Heat waves make us age faster: 'Clear link between high temperatures and accelerated aging'

We're increasingly experiencing extreme heat, both in the Netherlands and worldwide. We now know that extreme heat can lead to dehydration, overheating, and heart problems. But according to a new study from Taiwan, there's another, less visible, but equally worrying effect: heat waves accelerate the aging of our bodies.

And this doesn't just happen among the elderly or vulnerable. The effect applies to people of all ages, according to research published in the scientific journal Nature Climate Change .

For the study, scientists followed more than 20,000 people over a period of fifteen years. The participants underwent regular medical tests, including measurements of blood pressure, lung capacity, and liver function. Based on this data, the researchers calculated a so-called biological age. This indicates how old the body is functionally, regardless of a person's chronological age.

This data was then linked to climate information about the regions where the participants lived, revealing how many heat waves someone had been exposed to.

The result: the more someone was exposed to heat waves, the older their body became. In the group of people exposed to heat most frequently, the body aged an average of about 3 percent faster per year.

According to Professor Yves Rolland, a specialist in aging research, this is a significant effect. " It may not be huge, but it's consistent with other known risk factors, such as unhealthy eating or lack of exercise," he says. "What makes this study remarkable is that it applies to everyone, regardless of age or health."

However, not everyone is equally susceptible to this accelerated skin aging, as the study also shows. People who perform heavy physical work, live in rural areas, or lack access to air conditioning appear to be particularly at risk.

This raises questions about inequality: those who have few resources to protect themselves from the heat, such as good ventilation or flexible working hours, may age more quickly in the long term.

While the study has received considerable attention, there are caveats. For example, there's no universal standard for determining biological age. Measurement methods can vary from study to study. It's also difficult to accurately measure how much heat someone has been personally exposed to.

Another important caveat is that the study was conducted only in Taiwan, a small country with a specific climate. It remains unclear to what extent the results also apply to countries like the Netherlands, with a more temperate climate. Although our country also suffered from several heat waves this summer: it was exceptionally warm and sunny .

Australian Professor Paul Beggs, an expert in environmental health, nevertheless calls the study valuable. "It helps us better understand the consequences of long-term heat exposure," he says in the French newspaper Le Figaro . "We see a clear link between high temperatures and accelerated aging."

The Taiwanese study is not unique. In February 2025, an American study was also published in Science Advances, in which researchers found a similar link between prolonged heat and biological aging. That study was smaller and involved only older adults, but it does demonstrate that the topic is gaining increasing international attention.

In addition to physical complaints, heat can also lead to mental complaints, such as depression .