With temperatures rising to the 90s in Los Angeles, avoiding the heat wasn\u2019t exactly an option while I was at a relative\u2019s outdoor party in August. So I sat beneath a patio umbrella with a powerful fan nearby, figuring I was protected from the sun and heat. Half an hour later, I felt exhausted, dizzy, nauseous, and generally unwell, symptoms consistent with heat exhaustion.<\/p>\n
Around the same time, I received a notification from an app used by the $249 ($149 at the time of publication) UV-tracking necklace I\u2019d been wearing, called Gem<\/a>, from a company called The90. It warned that my UV exposure had climbed considerably. It turns out UV radiation wasn\u2019t repelled by this patio umbrella, and it\u2019s hard to ever be fully protected because radiation can be reflected or scattered by objects in the environment. While UV exposure and overheating are different things, I\u2019d mistakenly assumed the shade and the fan would adequately protect me from both.<\/p>\n This led to a discovery: One of my medications increases my sensitivity to heat, which helped to explain similar episodes I\u2019d experienced over the years. The Gem didn\u2019t diagnose anything, but it prompted me to investigate something I might otherwise have dismissed.<\/p>\n