling well.
Sharonne N. Hayes,
M.D., FACC, is director
of the Women’s Heart
Clinic at Mayo Clinic in
Rochester, Minnesota.
She helped develop
the National Heart,
Lung, and Blood
Institute’s Heart
Truth campaign.
How heat a;ects your heart
When your temperature rises
even a little, your body tries
to cool itself down through
perspiration and dilation
(opening up) of the blood
vessels. It sends more blood to
the skin, where the evaporating
sweat cools the body. But as a result of the
larger blood vessel size, the heart must beat
faster and blood pressure often decreases.
24
FYI
Eating hot foods and digesting a heavy meal heats up your body and makes your heart work harder.
Eat refreshing foods and more frequent but less calorie-dense meals. All the plentiful fresh fruits
and vegetables available in the summer months make it easy.
