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To save lives in heatwaves, focus on how human bodies work

Strategies for heat-health preparedness should concentrate on cooling people, not just the air.
By
  1. Ollie Jay

    1. Ollie Jay is a professor at the Heat and Health Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.

  2. Jennifer Vanos

    1. Jennifer Vanos is an associate professor in the School of Sustainability, Arizona State University, Phoenix, Arizona, USA.

  3. Daniel Gagnon

    1. Daniel Gagnon is an associate professor at the School of Kinesiology and Physical Activity Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and a researcher at the Montreal Heart Institute, Montreal, Canada.

  4. Federico Tartarini

    1. Federico Tartarini is a senior lecturer at the Heat and Health Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.

A person splashes his face with water from a bucket filled by an open fire hydrant during a heatwave in the city of Los Angeles, California.

A person in California splashes himself with water during a heatwave in 2024. Credit: Etienne Laurent/AFP via Getty

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Close to 110,000 heat-related deaths are estimated to have occurred in Europe during the summers of 2022 and 2023 combined1. That’s roughly the same number of people as if a fully occupied jumbo jet crashed every day for 16 weeks. Meanwhile, a vast array of heat-related impacts disrupt people’s lives. Hot weather worsens mental-health problems2, increases the likelihood of violence3 and makes pregnant women more likely to give birth prematurely4. In classrooms, it impairs children’s ability to learn5.

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Nature 644, 35-38 (2025)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-02461-6

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Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests

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