wildcoast 11 Sep 2007No Comments 166 views Print Email

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Scientists say that global warming may contribute to an increase in cardiovascular diseases in the next 50 years. People have more heart problems in warmer areas and with increases in global temperature, more people could die from heart disease.

When it gets hot, we sweat to cool ourselves off. That opens up blood vessels and increases the heart rate and decreases blood pressure, which can cause many heart problems, particularly for the elderly and those with weakened cardiovascular systems.

Various other problems such as pollution and forest fires are going to contribute to this problem according to scientists. Increases in forest fires (which can be attributed to higher temperatures) in southwest Asia has contributed to a spike in heart problems in the region. In addition, trends such as increased movement into the cities will exacerbate the problem since cities are much warmer regions than rural areas due to pollution from cars and factories. Scientists also believe that the airborne contaminants from pollution can trigger bad reactions in the heart.

Increase in natural catastrophes is not the only thing to worry about regarding global warming.

While there are many uncertainties in how large of a connection there is between global warming and heart disease there is definite reason for concern. Heart disease is also only one of the health problems that will arise with increase global temperatures. Infectious diseases spread by insects such as ticks and mosquitoes will be able to spread further due to larger ranges these insects can occupy.

While most people think of melting glaciers and endangered polar bears when it comes to global warming, it’s important to realize that there are real health effects that would greatly affect us.

Calvin Lee

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