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Opinion
F.D. Flam

How Much Heat Can the Human Body Stand?

The hottest June ever and a record-breaking start to July should be a wake-up call. We weren’t built for this.

A patient being treated for chest pain after working in the Texas heat for hours. 

A patient being treated for chest pain after working in the Texas heat for hours. 

Photographer: Brandon Bell/Getty Images
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The June that just ended was the Earth’s hottest — ever. And the first week of July saw the trend continue. The surging summer temperatures made me wonder: Just how much heat can the human body stand?

Deaths from heat are pretty common, and as the world heats up, may become more so if we don’t develop a plan for extreme heat days, like the kind of warning system that usually comes before a major hurricane or blizzard. In 2019, approximately 469,000 people worldwide died from overheating, according to a paper published in 2021 in The Lancet.