The Korey Stringer Institute measures exertional heat illness among athletes, military personnel, and laborers to understand physiological responses to extreme heat. A ninety-minute uphill test at 104°F produced swelling, cramps, dizziness, and headache in a subject, demonstrating how routine exertion can overwhelm cooling mechanisms. Climate-change-driven heat waves combined with infrastructure failures, such as power outages, significantly elevate mortality risk across many U.S. regions. Treatment for heat-related illness is straightforward, but implementation of preventive measures and community preparedness is limited, indicating a need for expanded public-health planning and practical interventions.
The Korey Stringer Institute, at the University of Connecticut, is named after an N.F.L. player who died of exertional heatstroke. The lab's main research subjects have been athletes, members of the military, and laborers. But, with the extreme heat wrought by climate change, even mild exertion will put more and more of us in harm's way; in many parts of the United States, a combined heat wave and power outage could cause staggering fatalities.
By the end of the test, he spoke of experiencing cramps, dizziness, and a headache. Khullar discussed the dangers of heatstroke with Douglas Casa, the lab's head, who nearly died of the condition as a young athlete. "Climate change has taken this into the everyday world for the everyday American citizen. You don't have to be a laborer working for twelve hours; you don't have to be a soldier in training," Casa tells him.
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