Medical expert at OSU-Tulsa explains the affects of heat on our bodies

TULSA, Okla. — With the extreme heat, FOX23 spoke with a professor at OSU-Tulsa about what long term and short term effects heat illnesses have on the body.

Dr. Stacy Chronister said there's an increase in emergency calls during the first few weeks of summer. She said that's because our bodies haven't adapted to the heat.

She said the moment you experience dizziness, nausea or extreme warmth, you need to instantly react.

"You're still sweating but you feel cool to the touch or you still feel very exhausted if you're having a muscle cramp, you've absolutely gone too far because the next step from that would be heat exhaustion where you feel very fatigued you feel like you're not moving very well," Chronister said. "That's when you need to get out of the sun and into the cool because the next step is heat stroke where you stop sweating and your body temperature spikes pretty high."

She said drinking water, getting out of the heat and cooling off can help you immediately.

"If you're going to apply a cooling rag the best place to do it is around your neck and the armpits because that's where our big blood vessels are going through our body and we can actually impact the temperature of the blood in our body by applying cooling to that area," Chronister said.

Chronister said if you've experienced heat difficulties in the past you'll still be heat sensitive.

"Unfortunately, if you have ever had a heat stroke in the past it's not a matter of if you'll have one again," she said. "It's when you'll have one again."

The best thing to do is to spend multiple days out of the sun.

"I think that the biggest thing that people don't realize is that is if you are sensitive to the heat and you've felt that heat exhaustion before its unlikely for it to be something that goes away," she said.

Medical experts say you should also check up on your friends, family and neighbors who are sensitive to the heat.

Make sure to call 911 if it's an emergency.