Summers Could Soon Be ‘Too Hot for Humans’

Global warming will increase the chances of summer conditions that may be "too hot for humans" to work in, exposing millions of people to life-threatening conditions.

A study released earlier this year cautioned that heat stress could impact as much as 1.2 billion people by 2100, four times more than now, Reports BBC.

Millions of people around the world may be subject to high rates of heat stress-a harmful disease that may force organs to shut down.

Living in the open on farms and construction sites or indoors in factories and hospitals may lead people to heat stress.

Dr Jimmy Lee, an emergency medic Singapore treating Covid-19 patients say the personal protective equipment, essential for avoiding infection, is making things worse by creating a sweltering 'micro-climate'.

“It's really uncomfortable over a whole shift of eight hours - it affects morale," he said, noting that overheating can slow down their ability to make quick decisions which is vital for medical staff.

If they continue to work ignoring warning signs of heat stress, such as faintness and nausea, they risk collapsing.

Heat stress as the body is unable to cool off sufficiently, such that its central temperature begins to climb to unsafe levels, and main organs may shut down.

It happens when the main technique for getting rid of excess heat - the evaporation of sweat on the skin - can't take place because the air is too humid, the BBC report says.

Dr. Rebecca Lucas, who is a physiologist at the University of Birmingham, said the symptoms would worsen from fainting and disorientation to cramping and intestinal and kidney failure.

A system known as the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) is used to measure not only heat but also humidity and other factors. When the WBGT reaches 29C, for example, the recommendation is to suspend exercise for anyone not acclimatised.

Yet that's the level Dr Lee and his colleagues are regularly experiencing at Singapore's Ng Teng Fong General Hospital.

When the WBGT registers 32C, the US says strenuous training should stop because the risk becomes "extreme". But levels that high have recently been recorded inside hospitals in Chennai by Prof Vidhya Venugopal of the Sri Ramachandra University.

‘Drink lots of fluid and take rest’

Prof Richard Betts of the UK Met Office has run computer models which suggest that the number of days with a WBGT above 32C is set to increase but it depends on whether greenhouse gas emissions are cut.

He warns that if urgent action is not done to combat climate change early, sooner or later "the hottest areas of the planet will begin to see temperatures that are almost too hot for us."

Dr. Jimmy Lee urges people to consume lots of water when they start work, take daily breaks, and then consume again while they relax.

Dr Jason Lee, an associate professor in physiology at the National University of Singapore, says that as well as measures like rest and fluids - and shade for outdoor workers - a key strategy for resisting heat stress is to be fit.

"By keeping yourself aerobically fit, you're also increasing your heat tolerance, and there are so many other benefits too," he says.

Dr. Lee is a leading member of the Global Heat Health Information Network, a group specializing in the hazards of excessive heat, which has developed guidelines to help physicians cope with Covid-19. It is headed by the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the US Climate and Climate Agency Noaa.

"This climate change will be a bigger monster and we really need a coordinated effort across nations to prepare for what is to come,” he says. "If not, there'll be a price to be paid."