Older adults are less emotionally affected by heat

Soaring temperatures often lead to soaring tempers, as people’s emotions are tested when they are exposed to excess heat. A surprising new study from Washington State University suggests that emotional responses to heat vary greatly, with age being a key factor.

The research team has discovered that discomfort triggered by a sizzling summer day doesn’t affect everyone equally. The threshold of discomfort, it turns out, is a highly subjective matter, varying from individual to individual.

Age and heat: An unexpected connection

The researchers found that the actual temperature at which the majority of people felt uncomfortable during a hot summer depended on the individual. When discomfort set in, the majority of people had negative changes in mood.

Interestingly, there was an exception with older adults. They were found to hit their discomfort level faster in high temperatures compared to their youthful counterparts, yet their moods remained comparably unscathed.

Study lead author Kim Meidenbauer is a psychological researcher at Washington State University.

“Older adults in general have worse thermoregulation, so this makes them more vulnerable to heat – so that was not surprising – but what was really interesting is that on average, older adults showed low levels of negative emotional states, even though they experienced more discomfort in the heat,” noted Meidenbauer.

While the study did not pinpoint the reasons for the age difference in emotional response to heat, Meidenbauer said that other research on personality traits across the lifespan found that emotional stability tends to increase with age.

Emotional effects of heat

The goal of the research was to shed light on the known association between high outside temperatures and spikes in violent crime and mental health hospital admissions. Although this link is widely recognized, the reason behind it remains unsolved.

The experts collaborated with researchers from the University of Chicago, University of Michigan, University of Illinois, Argonne National Laboratory, and the Santa Fe Institute.

The team explored into the relationship surrounding outdoor temperature, physical discomfort, and negative effects such as feelings of irritability, anxiety, or gloominess.

To investigate, the researchers enlisted approximately 400 people in the Chicago area during the summer of 2022.

The participants self-reported their comfort and emotional status on an app while they were outside, allowing the researchers to correlate their responses with the geolocation determined temperature.

Perception of heat and discomfort

The study concluded that there was no direct connection between actual temperature and the emotional state of individuals. What mattered more was the perceived temperature – a subjective interpretation of how hot it was.

“People really varied in the extent to which they found consistently extreme temperatures as hot or uncomfortable. Some people were experiencing 100-degree days, and they were still feeling good,” said Meidenbauer.

However, when discomfort did creep in, it often brought along negative emotional states, particularly in younger adults.

“This research is suggesting that for some people there is a really strong relationship between heat and negative affect working through discomfort,” noted Meidenbauer.

“Because there is also an association between being in a particularly angry or irritable emotional state and then acting out aggressively – this is a plausible mechanism at play.”

In the future, Meidenbauer aims to examine the emotional response to heat in a more controlled laboratory setting.

Heat and emotional well-being

This study opens the door to more detailed investigations into how different age groups respond to heat, with important implications for public health and climate resilience strategies.

As climate change accelerates and extreme heat events become more frequent, understanding the psychological and physiological impacts of heat on various populations could help mitigate risks and improve overall well-being.

Older adults, while emotionally resilient, remain physically vulnerable due to decreased thermoregulation, highlighting the need for targeted interventions.

Meidenbauer and her team plan to further explore these connections, aiming to develop tailored interventions that address both the emotional and physical health challenges posed by rising temperatures.

Their future work may include laboratory-controlled experiments and larger-scale studies to identify strategies that could help people of all ages better cope with heat stress, particularly as the world faces increasingly unpredictable climate patterns.

The research, published in the journal BMC Psychology, was funded by the National Science Foundation and NASA.

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