Grant: Canada Postdoctoral Research Award (CPRA) program

An immediate consequence of climate change is the increasing occurrence of extreme heat events that pose risks to human health and well-being. There is an urgent need to identify adaptation strategies that minimize the risks of heat, especially among vulnerable groups such as older adults with low socioeconomic status. Heat-health research has focused on outdoor temperatures; however, heat-related mortality occurs almost exclusively at home. Indoor temperatures can vary significantly from outdoor temperatures due to building characteristics, time of day, and air conditioning systems. This project proposes a shift towards monitoring the daily physiological responses and behaviors of older adults living in social housing across a wide range of indoor environmental conditions to which they are exposed during the summer months. The aim is to identify indoor temperature and humidity thresholds at which physiological and behavioral responses become altered. Over three consecutive summers, we will provide 120 participants with a multimodal sensor platform so that they can collect their daily indoor environmental data together with their daily physiological and behavioral responses from June to September. The results will allow us to determine the temperature and humidity combinations at which heat mitigation strategies should be implemented to protect health and well-being. This project will also enhance our understanding of how humidity, housing characteristics, and personal factors contribute to increased health risks. Ultimately, this project will lead to more targeted heat action planning, which will contribute to climate change adaptation.