Two ethical men live in the 1960s, hundreds of miles away from each other, one in Arizona and the other in Washington State. They are the same age and they have identical economic social backgrounds. They also have similar habits and they are almost the same physical form. But the man in Arizona is progressing more quickly than the man in Washington – the fastest 14 -month, precisely. No man smokes or drinks. Both exercise regularly. Why does the issue live in the desert southwest for more than a year at the cellular level of its counterpart in the northwest of the Pacific?
A The study was published this week In Science Advances, the issue raises that the intense heat is the aging of millions of Americans more quickly than their counterparts in cooler climates. The researchers found that the effect of chronic exposure to high temperatures is equivalent to the effect of the usual smoking on cellular aging.
With the continued high global temperatures due to the effect of greenhouse gases caused by burning fossil fuels, large areas of the world’s population are exposed to intense heat, which has More than 21,000 Americans have been killed since 1999. In 2023, Phoenix, Arizona, where some people were analyzed in the air on the air, I saw 31 days in a row of temperatures above 110 degrees Fahrenheit. That year was The warmest year ever Globally – Kan I excelled quickly by 2024.
Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getti Pictures
Exposure to heat is higher than average Serious, short -term health repercussions. People may face a disease associated with heat, such as dehydration and fainting, or maintaining heat strokes-which is the most dangerous form of heat-related diseases that can lead to death. The elderly and young children are especially vulnerable to these effects because they suffer from a problem with thermal regulation, or maintain the inner body temperature. For months and years, heat can be exposed The exacerbation of the current chronic conditions Such as kidney disease and cardiovascular diseases, raising a person’s risk from Mental health issues and Difference.
Eun Young Choi, an aging researcher after his doctorate at Leonard Davis College at the University of Southern California, and the author of the main study in the study, wanted to know what may lead long -term health consequences for severe heat at the cellular level, especially in people approaching the 1960s. She was particularly interested in “non -clinical manifestations” of heat exposure, which means that she was hoping to capture how heat affects the people who were not It appears in emergency rooms with heat -related disease or a thermal blow. Her hypocrisy was that the heat was abandoning public health, whether someone could feel sharply or not.
In order to test this theory, Choi analyzed blood samples from more than 3,600 people over the age of 56 who participated in a large national study of health and retirement. These participants conducted a blood test in 2016 or 2017. Shui and its co -author, Jennifer Ilchair, then used weather and climate data to estimate the number of “heat days”, as specified in the national weather service, each participant in the years, months and days before the date of blood test. They sorted the participants to demographic groups based on race, social and economic condition, exercise habits, and other factors, then compared people in those groups with each other using a series of biological tests that determine the speed in which the person’s cells advance.
With long-term heat exposure-year and six years-we see a steady connection between heat [cellular] Age “through various biological tests, Choi said. People who live in places where temperatures are at or exceeding 90 degrees Fahrenheit for half a year have seen up to 14 months of biological aging compared to people who live in areas less than 10 days of temperatures at or exceed 90 degrees.
“This study is one of the first experimental assessments that indicate that the long -term exposure to heat is directly related to the acceleration of the aging process,” said Vivek Shandas, a professor at Portland State University who studies the effects of climate change on cities and did not participate in the study. “He adds to the current work by noting that the deaths close to the range may be the result of that they are the elderly have a long -term and immediate exposure to heating.”
two former studies I found that people are exposed to the age of heat more quickly, and studies in mice It appears constantly that the age cells are heatBut Choi’s study is the first representative research at the national level to extract communication. The size and diversity of its set of its topics helped sink many factors that are usually the type of data. Choi did not find any major differences between the population composition – which indicates that the temperature harms cells in all areas of older individuals.
However, what Choi did not explain is all the ways that people adapt to protect themselves from heat. Some people, especially the wealthy Americans, may remain inside with the bombing of air conditioning throughout the day and night.
Allen c. Shaben / Los Angeles Times via Getti Imas
Previous research has shown that higher temperatures than average do not affect all population on an equal footing. Severe heat is particularly dangerous for people who live in urban areas with uncomfortable trees cover and a lot of concrete. These areas, in places such as New York City and Chicago, are called urban islands, and they can get them It reaches 7 degrees Fahrenheit From the surrounding rural areas. Urban heat islands tend to coincide with the neighborhoods that The non -white societies were historically confined to the practices of dividing the racist areasThis is one of the reasons why the normal person is a color He is exposed to more severe heat In urban areas of the non -Latin white person. These population are also less likely Air conditioning is able to withstand.
“We know that some population composition, such as those who work abroad, the unique population, people who live in urban heat islands, imprisoned populations, and low -income populations generally have longer periods of exposure to severe heat (for decades),” said Chanas. “Accordingly, we may rely on these results to promote that some population will need more attention and care as we see heat waves predictions.”
Choi hopes that future studies will continue to continue these differences, especially because by 2040, Choi will continue. 1 out of 5 Americans will be 65 years old or older – From 1 in 8 in 2000. The results of a Choi study also have effects on all age groups, not only people in the fifties and above. “I don’t think basic biology is very different,” she said. We expect to see some important effects of heat in younger adults. We really need to track people from their birth to older ages to see if any of these effects can be reversed. ”
