Heatwaves and scorching days could usually be described as “good climate”, however warmth can have a harmful impact on the human physique.
From warmth exhaustion to warmth stroke, dehydration to water toxicity, it may be a minefield attempting to remain cool – so the tech world is arising with its personal options to overheating.
Getting sweaty – and measuring it
Our our bodies attempt to maintain the identical core temperature, normally round 37C, however this may range from individual to individual.
When it’s heat exterior, our blood vessels confide in attempt to lose warmth to our environment.
The hypothalamus within the mind additionally tells sweat glands to start out working, and as sweat evaporates from our pores and skin, it carries away warmth and lowers our physique temperature.
Read the latest on the heatwave here
Measuring that sweat by wearable tech like patches can provide essential clues to figuring out when our our bodies are overheating.
A prototype for an Epicure sweat patch in 2018. File pic: Epicore Biosystems/AP
Epicore, a US biotech firm, has now developed a patch that measures how a lot sweat you might be producing and the quantity of various chemical substances, like electrolytes, it incorporates.
Sweat can “point out the well being standing of the physique on the molecular degree” and, as a result of it’s so straightforward to entry, it’s “best for steady monitoring”, based on a 2023 examine in Nature.
If the sweat patch, which additionally measures the physique’s core temperature and motion, senses you might be approaching harmful ranges of overheating, it sends alerts to your cellphone.
Staying hydrated – however not too hydrated
Whereas it might appear the plain response, consuming an excessive amount of water throughout a heatwave could be dangerous.
“In case you drink in extra, you wash essential minerals out of your physique,” Dr Brimicombe mentioned.
Once you drink an excessive amount of, your kidneys cannot eliminate the surplus and the sodium content material of your blood turns into diluted – that is known as hyponatremia, and it may be life-threatening.
For some individuals although, simply getting sufficient water is tough.
Folks with dementia “could overlook to drink sufficient fluids and put on appropriate clothes” in the course of the heatwave, based on Angelo Makri, senior information officer for wellbeing on the Alzheimer’s Society.
File pic: iStock
There are a selection of good cups and bottles being launched onto the market that monitor how a lot water you might be consuming all through the day.
There has not been a lot tutorial analysis into how efficient good bottles are however one examine commissioned by the Nationwide Kidney Basis did discover that in individuals with kidney stones, these utilizing the tech have been more likely to drink extra – and forgot to drink much less usually.
A cooling, private breeze
The UK’s buildings aren’t well-designed with regards to warmth, based on Professor Prashant Kumar from the College of Surrey.
Poor air flow means it may be laborious to flow into air all through our buildings, and the dearth of greenery in our cities and cities could make the warmth really feel extra insufferable.
Fortunately extra transportable followers are additionally accessible. Pic: PA (July 2022)
However whereas there are long-term options like higher metropolis planning or retrofitted buildings, it might be extra environment friendly to easily cool the air round you, as an alternative of attempting to chill the entire room.
In Japan, inventor Ichigaya Hiroshi has been attempting to maintain employees cool through the use of their garments for the reason that Nineteen Nineties.
Ichigaya Hiroshi pictured with an early prototype of his fan jacket. Pic: Reuters
Relatively than cooling down entire rooms or buildings, he advised Japan’s authorities PR workplace that he needed to “cool the air round every particular person” as it will take a lot much less power.
He experimented with jackets laced with water pipes however discovered they leaked on individuals, and moved on to sewing miniature followers into the backs of employees’ clothes.
Now, air-conditioned garments are all the craze within the nation, based on Vogue, and even hit the high-fashion catwalks of Paris Trend Week final October.
Learn extra:
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The best use for your freezer in the heatwave
But when a ballooning, air-filled jacket will not lower it at your workplace, extra discreet choices have additionally been invented.
Followers that hold round your neck and blast cool air onto your face are a standard sight on public transport within the UK in the course of the summer time, and Sony has now taken it a step additional.
The Japanese tech big has developed the Reon cooling system; a metallic plate that sits between your shoulder blades and cools your core.
It’s marketed in the direction of workplace employees who can put on the system beneath shirts and blouses, though it’s nonetheless seen on the prime of the collar.
A small clip-tag sits on the skin of the shirt to measure the air temperature, and the system mechanically adjusts how scorching or chilly it’s, relying in your atmosphere.
All this tech could assist preserve you cool however, as Professor Kumar identified, in the mean time, the UK is barely scorching for a number of weeks a 12 months (though world warming signifies which will improve).
UK heatwaves defined
Analysis launched final week confirmed the UK had purchased 7.1 million mini-fans within the final 12 months, however on the identical time binned, or did not use, 3.4 million of them.
In order temperatures rise, it stays unclear whether or not the event of good tech means it has now reached the purpose the place it’s more likely to change into a widespread device within the ongoing battle to maintain cool – or if a lukewarm bathe will proceed to suffice for many of us.
