Some parts of the world are battling with floods due to climate change, while others are facing extreme heat waves every year. While both phenomena claim thousands of lives around the world, a new study published in Nature Climate Change now suggests long-term exposure to heat waves speeds up the body’s ageing process.
Scientists say they analysed data from 24,922 adults in Taiwan from 2008 to 2022 and noted that a moderate increase in heat wave exposure affects a person’s biological age to an extent that is comparable to regular alcohol and smoking.
To measure the impact of heat waves on a person, scientists compared the participants’ chronological age to their biological age, which is a metric that gives an idea of how the body is ageing based on 12 biomarkers like liver, lung, and metabolic performance. The results also show that older individuals are at a greater risk of biological changes from heat waves compared to younger people, even if they are similarly exposed. As it turns out, working outdoors or without air-conditioning also accelerated the biological age of some people.
Cui Guo, an assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong who led the study, said that the research does not suggest that individuals are losing days off their lifespan, but that the effect of heatwaves on our bodies is more than we previously thought.
In a statement to Nature, Paul Beggs, an environmental health scientist at Macquarie University in Australia, says that “the fact that heatwaves age us is surprising. This study is a wake-up call that we are all vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change on our health. It reinforces calls for urgent and deep reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions.”
Beggs also added that the results of the Taiwanese study are consistent with a recent US study, which shows how outdoor heat accelerates ageing amongst older adults.
According to the World Weather Attribution, 2024 was recorded as the hottest year worldwide, with climate change contributing to 41 additional days of extreme heat worldwide.
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