Will Parts of Earth Become Too Hot for Human Habitation?
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Welcome back to your weekly dose of wisdom and wellness, with science-backed insights you can use to improve your physical, mental and emotional well-being. If you like what you see, please follow Wise & Well and/or subscribe to this newsletter. You’ll find the usual list of compelling new stories below. But first…
At Wise & Well, we like to keep things positive and constructive, but we can’t avoid the fact that rising temperatures and increasingly more intense heat waves pose a serious threat to our health, as our team of physicians, research scientists, mental health experts and journalists reported recently in our extensive Special Report: Extreme Heat and Human Health.
Now this: New research sounds an alarm on how the risk could grow much worse if global warming isn’t reigned in. If average global temperatures rise by 1 degree Celsius (1.8 Fahrenheit) above current levels, “each year billions of people will be exposed to heat and humidity so extreme they will be unable to naturally cool themselves,” scientists reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences [journal paper].
If that’s not a health concern, I don’t know what is. As the writer Kathleen Murphy explained in our special report:
Over thousands of years, humans have evolved to thrive within a tight body-temperature range of about 98–99 degrees Fahrenheit. Above that, the body begins to overheat and become dehydrated. Sweating helps cool excess heat. But at a certain point, that no longer works, especially if humidity is high and perspiration cannot evaporate.
Beyond a certain threshold, the body starts to shut down. Death can follow quickly, sometimes in terrible, painful fashion.
The largest populations affected by a 1-degree C rise would be in highly populated places already most prone to high-humidity heat waves, including parts of India, Pakistan and China. But with extreme heat already affecting the US, Europe and other parts of the globe, there will increasingly be few places to hide.
To clarify: Air conditioning could still keep an area liveable… for those fortunate to have AC and not have to work outdoors. And if carbon emissions could be reigned in, some of the worst predictions could be avoided.
But if warming of the planet continues to 3 C above pre-industrial levels [2 degrees above current levels], the frequently unlivable regions would extend to much of the US, including from Houston to Chicago and the Eastern Seaboard from Florida to New York.
“Even though the United States will escape some of the worst direct effects of this warming, we will see deadly and unbearable heat more often,” bioclimatologist and study co-author Daniel Vecellio said in a statement. “And — if temperatures continue to rise — we will live in a world where crops are failing and millions or billions of people are trying to migrate because their native regions are uninhabitable.”
READER WISDOM on CARING FOR LOVED ONES
Comments on Caregivers Need Care Too by Annie Foley, a story that covers the pitfalls of caregiving, how it can devolve into abuse, and a new program that offers caregivers education and support.
“It took another social worker telling me — a former social worker — that I was a broken down mess and was no longer capable of looking after my Mum anymore. Some years ago my Mum had asked me to promise that I’d never put her into a care home so I been struggling on despite my own health issues trying to keep that promise.”
— Anne Welborn
“Annie, this piece is a gut-punch reminder that those in the trenches, giving their all, often get the short end of the stick. The emotional rollercoaster caregivers ride daily is something most can’t fathom. And the COACH program? Sounds like the lifeline many have been searching for. Stellar job shining a light on this.”
— Mike Vasery
“Caregivers have to endure so much and their humility in service is incredible. But that can also result in them pushing their feelings to the side. Thank you for highlighting this. Even those who support need support.”
— Marcus Wilson
HEALTHY READING
A selection of this week’s other informative and insightful articles:
The Reality of Weight Loss Schemes, and What Actually Works
People looking to shed an unhealthy lifestyle are often so desperate they’ll grasp at any diet scheme that promises an easy fix. But weight loss is often “more about managing emotional overeating than it is about educating someone about what to eat, or when to eat it.”
— By Julie Cunningham, MPH, RDN, CDCES, IBCLC
How to Break Up With Fake Sugar (and Why You Should)
She used to be a diet soda person. But then she wisened up. Find out why this a nurse practitioner and health coach, with a decade of experience teaching nutrition to others, totally changed her diet, and why, and how it completely changed how she perceives taste now.
— By Elizabeth Knight, PhD
How to Actually Know You’re Lonely
With extensive first-hand experience with loneliness, this author was in search of a scientific way to determine what it means to be lonely, and how to know when he (or you) is truly lonely. The quest has yielded insight into symptoms and an actual test to determine loneliness and, vitally, the antidote: steps you can take to claw out of a lonely existence.
— By Stephan Joppich
The Line Between Conscious and Unconscious Just Got Fuzzier
New research reveals that seemingly anyone can hear and understand verbal instructions while they are asleep and dreaming, and some can do so even in the deepest stage of sleep when brain waves have slowed to a crawl. The research could lead to improved understanding of everything from the nature of consciousness to what dreams mean to how our minds make memories.
— By Robert Roy Britt
Is Mindfulness Making Us Selfless or Just Selfish?
Mindfulness focuses on conscious awareness and the illusion of self, so it ought to make practitioners compassionate toward others. But much of modern mindfulness seems to be packaged solely as self-help, rather than selflessness, this physician and mindfulness coach writes. How did that come to pass, and how can we tap into the potential interpersonal and social benefits of mindfulness?
— By Eric J. Kort MD
How Old is Too Old to Govern?
Most Americans favor an age limit for the president and other politicians. But some ethicists and scientists argue that’s ageist and scientifically unsound. What do you think? Are old politicians older and wiser? Or older and cognitively impaired? Do their minds function well enough to hold such important positions? Are they too out of touch to govern effectively? Is it ageist to even suggest they can’t handle the jobs? (Read the full story and weigh in there!)
— By Robert Roy Britt
RANDOM BIT OF WISDOM
“With burnout rates continuing to rise, we must acknowledge that this is not a passing problem, but a serious and ongoing workforce mental health challenge.”
— Eduardo Sanchez, MD, chief medical officer for prevention at the American Heart Association, quoted in the article 10 Ways to Reduce Worker Burnout
Wise & Well writers are physicians, psychiatrists, research scientists, dieticians, fitness experts, journalists and other professionals who share their expertise to help you make tomorrow a little better than today. If you like any of these highly curated, professionally edited stories, please follow Wise & Well and/or subscribe to this newsletter. — Rob
