Heatwaves cause more deaths in Australia than all other natural disasters combined and their intensity, duration, and frequency is getting worse as the planet warms.
Older people often do not respond well to heat because one of the main ways we lose excess heat, blood flowing to our skin, becomes less effective as we get older. The blood vessels in our skin don’t expand fast enough, and our hearts pump less blood with each beat.
Because blood flow is so important for regulating body temperatures, heat brings increased risk of heart failure and diabetes.
Older people also have reduced ability to sweat and their kidneys do not balance body fluids effectively. Both are important for staying cool.
Loneliness and social isolation are health risks on their own and also increase the risk of heat-related illness.
Many medications commonly prescribed for chronic illnesses can interfere with how our body regulates temperature. For instance, some blood pressure medicines reduce our ability to sweat and lose heat.
Poor home design, lack of insulation, high energy bills and limited income all contribute to being vulnerability to heatwaves in Australia.
Even if they have air conditioning many older people worry about the cost and are hesitant to switch it on.
Associate Professor Shannon Rutherford and her team at Griffith University in Queensland have begun the Extreme Heat and Older Persons (Ethos) Project to better understand the health impacts of heatwaves and to develop new tools to respond to them.
“The impacts of elevated temperatures on human health are well established and highly preventable,” she said..
“Our study found that doctors were not talking to their patients with chronic conditions about heat. This highlighted a gap that we need to address – if no one cares about heat waves and their health risks, they’re not going to act if they don’t think there is a problem.”
Writing in The Conversation, Emma Power and colleagues at Western Sydney University listed many practical ways we can all keep ourselves and our homes cool, safely and efficiently.
They wrote: Shade is important for creating more comfortable living spaces. Identify the parts of your home get the most afternoon sun in summer. Can you plant trees or vines create a green screen or attach awnings to shade the windows?
Low-cost solutions can include attaching light-coloured shade cloth outside the window, or installing heavy drapes or even aluminium foil inside to keep heat out.
Fans are one of the best ways to cool your body, especially when the weather is humid, but may not be enough when it’s very hot and dry. Fans cool bodies not rooms, so turn off the fan when you leave the room.
Find ice trays and containers to freeze water and put them in front of a portable fan to blow cool air.
Take cool showers or apply a damp cloth to the insides of your wrists, around your ankles or on the back of your neck to bring down body temperature. Hanging damp sheets in doorways or in front of a fan will help keep the temperature down on a hot dry day, they advised.
If possible, do your cleaning, cooking or outside work in the morning while it is still cool.
Keep windows and doors open overnight to let in cooler air. As the day starts to get hot, close the house up – shut windows, blinds and curtains.
Drink plenty of water throughout the day, even when you’re not thirsty. Put a jug of tap water in the fridge and remember to top it up. Don’t forget to move pet water bowls out of the sun. Plan meals that don’t require an oven.
If your home gets uncomfortably hot, find the place where you can go to cool down. Good examples are the local swimming pool, library and shopping centre.
For more help in keeping cool download preparing-for-heat-pamphlet.pdf from the Western Sydney University website www.westernsydney.edu.au