Been in the air conditioning a lot? Tomorrow will be a tough day

The fact that tomorrow in De Bilt it will probably be 32 degrees makes August 12 the warmest day of 2024. But it is not the first tropical day of the year. In both June and July the mercury rose to 30 degrees and that means that our bodies can get used to the warm weather quite well.

To get used to

Still, it has an impact on our body if it suddenly gets 6 degrees warmer in one day, says thermophysiologist Sam Ballak. “At such a high temperature, it is advisable to take it easy. In the elderly, the sweat response works less, so certainly if you are older, have a less good condition or work outside, it is advisable to take the high temperature into account.”

Thermophysiologist Hein Daanen points out something else. He examined data from the KNMI. “There is a fifty percent chance of humid air,” he concludes. “The higher temperature is not the only burden, high humidity also plays a role. In humid air, our sweat has a harder time evaporating.” And sweating is precisely the way in which our body loses heat.

By going outside, into the heat, and sweating, our body can get used to the heat. It can acclimatize to a high(er) temperature in ten to fourteen days. According to Daanen, only you can check whether you are already used to it. “If you have been outside regularly recently and have been exposed to the heat, then you are reasonably acclimatized. If you have been indoors with the air conditioning on for the past few weeks, you are not used to it.”

“It’s going to be very warm tomorrow,” he continues. “If you haven’t gotten used to the heat yet, you can’t suddenly change that.” According to Daanen, one warm day won’t make a difference. It will be warm on Monday, but then the mercury will drop again quite quickly. The expectation is that it will be around 23 degrees later this week.

In this video, physiologist Yannick de Korte explains why some people can cope better with heat than others:

The thermophysiologists recommend drinking enough and, especially if you are suffering from the heat, seeking cooling. Daanen: “There is shade in the park, some people like to go to the supermarket or drive around in the car with the air conditioning on.”

‘Air conditioning often too cold’

He does have a side note about that cooling device: air conditioning is often set much too cold. Anyone who thinks that 21 degrees is a suitable temperature is very wrong. “You only need the air conditioning when it is above 26 degrees inside. And then set it to 26 degrees. With a lower temperature you make it unnecessarily cold. That only causes environmental pollution.”

Cooling

And what is best to drink? A ‘refrigerator cold’ glass of water or an ice cold drink such as slush (shaved ice) is recommended. The latter provides an extra cooling effect due to the lower temperature, but ‘brain freeze’ is lurking. As a result, you can have a lower amount of it and a glass of cold water is therefore the most effective.

Hot drinks such as tea are also sometimes recommended during hot days. “But that is actually only the case if you are just below a sweat threshold,” Daanen explains. “The hot drink then makes you sweat and that provides cooling. Cool drinks in turn extract heat and that is more effective than sweating through a hot drink.”