In addition to extreme heat, high humidity can also endure people by the end of the century

Heat will cause sleep and work problems in more and more families, and heat will exacerbate existing mental health problems, leading to high levels of mental health spending, predicts Bob Kopp of the Rutgers University Institute of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, the study author.

The expected effects of increasing heat waves have already been addressed in numerous studies, but Kopp’s study also takes into account the putative effects of increasing humidity. Humid air is a factor that significantly affects comfort on hot days in places like Bangkok or Chicago.

Worldwide, 800 million people could be at risk from the heat

In a humid, humid environment, people find it harder to dissipate excess heat through sweating, which increases health risks, including the risk of heat stroke, which the U.S. Epidemiological Center (CDC) says could cause death or permanent damage to health if left untreated. Examining the killer heat waves, you can see that moisture matters a lot, Kopp said.

The scientist estimates that by 2100, more than half a billion people worldwide will be exposed to more heat than safe if the Earth’s average temperature is 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the most ambitious target set by the Paris Climate Agreement. The global average temperature has so far risen by 1.2 degrees Celsius, and today 275 million people are already hit by dangerous levels of heat stress at least one day a year.

If global warming is limited to only two degrees Celsius by 2100, 800 million people worldwide will be at risk from heat, and if global warming reaches three degrees, which currently seems to be the most likely scenario, the health of 1.2 billion people could be at risk. due to extreme heat - stands in the study.

Heat stress also has serious implications for mental health

Another study published in the journal PLOS ONE on Wednesday found that heat stress has a serious and costly impact on mental health. According to surveys conducted by the U.S. Epidemiology Center between 1993 and 2000, American adults were more likely to suffer from mental health problems such as depression or stress on hot days.

Mengyao Li, an economist at the University of Georgia and colleagues across the United States, compared the health status of three million people with temperature data from their homes and found a clear increase in mental illness on days of 31 degrees Celsius or warmer, especially during prolonged heat waves.

It has been calculated that each heatwave day that adversely affects mental health causes a loss of $ 2.60 and $ 4.60 per capita due to reduced performance, resulting in a total of millions of dollars, or even billions, of lost production leading to more frequent hot days. Researchers have urged politicians to take this into account when making decisions that also affect the climate “on the basis of dollars and cents”.

(Source: marmalade.co.hu; hirado.hu | Image: pixabay.com)