Everyone seems to have an opinion about the hydration breaks at this summer's World Cup. Many scoff at the need, suggesting they are another FIFA grab at an ad buy. Others question why they occur at every match, regardless of the local temperature or if the stadium has air conditioning. Those criticisms are fair, but they distract us from a more important story. 

Whether or not FIFA has gotten this policy exactly right, the need for hydration breaks underscores a new reality: extreme heat is changing the way the world’s best athletes compete. Instead of debating whether elite players should break for water, we should be asking what a hotter climate means for all athletes, especially the millions of young athletes playing in scorching temperatures this summer.

Heat can be hard for people to take seriously because it doesn’t look like a disaster. Storms, wildfires, and floods come with dramatic imagery of destruction. But heat is often paired with images of kids running through sprinklers or people relaxing at the beach. Research has found those types of images make people less concerned about the dangers of heat. What those images don’t show is what happens in the body. As body temperature rises and humidity limits the body’s........

© Time