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Thursday, July 1, 2021

It's Hot in Israel and What They Know About It

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                    

                                        USA soldiers falling ill, dying in the heat

A farm worker in Oregon was found dead on an extreme day of 116 F after moving irrigation pipes.  It was the heat.  The worker was used to 85 F to 95 F, but not 116. "Oregon OSHA has opened an investigation after a man was found dead Saturday in a field in Marion County. ST PAUL, Oregon — A farmworker died of heat-related causes while working at a nursery in St. Paul on Saturday, according to Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)"                          

  Three days of record breaking heat up to 116 degrees F.  are taking their toll on Oregonians.  Around 200 Oregonians have visited emergency departments or urgent care centers due to heat-related illness since the heat wave began Friday, according to data published by the Oregon Health Authority.  In Multnomah County alone, 43 people went to emergency departments or urgent care centers due to heat-related illness over the weekend. On a typical June day, there are zero or one cases of heat stroke reported.                                                                         

 Israelis have learned to deal with extreme heat, so different from the milder climates of Eastern Europe where many of their ancestors came from.  Being that their whole population, men and women, must serve in the IDF, they've figured out how to survive in it and what happens when they have difficulties.     The worst time to visit Israel is in the hot summer from June to September. The interior regions are arid and devoid of rainfall. The average high temperatures in the interior areas near Jordan Valley in the east and the southern Negev Desert touch 40°C (104°F) in the summer. July and August are brutal, with the sun's ultraviolet index at the peak of 12. The Red Sea coast is avoidable in the summer, with high temperatures and dry heat. However, the Mediterranean Coast has acceptable temperatures between 22.8°C (73°F) and 30°C (86°F) at the height of the summer.                                                                 

Israeli soldiers were watched out for by Lt-Col. (res) Dr.Yuval Heled, director of the Institute for Military Physiology, based at the Sheba Medical Center in Central Israel.  He established the optimal guidelines for soldiers to help save lives and minimize the physical risk factors a soldier might encounter on a daily basis--in training and in combat.  He had been a former intelligence officer and an acknowledged international expert on the study of human physiology in extreme conditions.                                                                            

What are the guidelines for soldiers on such a baking-hot day?  On a 40 degree C  (104 F) day, the policy is that you are forbidden to perform extreme exercise.  Then can only do light work.  In moderate heat while doing exercise, we recommend drinking a liter of water per hour.  They also have specific policies for what to eat, how much salt to consume, during certain periods.  Dehydration in a hot climate can be fatal.                                                                                                                                      

People won't drink as much as they need to unless they are told of the specific amounts.  Even if you are doing a short routine of exercise, you cannot become too dehydrated.  Most training goes on for hours, and so that's why they need to be told to drink.  That will increase their susceptibility to heat-related injuries.  

You can tell just by looking at some soldiers.  If they are overweight, have low fitness, big body mass, high fat %, those guys don't normally go to combat units anyway. 

                                                                        

The doctor has a heat chamber used for a heat tolerance test.  According to IDF policies, if an injured soldier might be injured from heat, they go through a heat-tolerance test before returning to duty.  They use physiological criteria.                                                                                                                                                   

It's not the less capable,, less driven soldiers who may lack motivation who are among those most at risk in extreme heat conditions.  

                                                                        

It's the superfit, over motivated soldiers who can be a high risk to themselves.  We rely on our brain, our central governor,  to tell us about the heat. Soldiers who are super motivated, our best athletes or special forces, manage to ignore what their brains are telling them and this can endanger them.  

There is no scientific explanation  as to why some people are more heat tolerant than others, even those in peak physical fitness.  This was back in 2015, so maybe in the past 6 years there has been a follow up .Through genetics, they may find markers for such tolerance.  

                                                                  

They practice a Scoop and Run plan if they find someone in distress from the heat.  If someone has a heatstroke and a temperature of  42 C or 106 F, they pour water over the patient to reduce their temperature.  Ice, if available, would be helpful.  The goal is to reduce the temperature by 0.2% per minute.  This is in a 10 to 15 minute time frame.  Then they can be taken to the hospital.                                   

Women in general, are more fragile than men.  He finds that only 1% of women can match the physical achievements of men.  Women can be great soldiers, but it's a cost-benefit question, as well.  They do well in many areas, but not on the front line.  

                                                                   

The doctor noted in 2015 that no women had completed the elite training course for the US Marines or similar units.  Two days later, 2 women did pass the US Army Ranger course, joining 94 men who also made it.  The group that started had a 75% dropout rate.  Even though the 2 women passed then,, no women was yet eligible  to serve in the elite regiment.  

Resource:

Magazine "The Jerusalem Report, article by Paul Alster , Finger on the IDF's pulse.  October, 2015 

https://www.weather-atlas.com/en/israel-climate

 


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