“Summer feelings with dark spots” is what an acquaintance called what many people in Germany have probably felt in the past few days: on the one hand, the sky-high joy that it’s finally getting warm, yes, swimming pool weather almost all of a sudden. Tights off, BBQ in the basement and off to the end of the day as early as possible. On the other hand, the latent horror of precisely this rapid rise to summer temperatures in May against the background of global warming. Isn’t it actually too warm and too dry again?
In India and Pakistan, meanwhile, people are groaning under a heat wave so extreme that during the day in Delhi, construction sites stand still and people gather under large bridges to survive the hottest hours of the day.
Because while many people can hide from the heat in air-conditioned offices, workers who work outdoors suffer from it in particular. One confirmed that new studywhich examined the effects of summer heatwaves on the health of people who work outdoors in Las Vegas, Phoenix and Los Angeles.
The researchers compared data on accidents at work and occupational diseases for the years 2011-2018 with heat index data from the three cities. The heat index is a combination of temperature and humidity and gives an indication of how people perceive the heat. A connection between high temperatures and illnesses and accidents was expected, but how clear this connection was still surprised the researchers.
Hormonal influences must be better taken into account
And another result of the study is interesting: women are disproportionately affected. On the one hand, this may be due to the fact that their proportion of those working outdoors is increasing. When the study began in 2011, 26 to 50 percent of those affected in the three states were female. In 2018 it was 42 to 86 percent. However, the researchers also suspect that women are more susceptible to certain heat-related effects such as hyponatremia – a condition that occurs when too much water is drunk in hot weather and blood sodium levels fall too low.
“Precisely because the number of workers exposed to extreme temperatures is increasing, gender-related differences such as hormonal influences or influences of the female cycle, which can play an important role during exposure to extreme heat, must be better taken into account,” writes study co-author Kebret Kebede Nevada State College.
So both have their justification: the joy of how good it can be just because it’s finally ice cream parlor weather again. As well as the “Something’s coming at us” feeling, which should actually be more of a “And many are already in the middle of it” feeling and which can no longer be suppressed even in the most beautiful weather.
(This text is from the weekly Newsletter climate friday you here for free can order.)