At what temperature would humans just start to die?

[RaggyPolls]

Like if it was, say 50° for a month, would people be able to survive

Humans do live in extreme conditions but it all depends on lifestyle. They couldn't carry on their normal life on the middle of the day, they'd have to get up early and have a break in the middle of the day, and pace themselves, do physical work much more slowly.

It'd be crops that would die and we'd starve to death.

From what I remember reading, if the temperature is close to or higher than body temperature and humidity is high, you are unable to sweat and cool off and thats when the trouble starts.

Every heat wave people die and unlike those deaths in cold times , they appear to be true excess deaths not people about to die anyway

So it's a matter of how many people

2021 estimated 1600 people died from the heat and it wasn't that hot last year

Humans have intelligence. That means that we have the ability to shape our environment. If we didn't, we'd have died out eons ago. It's also the reason that we might face a bleak future of our own making. Intelligence and common sense or wisdom don't always go together; and nor does precognition. We didn't see what we were doing. But we are beginning to realise. And we can change.

So yes, we could live and work in such conditions. But we also don't have to. Our planet is infinitely diverse and so are we.

@JudithHarper is correct AFAIK - once the "wet bulb" temperature goes above 35, even fit and healthy people will start to become unwell and potentially die unless they can move to a cooler environment. As the planet heats, we're likely to hit that WBT in more places. www.iflscience.com/why-is-everybody-talking-about-wet-bulb-temperatures-60197

Most enzymes that humans use for metabolic processes work best in body temperature between 36.5 to 38 degrees Celsius. So as long as you can maintain core body temp humans will survive.

I think at 44 degrees the protein in us starts to cook like an egg does.

Why do you think it is that people die in heatwaves over here? I'm honestly curious. Would it be likely the more vulnerable for example someone older who wouldn't think to ventilate and seep in some heavy clothing, not drink water etc? I guess excessive sunbathing too?

@Jalisco

'Humans have intelligence' ...hmm not so sure, we created this mess by wrecking our environment

About 38 degrees apparently

Only 44 degrees? It's 40 tomorrow so not that far off!!!

@blebbleb I'm curious too, there's lots of warnings of deaths but not about how. Is it just from spending too long in the sun, not keeping hydrated etc ?

No
Humans seek water to cool off
Humans drown or are reckless

An undertaker I know says more people in the Uk die from heat than from the cold.
But I dont know how they die exactly.

Heat and cold both kill the same categories of vulnerable people- very young, very old and those with underlying health conditions. So it’s not true that the deaths from cold were “people about to die anyway”

By the way, according to the ONS 8,500 people died in England and Wales last winter due to cold homes.
www.nea.org.uk/news/271120-01/

More people die from the cold than from the heat in the U.K.

Dehydration leads to thickening of the blood which makes clots more likely- leading to stokes and heart attacks. Blood vessels are all wide near the ski so the heart has to work harder than normal. If very hot heart rhythm is less well regulated as the brain gets hot. According to radio 4 yesterday!

He’s wrong.
2021 Summer deaths from heat = 1,634
2021 Winter deaths from cold= 8,500

Yes we have. But we didn't realise that for much of the time. And science has shown that the planet can repair itself, and we can help that to happen. Far worse extremes have occurred naturally in history. That isn't a reason to be complacent, but it does demonstrate the resilience of our planet. Contrary to some of the evidence, I think humans are inspirational, and I'm optimistic about what we can become. We are still cookie dough, but the finished product has the potential to be something great. We'll only have ourselves to blame if we blow it.

The death rate drops after a cold snap - because most people who would have died then have already died

You don't see that pattern with heat

Heart attacks are one cause of death - becomes more common

Depends on your health. I have some heart problems and I'm praying this heatwave to finish ASAP. I'm feeling like zombie.
But if you are healthy and don't have any illness - then you can survive even 50 degrees.

Far far more die from polluted air than die from hot or cold extremes but this seems to be ignored by all of us.

From our own Govt In the UK, air pollution is the largest environmental risk to public health. The annual mortality of human-made air pollution in the UK is roughly equivalent to between 28,000 and 36,000 deaths every year
28 Feb 2022

...which is, or one reason why, we have such extreme heat waves now, we simply don't give a stuff about our behaviors or the effects they have.

Interesting! I didn't know it was due to medical issues and and could cause heart attacks. I previously put it down to human error/stupidity.

Humans are the most adaptable species that can live across such extreme temperatures and altitudes. Hence why we have populated the entire world.

We could live at 50 degrees as we could build structures to protect ourselves. Food and crops not so much. So the point at which we start to die off on mass is crop dependent. But that wont be at 50 degrees. We would die off as we seeing now, season changes and extreme weather events like floods and droughts and grain being spoiled by rain.

By the time the UK gets to 50 we will be long gone

People who live in hot countries adapt to their surroundings. Loose clothing, tiled floors, siestas etc and allsorts of other things to help them get through.
It's very true the words to the famous song : "only mad dogs and English men go out in the midday sun"😅