This common 'heatwave mistake' could harm your health as temperatures soar over 95 degrees this weekend
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Set us as preferred The thought of heading into another brutal heatwave this weekend may have you feeling like a heat-pummeled, melting face emoji unable to get off the couch.For me, that’s compounded by the fact that I don’t have air conditioning anywhere in the house but for a small, rickety wall unit in the bedroom — and only installed recently.Instead, I use multiple electric fans to create a cross breeze, often sticking my sweaty, flushed face directly in front of the fan grill.Do not do this.According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, using electric fans in a heatwave of 90 degrees or more can actually make you hotter and can be dangerous for your health.
Why? The fan acts as a convection oven, an appliance that circulates hot air in order to cook food quickly and evenly.In your home, during a heatwave, electric fans do the same: blow extra hot air around, potentially raising your body temperature instead of cooling it down.
And that puts you at an accelerated risk for dehydration and heat exhaustion.“It’s definitely true that if you’re blowing air warmer than your skin over your body, then you’re warming your body,” says David Eisenman, professor of medicine and co-director of the UCLA Center for Healthy Climate Solutions.
“That heatwave mistake can be harmful.You’re warming yourself up and it increases the temperature inside your organs, including the heart and the brain and the blood.
That can lead to dehydration, heat illnesses, and it can lead to cellular breakdown that makes heart disease or any other chronic illnesses that people have worse.” Lifestyle Looking for the best Los Angeles pools? Dive into our curated guide to the county’s top affordable public pools, community swim centers and splash zones for sport and play.It’s important to note, however, that the CDC’s temperature threshold is conservative, Eisenman says.
Normal body temperature is abo...