Global warming is just around the corner, and year after year, it’s getting hotter and harder to live on Earth. That is why American researchers have found out the most optimal combination of temperature and humidity for a person
A group of scientists from The University of Pennsylvania, USA, was concerned about strong and intense changes in heat waves and asked the question – “When will it become too hot for normal daily activities as we know it, even for young and healthy adults?”.
Atrick Mansell / Penn State, CC BY-NC-ND
So, they invited volunteers to a special climate chamber to check the changes in their physiological parameters simultaneously with the increase in humidity and temperature around.
W. Larry Kenney, CC BY-ND Temperature-humidity ratio diagram. Critical indicators for the body are located at the junction of the yellow and red zones
During the experiment, the subjects did simple exercises, imitating their daily work. It turned out that the temperature limit is when the body does not overheat and nothing threatens it: 31°C at 100%. A person can safely tolerate even 50 ° C if the humidity is close to zero.
Drinking enough liquid and periodically cooling the body from the sun is what will save you in extreme heat. So, in the USA, cooling centers are being expanded to help people escape from the heat. In general, scientists note, there is increasing evidence that climate change is not just a problem of the future. This is what humanity is currently facing.