It’s the third afternoon in a row that the heat hasn’t broken. The fan has been running since morning, but sometime after lunch you notice it’s just moving warm air from one side of the room to the other. You haven’t done much all day, and still there’s a heaviness on you that a rest doesn’t quite lift.
I want to talk about heat this week — and I want to do it before the worst of a heatwave, not during — because heat is the rare danger that doesn’t feel like one. It doesn’t sting or ache. It wears you down slowly and quietly, until an ordinary hot afternoon has done more than make you tired.
So let me say the plain thing first, the thing that’s easy to resist hearing. Older bodies handle heat differently than younger ones. That isn’t an insult, and it isn’t a weakness you failed to prevent. It’s physiology, and knowing it is what keeps you safe.
Why Heat Hits Older Bodies Harder
With age, the body simply gets less efficient at cooling itself. The National Institute on Aging puts it plainly