How to take care of your body, heart amid heat wave in Austin

Staying safe in extreme heat

Central Texas is dealing with a heat wave, causing temperatures to soar into triple-digits. An Austin cardiologist spoke about what you can do to take care of your body and heart this summer.

AUSTIN, Texas - Central Texas is dealing with a heat wave with temps soaring into the triple digits this week. That can take a toll on the body, especially your heart if you're not careful. 

Dr. Vivek Goswami, a cardiologist with Heart Hospital of Austin and Austin Heart, joined FOX 7 Austin's Rebecca Thomas to discuss.

What they're saying:

Rebecca Thomas: Dr. Goswami, just a few days ago, we had amazing weather, really nice temperatures. A lot of people took advantage of that, hitting the trails, running, exercising outdoors. But temps, you know, going over 100 degrees, it's not business as usual. So how should people adjust their activities to protect their health?

Dr. Vivek Goswami: Sure. Yeah, sure. Certainly is sneaking up on us this year. So a lot of people may not have the same guard that they have, say, in July or August. So really being cognizant of some of the potential detrimental effects the temperature can have on our health, I think is important. If you are going to work outside, you really want to try to shift your predominant outdoor activity to the early morning hours or the evening hours, where the sun and the heat may not be intense. If you have to work in the middle of the day or the peak of the heat, you want to try to take more frequent breaks. So, if you're used to working an hour non-stop, you may want to take breaks every 15 minutes, come inside, cool down, get some water. Clearly, you'll want to wear loose-fitting, breathable clothing like cotton, light-colored, and importantly, stay hydrated. You want to drink prior to being outside. You want to drink while you're outside. You want a drink after. Don't just wait until you get thirsty or dizzy. Try to stay ahead of it.

Rebecca Thomas: All right, let's talk about drinking water. How much water should we be drinking daily? And does that change with extreme heat? 

Dr. Vivek Goswami: Yes, certainly. So if you're working outside in the heat, I mean, as a kind of relatively generic recommendation, eight ounces of water every 15 minutes, or call it 24 to 32 ounces of water, every hour should suffice. But the reality is, the amount of water we need is really dependent on our surface area, how we tolerate heat, our baseline kidney function and various other metabolic factors. So, really, the best indication on a person-to-person basis is to really monitor our urine output and urine color. So, for urinating as frequently as we normally do, and if the urine is light in color, it's a good sign that that person is hydrated. And conversely, if you're not urinating as frequently, if you have dark, concentrated urine, that's a sign that we probably need more volume.  

Unseasonable heat in Central Texas this week

With triple-digit temperatures expected this week, Austinites and city departments are preparing for the heat.

Rebecca Thomas: All right, let's talk about heat exhaustion and heat stroke. That's always a concern with extreme heat. What are the symptoms to watch out for?

Dr. Vivek Goswami: Sure, so heat exhaustion and heat stroke are basically health consequences of being exposed to prolonged heat and heatstroke being the more emergent, potentially dangerous medical emergency out of the two. So heat exhaustion is basically a precursor to heatstroke. So that. The symptoms of heat exhaustion tend to be a little bit more mild. People can have a small elevation in their body temperature. Usually there's profuse sweating. They can have muscle cramps, nausea, vomiting. They can experience dizziness and even pass out. So these are very classic symptoms of heat exhaustion. If someone's experiencing those symptoms, they want to get indoors, get to a cool place, get them hydrated. 

Rebecca Thomas: Yeah, finally, last question here, we're running out of time, but how stressful is extreme heat on the heart? And do you see an increase in heart attacks? 

Dr. Vivek Goswami: Yes, studies have shown there's a two to three-fold increase in heart attack and stroke when these temperatures get north of 100 degrees. I mean there's an increase in the heart rate. A lot of that blood gets shunted from your vital organs to your skin where it can participate in radiating this heat out of the body. Dehydration. There are a lot of causes: diuretics, a lot of medications that patients are on for various chronic conditions can precipitate this. So you certainly want to talk to your doctor. Take extra if you're at risk of heart disease or if you have heart disease. And remember that infants and the elderly are often affected disproportionately as well.

Rebecca Thomas: All right, Dr. Vivek Oswami with Heart Hospital of Austin and Austin Heart. Thank you so much for sharing your time and your expertise with us tonight.