How are Pittsburghers handling the heat wave? Doctors talk about the effect on your body.
PITTSBURGH, (KDKA) -- It was another day of heat and humidity in the Pittsburgh area. What is this doing to your body if you have to be out there for any prolonged periods of time? What about our health care systems -- are they seeing a rise in heat-related cases?
It's swampy, sweaty, and, simply put, disgusting weather. For anyone who had to be outside on Thursday, it didn't take long for the effects to impact them.
"We walked out of the A/C, and it just felt like we were just hit with some object or something," Brendan Steck of Butler said.
Doctors with AHN and UPMC say it hasn't been heatstroke or heat exhaustion they are seeing. The rise in cases they've seen is related to respiratory issues from this weather, especially in people with COPD and asthma.
"You get pollen, pollution from vehicles, that sort stuff just lingers. Those little particulate matters are really sensitive to people with asthma or COPD," AHN emergency physician Dr. Matthew Poremba said.
The hot air mixed with almost no wind leaves the particles with nowhere to go.
As for getting acclimated to this heat, you may think you're getting used to it.
"The first day was the worst because it was the first day of the heat, but now because we've been out in the heat, it's not as bad," Addie DeLorenzo of Butler said while on the North Shore riverwalk.
Your body makes true adjustments from season to season. This week will see minimal if any true body acclamation to this.
"Will it change enough to eliminate your risk of a heat illness? Probably not," UPMC chief medical officer Dr. Donald Yealy said over Zoom.
Even if you have no respiratory issues but start to feel yourself breathing heavy or having trouble to breathe after being outside, you may want to get medical help.
