Latest news with #KevinLanza
Axios
24-06-2025
- Health
- Axios
What increasing heat does to our bodies
With record high temperatures becoming the norm, humans are more regularly hitting the threshold of our ability to cope with heat. Why it matters: An early summer heat wave plaguing the U.S. raises questions about how our bodies can cope with excessively high temperatures that are worsening due to climate change. Nearly 190 million were under some form of heat advisory or warning as of Monday afternoon, Axios' Alex Fitzpatrick reports. The extreme weather broke temperature records across the West and Alaska before shifting east, and is bringing an especially dangerous combination of heat and humidity. Knowing how the body responds to punishing conditions can help explain the best ways — at both the population and the individual levels — we'll need to adapt. Between the lines: "Our body is extraordinary. It's able to keep our core body temperature within a few tenths of a degree. That stabilization allows us to thrive," Kevin Lanza, an assistant professor at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health, previously told Axios. The body typically cools itself through a mixture of sweat and evaporation, as well as the constriction and dilation of different veins to move blood around and transport heat from the core to other parts and then be released, he said. That's why, while it sounds obvious, water and rest are essential. Reality check: Certain groups face a disproportionate burden of extreme weather due to factors like income, education, health care access and housing, according to the EPA. In the U.S., communities of color, some immigrants or people with lower English proficiency and lower-income groups can face more risks from extreme heat due to where they live, existing medical conditions, limited financial resources and poorly maintained infrastructure. Threat level: Studies are mixed on exactly when things get too hot to handle — and there's really no magic number. Researchers previously believed 95°F at 100% humidity, equal to about 115°F at 50% humidity, was the maximum a person could endure before losing the ability to adequately regulate body temperature over prolonged exposure. A 2022 study from Penn State researchers found that 87°F at 100% humidity was the maximum for young healthy individuals to adequately regulate. Another recent study suggests a range between 104°F and 122°F — depending on the humidity — is the threshold, NBC News reported. A person can start developing heat illness at even lower temperatures than that depending on age, health, the ability to regularly find relief and even the medications they're on. Heat illness can shut down or disable multiple systems throughout the body, leading to long-term injury or death. Impacts include: 1. Sweating a lot and losing fluids due to the heat can severely alter a person's electrolytes and cause cardiac arrhythmias and even a nervous system response that can end in a heart attack, Haitham Khraishah, a preventive cardiologist at University Hospitals Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute, previously told Axios. The best preventative measure is hydration with water or beverages with electrolytes for those engaging in activity, he said. 2. Metabolic systems start to shut down in response to too high of a body temperature which can impact kidney function, per the National Kidney Foundation. Zoom in: Researchers studying how chronic heat stress impacts agricultural workers around the world have seen the increase in sudden extremes can take a toll even if it doesn't result in acute heat exhaustion, Richard Johnson, professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, previously told Axios. "They can go out thinking it's going to be a usual day and it ends up being much much hotter and they get dehydrated and overheated," he said. "We can show them when that happens, they start showing evidence of kidney damage and muscle breakdown and other problems. Over time with repeated types of events like this, they can develop kidney disease and die from kidney failure." The intrigue: Beyond acute injury, Lanza has been studying a longer-term health impact of all this heat: what the increase in physical discomfort just being outside means for our activity levels and overall wellness. His work has shown, for example, around 91°F, kids in Austin start being less active at recess, and adults start saying it's too hot to walk around outside. "If we do find, as we're seeing through our research, that people are being less active at higher temperatures, how are they using that time they were being active? Are they engaging in unhealthy behaviors such as prolonged periods of being sedentary?" he said.
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Researchers make troubling discovery about dangerous health issue with bus stops: 'Like an oven'
While transportation accounts for over 20% of planet-warming pollution, public transit reduces it and provides a more affordable and safe alternative for commuting. More than two-thirds of public transit users walk to transit stations, according to the American Public Transportation Association, but extreme temperatures can make getting to these stations difficult. Shelters at transit stations are designed to protect users from extreme temperatures and weather. However, a study at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston discovered some of these shelters worsen the problem, increasing temperatures and transit users' risk for heat stress. The study measured wet bulb globe temperature –– which combines air temperature, humidity, wind speed, and solar radiation –– in shaded and unshaded areas at bus stops in Houston. While shade reduced WBGT, one type of shelter increased temperatures. The ground in this type of shelter, when unshaded, was about 5 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than the ground outside the shelter, the researchers discovered. These types of shelters contained aluminum frames and translucent acrylic walls, which "trapped radiation inside the shelter" and made them "like an oven," researcher Kevin Lanza said, per Hot temperatures at bus stops increase bus riders' risk for heat stress, which includes "a combination of factors, not just the temperature," according to Lanza, and can develop into life-threatening heat stroke.
Gizmodo
05-05-2025
- Health
- Gizmodo
‘It Was Like an Oven': Some Bus Shelters Actually Make Heat Even Worse, Study Finds
Imagine taking the bus on a hot summer day. The Sun is beating down strongly, so you hurry to the bus shelter. After all, the structure's shade should lessen the heat stress. New research, however, shows that this isn't always the case. In fact, sometimes it makes an already unpleasant situation even worse. Researchers from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston measured heat stress at bus stops in Houston between July 20 and August 7, 2023. As detailed in a study published earlier this year in the journal Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, they found that, on average, trees reduced heat stress by the same amount as the best bus shelter design—and that under certain conditions, one bus shelter actually made heat stress worse. Their findings have direct implications for public health, and specifically for how experts should design future bus stops. 'Heat stress is a combination of factors, not just the temperature you see on your phone's weather app or your car dash,' co-author Kevin Lanza said in a University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston statement. 'Imagine it's 100 degrees out. If the sun is also strong and hitting you, that continues to heat you up.' Standing in extreme heat for long periods of time puts people at risk of heat stroke, and that risk increases with high humidity, according to the statement. The team claims that its study is the first to investigate how shelters and trees at bus stops impact heat stress via ground measurements. The team investigated trees and four different bus shelter designs at 17 Houston bus stops, collecting data from both shaded and unshaded areas, when temperatures reached 95 to 103 degrees Fahrenheit (35 to 39.4 degrees Celsius). They factored in variables such as the time of day, shelter design, and tree canopies, and recorded wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT)—a measurement of heat stress that takes into account factors such as temperature, humidity, and wind. According to their results, the average WBGT at unshaded regions of bus stops was 92.5 degrees F. Unsurprisingly, standing in the shade generally reduced the WBGT. Tree shade decreased the WBGT by 5.9 degrees F, as did a stainless steel frame with a roof and glass walls, which was the most effective a cooling. By contrast, bus shelters with an aluminum frame, a moderately domed roof, and translucent acrylic walls lowered the WBGT by 1.6 degrees. Another similar design had a bigger and shallower dome, as well as an overhanging roof, and decreased the WBGT by 2.9 degrees F. But when the shelter itself wasn't in the shade, the WBGT beneath it was 5.2 degrees F higher than unshaded areas. 'Because the enclosed acrylic walls with metal trapped radiation inside the shelter, it was like an oven, making it hotter than outside the shelter,' Lanza said. 'Study results can serve as evidence for planting trees at bus stops for maximum cooling, and if shelters are the only option, then being strategic in design.' Simply put, this latest study joins a host of evidence suggesting that trees in cities are almost always a good idea.
