Srinagar, June 18 -- Every summer, as people head outside and the days get longer, emergency rooms start to fill with a predictable surge of cases. It isn't sunburn or food poisoning. It's kidney stones.

We don't often think of heat as a kidney threat. But it is. In fact, the warmer it gets, the higher your chances of developing painful stones.

And the most common cause is something many of us ignore until it's too late: dehydration.

When your body doesn't have enough water, your urine becomes concentrated. That means there's more waste and less fluid to flush it out.

Minerals like calcium, oxalate, and uric acid, which are normally excreted without issue, begin to clump together. They form crystals. Those crystals can grow into stone...