In the Heat of the Gender.
When things get heated between the sexes, the situation turns dicey. Heated arguments inflame the mood and the tone. And what does that have to do with gender?
Not much. Disagreements rarely care which gender is involved. Homo sapiens is the common ground. Full stop.
But let us talk about a more current kind of heat — one that may actually affect the sexes differently: the heat wave.
Europe is currently brooding over a giant egg it laid for itself a hundred years ago. The climate is in crisis? No, we humans are. The climate doesn’t suffer from the changes. It’s still just the climate. But the overheated weather is playing the lead role right now. Up to 42 degrees — in the shade — is no longer a walk in the park. That is the edge of fever-delirium, just before collapse. In the human body, that is.
And how does this play out between the sexes when it comes to living with the heat? Do women suffer more under heat, or are men the ones who endure it better?
Well, when it comes to bodies in the heat, there are real differences between men and women. Men sweat more, and they do so enthusiastically. Sweat production in women is lower than in men. But this only becomes noticeable under very high exertion. Women have, on average, one fifth less body mass — but, please don’t snap at me, dear women — 14% more body fat. The volume of circulating blood is also smaller than in their male counterparts. Women cool their bodies more through circulation than through sweat-soaked evaporation.
When heat combines with exertion, women’s heart rate rises more sharply, their skin runs hotter, and they become vulnerable to dehydration.
Aha — so some people suffer more under the heat dome because they are women?
No. The bigger difference in heat management has to do with body build as such. Regardless of which gender it belongs to. As long as the heat remains bearable — meaning it wafts around at moderate levels — women and men adapt to hotter conditions in much the same way. A small man and a tall woman behave thermally more like each other than two people of the same height but different sexes.
So there are hardly any sex-based differences when the heat spreads itself out? There are, actually — but for rather unexpected reasons.
In the record summer of 2022, 63% more women than men died of heat in Europe — 35,406 versus 21,667 premature deaths. The headline conclusion: “Women are more susceptible to heat.”
Oh really? Let’s look more closely and break those numbers down by age group. The male mortality rate was 41% higher among those under 65, and 13% higher among those aged 65–79.
Conclusion: men are more likely to die from heat!
No. Women die more frequently once they reach the over-80 age group. Women don’t die more often because they are women, but because they are far more frequently found in that group than men are.
This reminds me of a remark from my friend Phil Pendry. When he reached 99 years of age, he said with a smile:
“I’m relieved. Not nearly as many people are dying in my age group anymore.”
Men have many peculiarities that make survival harder on itself. Working outdoors in the heat, taking more risks, and being less inclined to seek the shade, for instance.
When all is said and sweated: yes, there are differences — quite real, but modest, and largely explained by body build.
The most important risk factor under the heat dome is not man or woman, but age, alone, without air conditioning, and on medications that lower heat tolerance.
Bottom line: it is ageing that is life-threatening. Not gender.
Please stay wise AND cool, my fellow age-mates. OK?
