During recent video calls with my UK colleagues, I have noticed a common theme. Their cheeks are pink, damp hairs stick to their brows and they sigh a lot. The unprecedentedly hot summer in Europe is taking its toll.
Earlier this summer, the temperature in the UK reached 38°C (100.4°F), breaking the record for June and many people’s spirits. But that doesn’t sound too bad when you have grown up in Australia, where it usually gets into the 40s in summer. I remember times when it has surpassed 45°C (113°F) in Sydney.
I don’t love these scorching days, but they don’t bother me too much, despite working from home in a small un-air-conditioned room. This has sparked several conversations about why the heat affects us differently. I have British and German ancestry, so I don’t have any kind of genetic advantage for tolerating Australia’s heat.
One possibility is that my repeated early-life exposure to heat has somehow primed my body to cope better with it. But it turns out that my UK colleagues are just as equipped as me for adapting to heat on a physiological level, and that the advantages of growing up in Australia are merely psychological and behavioural. There are also techniques we can all use to help our bodies adapt to the rising global temperatures (spoiler alert: you may want to switch off your air con).
Alzheimer’s, stroke, depression: The preventative power of sauna Our bodies function optimally with a core temperature of around 36.5° to 37.5°C (97.7° to 99.5°F), and our organs start to shut down at anything above 40°C (104°F). As a result, we have evolved ways to constantly monitor the temperature of the outside environment and our insides, and cool ourselves down when needed. We sense external heat via thermoreceptors in our skin, which communicate with the brain.
If the brain considers the heat to be a threat to the body’s core temperature, it produces a conscious feeling of being uncomfortably hot and bothered, so that we peel off a layer of clothing, rest in the shade or engage in other cooling behaviours. The brain also activates unconscious cooling mechanisms in response to heat. For example, it tells the heart to beat harder and faster to move blood from the body’s core to the skin.
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