Fall in mercury poses serious threats to health

Rawalpindi “ The winter has almost set in but still majority of people living in this region of the country has not started taking serious measures to avoid bad effects of cold weather mainly because of a great variation in temperature between day and night and according to health experts, the phenomenon may cause serious health threats for both the healthy persons and chronic patients.

Experts say that the phenomenon may pose mild to moderate health threats to healthy persons but the chronic patients particularly those suffering from heart disease, hypertension, high blood pressure, lungs problems and other chronic ailments may suffer from serious complications due to exposure to sharp fall in mercury at night and early in the morning.

Majority of the people do not take extra care while spending time outside homes and offices late at night or early in the morning when temperature drops sharply to a significant level. It is important that almost all healthcare facilities in public and private sectors in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi have started receiving an extraordinary burden of patients with seasonal ailments.

Experts say that at the advent of winter, the carelessness by individuals causes a great rise in the number of cases of colds, sore throat, cough, flu, asthmatic problems in adults and upper and lower respiratory tract infections including pneumonia among children while chronic patients suffer from life-threatening complications.

Health experts say that the majority of people do not take sudden fall in mercury seriously because they are unaware of the bad effects of exposure to extreme cold. Exposure to extreme cold may cause vasoconstriction, the narrowing of the blood vessels that increases blood pressure.

Studies reveal that the lungs function best in warm and humid weather. When you stay outside in extreme cold weather, you may find it difficult to breathe. Symptoms are worse if you have lung disease. Experts say that the best course of action is to stay indoors during the coldest hours of the day and night and seek immediate medical attention if you experience chest pain when outside in cold weather. Breathing cold air through either the nose or the mouth causes airways to constrict and it causes difficulty in breathing mainly because the airways get tightened. Some symptoms include dry mouth, wheezing, coughing and shortness of breath.

Health experts suggest that elderly people and chronic patients should not come out of homes early in the morning or late at night with uncovered noses as it may affect their health badly. The significant fall in temperature particularly at night and in the morning may cause body pains among people who do not use warm clothing. Parents should take extra care of children, particularly those going to schools early in the morning when temperature falls to a greater level. Malnourished children are at greater risk of contracting winter-related health threats including pneumonia and parents should give quality food to children to avoid seasonal ailments.