Heatwave: Nigerians resort to sleeping in the open
With an increasingly pervading hot temperature has come unprecedented heatwave that has meant restless nights and unbearable days for Nigerians. In Lagos and most other states, many have even resorted to sleeping out in the open, as a panacea. Sampling opinions of experts, Ibrahim Adam, highlights the impact on pregnancy and outdoor workers as well as tips on how to survive the situation.
For weeks unending, most parts of Nigeria have been sweltering through extreme heat caused by an upsurge in temperature.
In Lagos, as in several other cities across the country, both the old and young, men and women, have had to resort to sleeping out in the open, long into the night, despite the security implications and the possibility of malaria infection from mosquito bites.
To them, the heat is worse than anything.
A drive through some city neighbourhoods, presents scenarios akin to what obtains in Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps across the country, where people have been forced to flee due to threats from bandits and terrorists.
Easily, the sleeping persons could be mistaken for dead, probably slain by some night marauders.
While many grumble about not sleeping at night and how they have to go under the shower multiple times to wash off sweat and cool their body, others have been seen on social media, flooding their beds with buckets of water before lying on them.
Residents have also streamlined and limited outings, venturing out into the hot sun only when it is of utmost important. That way, they avoid dehydration and the accompanying stress and fatigue.
Even the few rains experienced across the city in February and March have hardly assuaged the heat.
Lack of electricity to power fans and other cooling gadgets have also compounded the situation. Where power appears available, the huge cost of tariff has limited many to fans, which are hardly effective at easing the heat, even when they have air conditioners.
In February, some married women in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, staged a peaceful protest against the prolonged power outage in some parts of the state, stating that it is costing them much desired conjugal bliss, as their husbands now avoid them at night because of heat.
On the placards were inscriptions like: “Our husbands no longer touch us at night’, ‘PHED help us to sleep well with our husbands’.”
One of the women stated: “This lack of light (electricity) is making our soup (go) sour. Even when our husbands want to make love to us, the heat will not allow them. We can’t even charge our phones or preserve our food. We are worried.
“Last night, my husband wanted to have fun with me, but the heat was too much; I could not. We could not do anything. So, PHED should give us light, or else we will not pay the bill for this month.”
Experts have warned that the extreme temperatures, amid the epileptic power supply, could trigger diseases, threaten livestock, and lead to death.
In previous years, according to an online resource, Weather to Travel, the average temperature in Lagos in February for a typical day ranged from a high of 85°F (30°C) to a low of 78°F (25°C).
A 2022 study in the Lancet Planetary Health, London, shows that night-time should be when our bodies get a break from the heat. But with the current climate crisis, it is becoming less likely to happen. Heat-related deaths could increase six-fold by the end of the century due to warmer night-time temperatures, unless planet-warming pollution is significantly curbed.
A postdoctoral research scientist at Columbia University, United States and co-author of a study, Kelton Minor, said the climate crisis is already affecting people’s ability to sleep, adding that people living in warmer climates lose more sleep for each degree of temperature increase.
“People in our study did not appear to make up for lost sleep on hotter nights by napping during the day or by sleeping more during the days or weeks after. They lost additional sleep over these periods due to a delayed temperature effect, possibly due to ambient heat being trapped indoors.”
He added: “For every degree of night-time temperature rise, we found that the elderly lost over twice as much sleep as middle-aged adults; females lost slightly more sleep than males, and critically, residents of lower-middle-income countries lost three times as much sleep compared to people living in higher income countries.”
Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health’s Executive Director, Lisa Patel Heat, said heat waves that go on for days tend to be associated with more deaths, as the body can no longer keep itself cool.
Unless planet-warming pollution is curbed, the climate crisis is set to increase exposure to dangerous heat index levels by 50% to 100% in much of the tropics and by up to 10 times across much of the globe, according to a 2022 study published in Communications Earth & Environment.
“Living through a heat wave during the day can be like running a race. We need a cool break to recover and recuperate, and when night-time temperatures don’t drop, we don’t get that critical time we need to relieve the stress on our bodies from being overheated during the day,” Patel said.
Fed govt, NiMet issue advisory
The situation has also caused the Nigerian government to issue a new advisory on how to cope with the prevailing heat wave in the country.
The latest advisory by the Federal Ministry of Environment follows an earlier warning by the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NiMet) which predicted prolonged heat waves across the country, with temperatures reaching 39°C in the South and 41°C in the North.
On February 13, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency predicted: “Air temperatures hit 41°C over the North and 39°C over the South with model projections indicating temperatures to remain high in the coming days.”
NiMet had warned that the high heat level can cause dehydration, heat-related illness, and respiratory issues, among other chronic conditions.
According to NiMet, the northern part of the country will expect to experience more heat than the southern region.
Read Also: Heatwave threatens lives in U.S., Europe
The Minister of State for Environment, Ishaq Salako, said the advisory is relevant for the season because: “according to the NiMET Seasonal Climate Prediction, the heat wave is expected to be prolonged and will be with us for a while despite the rainfall.”
The heat index forecast by NiMet showed that residents of Abuja, Akure, Lagos, Warri, Asaba, Owerri, Umuahia, Obudu, Calabar, Uyo, Osogbo Benin, Ibadan, Enugu, Ilorin, among others are likely to experience sunstroke, muscle cramps, and heat exhaustion.
It also showed that Yenogoa, Port-Harcourt, Makurdi, Lokoja, Lafia, Ado, Ebonyi, and some parts of Ekiti, Ondo, Kwara, Anambra states, among others, are highly likely to experience heat stroke or sunstroke.
NiMet’s Director of Weather Forecast Services, Vincent Weli, advised that a state of emergency be declared in states most affected by the heatwave and workers be allowed to take breaks between noon and 3 pm.
“Of course, you know, with high temperature, cognitive development will be affected and productivity will be affected. There will be a loss of concentration.”
Lagosians share experience
A tailor, Rabiu Abbati, after spending the whole day sewing clothes in his small hot shop at Gbogunlori Street, Agege, for the Muslim faithful preparing to celebrate Eid-el-Fitr, could be seen bathing repeatedly all night, just so he could continue working and meet up with agreement reached with his customers. This was in spite of the generator-powered fan blowing seemingly absent-mindedly.
“These days, I cannot work at night if I don’t pour water on my body. I do this to make my body ready for work. I sit here all day to work in this hot sun and even this Ramadan period. It is not easy and I must do my customer’s work,” he explained.
Dayo Adeniran, who is a trader at Alimosho, lamented that he and his family resorted to sleeping outside their house due to the heat and lack of electricity supply.
He said: “We have resorted to sleeping in the open to avoid the heat. I and my family no longer sleep in the room; we now use mosquito- treated nets to sleep in the open because the heat is too much and one cannot afford to be operating on electricity generating set due to the present economic situation. Unfortunately, the electricity distribution company has chosen this period to starve us of light.”
Olowu Ruqayat, a Mile 2 resident, said the heat was causing rashes on her body, making it challenging for her to work.
She claimed that she now prefers to sleep on the floor.
Olowu added: “The heat caused rashes on my back, which itches me and makes me uncomfortable even at work. And I don’t feel relieved until I get home to bathe.
“I used to sleep in a nightgown before the heat forced me to sleep naked on the bare floor. I can no longer sleep on the bed since I have difficulty sleeping.”
Paul Okonkwo, a resident in Ikorodu, also narrated how he and his family members, as well as neighbours, adopted sleeping outside their house, as panacea to the scorching heat.
“None of us will dare sleep inside. You need to see me and my family at night; we sleep outside the building because we have no fence. Our neighbours also bring out their beds and clothes to cover themselves from the mosquitoes. If you see us at night, we look like those in the IDP camps. You will even see my daughter and wife fighting for space to sleep. Even me, I come out early to secure a place, so that another person will not take the place that is convenient for me.
“The lack of power supply has worsened the situation. Even if they give us lights, all we do is charge our phones; but no one will sleeps inside because the fan blows hot and there was a day when the heat wave made me have a running stomach. And as for security, no thief will dare come because we are all outside. Even the thief won’t have the courage to attack us because we are angry and not happy sleeping outside.”
A resident on the Island, Mutmainnah Apeke, said: “This heat will undoubtedly cause significant damage to people’s health and well-being. Of course, you would want to know why I said that. Have you seen the prevalence of heat rashes these days? Everyone now looks like a ghost after applying powder all over their body.
“As if that isn’t enough, people selling nightwears are no more making sales because no one sleeps with clothes anymore. And to make matters worse, we rarely have access to electricity. How do you sleep if your body is hot and there is no light?”
Nigerians risk death, other hazards
A professor of Public Health at the University of Ilorin, Kwara State, Tanimola Akande, explained that extreme heat can be fatal if severe dehydration occurs and appropriate precautions are not followed.
According to him, those who work outside or with physically demanding jobs are more vulnerable to the dangers associated with high temperatures.
Akande stressed: “Hot weather commonly causes dehydration, heat exhaustion, heat stroke, heat rash, and heat cramps. It can worsen health conditions in people who have cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.”
A public health physician and Senior Lecturer at the Department of Community Health and Primary Care, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Dr. Doyin Ogunyemi, says elevated temperatures can have extremely harmful consequences on human health.
“Apart from causing the temperature of the body to be high, extreme heat can cause exhaustion called heat exhaustion, and you can have people fainting and people that have underlying cardiovascular diseases can have a stroke, and other kinds of morbid conditions from the effects of heat.
“Excessive heat is worse in some age groups like children and older adults. The elderly are vulnerable; it can affect people who are of the extreme age groups and they can get very sweaty, and it can cause respiratory infections,” Dr Ogunyemi said.
Effect on pregnancy
Many studies have shown that pregnant women who are exposed to severe heat may have premature births or stillbirths.
A study published in the European Journal of Public Health, titled: ‘Extreme heat exposure in pregnancy and risk for preterm birth, low birth weight, and stillbirths,’ found linkages between socio-economic status and increased vulnerability for already disadvantaged groups.
According to a 2020 study, exposure to high ambient temperatures during pregnancy may raise the likelihood of unfavourable pregnancy outcomes due to physiological and anatomical changes in pregnancy that impairs thermoregulatory function.
Thermoregulation is a process that allows your body to maintain its core internal temperature.
The study authors, led by a researcher at the Bielefeld University School of Public Health, Bielefeld, Germany, Melanie Böckmann, said that exposure to high ambient temperatures during pregnancy may increase the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes due to physiological and anatomical changes in pregnancy compromising the ability to thermoregulate.
In the study, 14,880 records were screened and a total of 70 studies were included. In 40 of 47 studies, preterm births were more frequent at higher than lower temperatures
“Associations between temperature and outcomes were largest among women in lower socioeconomic groups and at age extremes.
“As the frequency of heat exposures is increasing, prevention for pregnant women during heat waves should become a standard aspect of heat adaptation,” the report stated.
Demands for shutdowns during excessive heat arose when at least five Italian workers died during the deadly heatwave of July 2023.
More than 61,000 people died in Europe during the heatwave of last summer, according to a new study. Countries are forced to think of new worker protections as climate change increases the intensity of heatwaves.
In response to the death of a street sweeper in Madrid last year from heat stroke, Spain has decided to ban certain outdoor labour during periods of excessive heat. Greece has also prohibited workers in the construction and delivery industries from working during the warmest times of the day for the first time this month.
According to climate scientist, Luke Parsons, Europe is not the region most severely affected by heatwaves worldwide.
The places where Parsons worries most about workers are tropical South America, Sub-Saharan Africa, West Africa, Southwest Asia – Pakistan and northern India especially – Bangladesh, Cambodia, southeast Asia, eastern China, stretching into Indonesia and northern Australia.
“These are places where the hottest parts of the day are so hot that people shouldn’t be doing work at all if it’s heavy labour,” he said.
Impact on outdoor workers
Luke Parsons explains that sweat is the primary way the human body cools itself down. Humidity can impede sweat from evaporating off the skin and clothing.
Internal body features such as health, age, and medicine, according to Parsons, affect workers’ ability to handle intense heat.
“The thing with heat that worries me, though, is that it’s not like a traumatic, violent death or means of injury. People will often call it one of the silent killers because people can die at home alone because of heat exposure.
“You have people who are getting severe kidney injuries on job sites because they’re dehydrating and working in the heat,” says Parsons.
Chronic kidney disease of unknown origin (CKDu) was first diagnosed in the 1990s among agricultural communities in hot, humid regions of Central America. Studies suggest that the global spread of CKDu in recent years could be due to escalating temperatures at work.
Although there’s increased awareness of the issue, Parsons believes “we have a long way to go in terms of encouraging protections for vulnerable workers who might be paid, let’s say, by every kilo they can harvest.”
“So they push themselves right through, even if it’s too hot.”
Solutions for overheated workers
Parsons advocated for workplace protections to save the lives of those working outside.
The climate experts said that allowing workers to gradually adjust to a hot and humid environment over a few weeks can shield them from the equivalent of about 2.5C warming of WetBulb Globe Temperature (WBGT)
“If we don’t encourage workplace protections that are mandated, often workers don’t know how to protect themselves or the managers of the job sites don’t know how to protect them.
“If you at least mandate that people need to slow or stop work, if it hits certain heat thresholds, then you’re at least starting to create a culture around protecting people and prioritising their health and wellbeing over just continuous work,” he says.
Ministry recommendation
The Environment Ministry has urged Nigerians to schedule their outside activities to prevent needless exposure to heatwaves and to carry an emergency kit at home that includes oral rehydration salt (ORS) packets, a thermometer, damp towels or garments for cooling, and a battery-powered handheld fan.
The advisory reads in part: “When possible, close the curtains during the hottest parts of the day and open windows at night time to cool down the house.
“Do not go outside during the hottest times of the day if you can avoid it. When outside, wear sunscreen and try to stay in the shade or use hats and umbrellas for protection.
“Drink water at regular intervals before you are thirsty. Wear light and loose-fitting clothing. Reduce physical activity and avoid participating in outdoor sports in the central hours of the day.”
Experts’ recommendations
Experts recommend sleeping in a room that is between 15 to 20 C for the best night’s sleep.
Kelton Minor’s study earlier this year analysed millions of records to determine the impact of temperature on people’s sleep. According to the study, “Across seasons, demographics, and different climate contexts, warmer outside temperatures consistently harm and erode sleep, with the amount of sleep loss progressively increasing as temperatures become hotter,”
Night-time temperatures greater than 25 C increased the probability of getting fewer than seven hours of sleep by 3.5 percent, the researchers found.
This can lead to a host of problems related to lack of sleep, including occupational injury, worsened cognitive functioning, and risk for cardiovascular disease, Minor said.
Some studies have shown that exposure to humid heat during sleep can increase wakefulness and decrease rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and slow wave sleep (SWS). It can also impact your body’s temperature regulation during sleep.
An associate professor of neurology at Harvard University and neurologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in the U.S., Dr. Milena Pavlova, said: “Having frequent sleep disruptions and a lower sleep amount have a very negative effect on virtually any disease that has been studied about sleep.
“More heatwaves (cause) more disturbed sleep, (though) we don’t have a measure yet for this, we can be suspicious that this may cause an increase in conditions (such as) cognitive disorders,” she said.
A professor at the University of Roehampton in the United Kingdom, Lewis Halsey, who recently published a paper on the impact of temperature on the human body, said there is “no internal mechanism that can keep us cool once the environment is very hot.
“We have sweat, but nothing that will prevent the body from heating at very high temperatures, particularly if the air is humid. There’s a psychological aspect to this, too.
“If you’re out in the heat, but know that, say, you have air conditioning at home, then that’s not so bad. It can be not easy, but you can live with that. However, if you’re living rough, you have no easy way to escape the heat, and you know it.”
University of Washington climate and health expert, Kristie Ebi, also said that areas with asphalt, concrete, buildings, and freeways absorb more heat from the sun than those with plenty of parks, rivers, and tree-lined streets. At night, when temperatures are meant to drop, the retained heat is released back into the atmosphere.
Ebi suggested that governments should reconsider urban design in light of climate change.
“Many cities put together cooling shelters, but people have to know where they are, how to get to them, and what hours they operate. It’s going to take a while for trees to grow, but we need tree-planting programmes focusing on particularly vulnerable places, making sure that city planning takes into account that we’re heading into a much warmer future.”