A home should remain a place where people can rest, recover and manage everyday life, even during a heatwave,
said Weizhuo Lu, a professor at Umeå University. Lu is leading a new research project to investigate how indoor heat affects the mental well-being and physiological responses of older adults living at home in northern Sweden.
Researchers Monitor Body and Brain Responses to Heat
The project runs from 2026 to 2030. It is titled Ageing at Home During Heatwaves in Northern Sweden: Protecting Mental Well-being through Evidence-Based Indoor Climate Adaptation.
The research team includes Weizhuo Lu and Kailun Feng from the Department of Applied Physics and Electronics. Linus Andersson, Johan Eriksson, and Gustaf Wadenholt join them from the Department of Psychology. According to Europawire, the study aims to identify realistic measures for managing indoor heat. Researchers will study how heat impacts the physiological responses and mental well-being of older adults.
The team will use a controlled climate chamber and virtual home environments. They will also use technology that records activity in the body and brain. The research lab has physiological sensors and equipment to monitor brain activity.
Researchers intend to investigate the links between indoor heat, stress, fatigue, mental well-being, and physiological responses. They will combine technical tools with people’s own accounts of how they feel. News Medical reports that the project brings together building research, psychology, and neuroscience in the same experimental setting.
Our equipment allows us to investigate how people experience heat and which adaptations make a meaningful difference to their well-being,
said Weizhuo Lu, who works at the Department of Applied Physics and Electronics.
Researchers aim to establish a stronger evidence base for assessing the effects of heat. They will do this by recreating and comparing different indoor conditions to evaluate ways to reduce its impact.
Housing Designs Create Cooling Challenges
This design can make these structures more difficult to keep cool during the summer months. As many older people continue to live in their own homes, adapting standard housing to a warmer climate represents an important public health challenge.
The research will specifically look at how various factors influence a person’s ability to respond to heat. These factors include social support, mobility, financial resources, and differences in housing conditions.
The project’s results are intended to provide practical guidance on everyday ways of managing indoor heat. This includes the use of ventilation and solar shading.
The ultimate goal is to support housing organisations and municipalities in planning effective and accessible climate adaptation. The project also aims to help individual residents make informed decisions.
Extreme Heat Impacts Public Health
The World Health Organization (2024) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Cissé et al., 2022) identify extreme heat as one of the deadliest hazards related to climate. Prolonged exposure to heat is linked to reduced overall well-being, psychological distress, anxiety, depression, and sleep disruption. These effects are particularly common among populations that are socially vulnerable (Obradovich et al., 2017; Rony & Alamgir, 2023).
Certain built environment characteristics can influence both health outcomes and heat exposure. According to Sobhaninia and co-authors (2026), poor-quality housing and extensive impervious surfaces contribute to higher temperatures. A limited tree canopy and urban heat island effects also affect neighborhoods, especially those that are historically underserved.
Olonilua (2022) notes that these communities often face higher susceptibility to extreme heat. This is due to social vulnerability, limited access to cooling infrastructure, elevated energy burdens, and aging housing stock.
These conditions are proven to hamper an individual’s ability to modify living conditions. They can also prevent people from accessing resources or adopting protective measures, which increases their overall exposure to heat (Rastogi et al., 2023).
Lessons From the 2025 Houston Heatwave
The 2025 Houston heatwave illustrates these risks in low-capacity communities. A study of that event examined the behavioral and mental health impacts of the heatwave. It also looked at the adaptive behaviors used by residents to cope with the conditions.
Perceived heat exposure variables were positively associated with psychological distress among residents. These variables included daytime heat intensity and nighttime heat. Other factors included cooling-related constraints, indoor temperatures, heat index experiences, and urban heat island conditions.
We have seen people die during previous heat events because they did not have safe ways to cool down. Elderly people especially can become victims when they are exposed to extreme heat for too long.
Formas Provides Nearly SEK 9 Million in Funding
The project is led by Weizhuo Lu, who serves as a professor and the director of the Intelligent Human-Buildings Interaction Lab (IHBI).