The June that just ended was the Earth’s hottest recorded – 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 do not 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.