Do rising temperatures mean rising deaths?

ITV News Health and Science Correspondent Martin Stew explains that while many enjoy the rare sunshine, soaring temperatures can be dangerous for the elderly and vulnerable.

It's a familiar pattern.

The sun comes out. The shirts come off. And the news alerts start rolling in.

Heat health warnings - issued by public health officials - tell the population that rising temperatures could pose a risk to those who are vulnerable.

Some may brand this the 'nanny state' but the data speaks for itself.

According to the World Health Organisation, there are 176,000 heat-related deaths each year in Europe. As a result of climate change they say the number of over 65s dying from heat has increased by 85% this century.

The below graph from the UK Health Security Agency charts 2022's summer temperatures and excess mortality in those aged 65 and over.

Data shows how heat and mortality are linked.

The correlation is clear: excess deaths rise in line with temperatures.

To find out why heat can be dangerous, I checked myself into the Altitude Centre in London.

It's where they train athletes to perform at high elevations and in warm climates.

In the name of science, I agreed to a workout in their heat chamber, essentially a treadmill in a sauna.

It was an enlightening - and humbling - experience.

As they cranked up the temperatures, to a high of 39 degrees Celsius, even maintaining a brisk walking pace became a challenge.

And by the end of it all, I'd lost 300ml in just 20 minutes.

The human body loses much more water when exercising in extreme temperatures.

"The risk of heat with the body is that the core body temperature gets too high. Normal core body temperature is about 37 degrees. Once we start pushing that up above 38 and towards 39 and 40, we start to get into difficulty," James Barber of The Altitude Centre tells me.

And if you're elderly or vulnerable, it's particularly dangerous.

East London GP, Dr Farzana Hussain, says that people who have long-terms conditions, those with heart or kidney problems, people with diabetes, the elderly and the very young are all at risk from high temperatures.

"As we're growing wiser with older age, our bodies are getting older so the heart simply isn't as strong, the kidneys simply aren't as good, so it's just about getting older and our organs having to work much harder in the heat," Dr Farzana Hussain says.

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