I haven't had a post about dying in the desert lately. But it is now getting over 90 degrees in Phoenix and it is that time of year again. The University of Maryland Medical Center has first aid site that gives a good explanation of both heat stroke and dehydration. But there is one problem, Maryland isn't much like Arizona and especially the low deserts (which includes the bottom of the Grand Canyon).
To quote MedicineNet. com: "The cause of heat stroke is simple: being too hot for too long. If sweating isn't enough to cool you down, your body temperature rises rapidly, up to 106 degrees in as little as ten or 15 minutes. That's hot enough to literally cook your brain. You pass out, and if you're not treated immediately, you will suffer brain damage or die."
One of the symptoms of both dehydration and heat stroke is the inability to think properly. Many people start taking off clothes when overly hot thereby exposing more of their skin to the sun. In Phoenix, you can die of heat stroke working in your front yard, you don't have to be out in the desert. In a real sense, all of the Salt River Valley is out in the desert. Some statistics indicate that up to 50% of the people with heat stroke die of the condition.
I have been very dehydrated, one day hiking in overly warm weather, actually in November, I lost six pounds of water in an afternoon. Fortunately, none of those in our hiking group got heat stroke. But it was a real possibility.
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