Finns Adapt to Higher Temperatures
Image: YLE
Climate change has had very little effect on the health of Finns so far. The rise in the average temperature has been so slow that Finns have managed to adapt to it.
Simo Näyhä, Professor of Health Science at the University of Oulu and the Occupational Health Institute, has studied the effects of the cold of winter and the heat of summer on mortality rates. Comparisons with different countries show that Finns have adapted well to the cold.
Professor Näyhä says that it was recently noted that the spike in mortality during cold weather is lower in Finland than it is in Britain, or the Mediterranean countries, for instance.
“There are between 2,000 and 3,000 additional deaths in Finland, depending on how severe the winter is. The figure has gradually declined in recent years, but not very much. it is still about 2,000,” Näyhä says.
The rise in deaths stemming from cold weather cannot be explained by freezing. More important factors are the increase in heart attacks and strokes, for instance.
“Exposure to cold goes through the face and uncovered parts of the body. It causes a narrowing of the blood vessels. Blood concentrates on the inner parts of the body and becomes more concentrated, which leads to an increased risk of blood clots.
Heat More Dangerous than Cold
For Finns, the optimum average temperature for a 24 hour period is +15 degrees Celsius, and the best time for this is August. When the average temperature is exceeded, total mortality rises again, and much more quickly than when the temperature falls. Between 100 and 200 Finns die as a result of summer heat each year even when there are no major heat waves.
Professor Näyhä expects that in the coming 10-20 years, mortality from winter cold will decline, but deaths in which summer heat is a factor will increase. The optimum average temperature should gradually rise; in the past 30 years it has risen by about one degree.
“As this is the case, year-round mortality is not likely to increase significantly very soon. But what happens in the long term is unknown, but one might imagine that mortality from heat will ultimately increase.”
Ideal Temperatures Vary
In Mediterranean countries, temperature-related mortality is at its lowest when the day’s average temperature is +20 degrees. Professor Näyhä says that it starts to increase there already when the average temperature falls to 15 degrees, which is the optimum temperature in Finland.
In the tropics, the ideal average temperature is as high as 30 degrees.
YLE