Doctors agree: Climate change is a hazard to your health. Leading medical journals warn that rising greenhouse gas emissions will result in millions of needless deaths and undermine decades of hard-won progress in public health. Some of these risks are obvious. The immediate effects of extreme heat and wildfire smoke on the lungs and heart are easy to recognize — and particularly dangerous for those who are already immunocompromised or in poor health. Heat-related mortality has been rising since the 1990s, and wildfire smoke is now linked to tens of thousands of illnesses and deaths every year. But researchers are beginning to unearth clues about how repeat, overlapping climate stressors, from flood-related mold to warming water temperatures to higher pollen counts, affect everyone — even society’s healthiest members. No one is immune. Here’s what we know, so far, about the lasting effects of climate change on the body’s vital systems. Extreme heat widens blood vessels, flushes fluid out of the bloodstream, and forces the heart to pump two to four times as much blood per minute to cool the body. The result is dehydration, heat’s unfailing sidekick, which thickens the blood... Read more
