8 ways to help your body cope in hot weather

As people across Ontario, Quebec and major cities in the U.S. swelter under a June heat wave, medical experts are urging them to take precautions in the potentially deadly weather.

Much of Eastern Canada is dealing with extreme heat and humidity.

Matt Grinter, a meteorologist at The Weather Network based in Oakville, Ont., said Toronto's Pearson airport broke the humidex record for June on Sunday, making it feel as hot as 46.3. The stretch of high temperatures is expected to last three days, Grinter said.

In summer 2021 in British Columbia, 619 deaths were attributed to a heat event, according to a B.C. coroner's report. Many of the people who died had chronic health conditions, especially schizophrenia, depression, substance use disorders, diabetes, heart disease and respiratory disease.

Dr. Edward Xie, an emergency physician at Toronto's University Health Network, said public health units, doctors and nurses focus on 26 C, because the B.C. event showed the highest risk of death was related to indoor temperatures above that temperature throughout the heat event.

Here's what Xie and other experts say happens to the body in the heat and what they recommend to stay safe.

"We have warm skin, we might look flushed, we may feel that our heart is pounding faster and we're breathing more to get that blood moving," Xie said, listing symptoms of heat exhaustion.

Our bodies are very effective at normal human body temperature of around 37 C.

But when the weather is hot, blood vessels expand to carry more blood to try to get rid of the extra heat faster through the skin, Xie said.

Symptoms of heat exhaustion can also include dizziness, headaches, fast breathing and thirst, which can affect anyone. When that happens, the person needs to cool down within 30 minutes.

"The most important thing is to get somewhere cool as quickly as possible," said Greg Wells, a senior scientist at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children and an exercise physiologist.

To try to stay cool, Wells and Health Canada also suggest:

If you're already overheating, they recommend:

While it may smell unpleasant, sweating is your body's friend.