How adopting a 'siesta' culture could help Australians beat extreme heat

With Australia gearing up for a hot, dry, El Nino summer, and temperature records falling around the world, one new study suggests an arvo nap might become essential to our health.

Researchers at the Australian National University have found, in fact, that too much air conditioning may be harming our health in hot climates.

The study found that despite spending substantially more time spent in air-conditioned space over the past 40 years, people in Australia's Northern Territory have actually become more vulnerable to heat-related deaths.

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However, Aboriginal communities in the NT are no more vulnerable to heat despite high burdens of chronic illness, extreme socioeconomic and housing inequity, and far less access to air-conditioned spaces.

The reason for this apparent discrepancy appears to be cultural, according to the authors.

Practices as simple as staying out of the hot afternoon sun, or taking part in the siesta, may provide powerful protection against heat extremes caused by climate change.

The authors say hot climate communities need to start considering socio-cultural means of adapting to hotter weather.

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"It's generally accepted that technological innovations such as air-conditioning are critical in preparing for hotter climates," lead author Dr Simon Quilty said.

"But our research shows that the social and cultural practices developed by First Nations people over generations, such as reducing physical exertion in hotter parts of the day, are powerful mechanisms for protecting human health.

"An afternoon nap can help your body acclimatise, protects you from the hottest part of the day, costs nothing and has no carbon footprint."

Associate Professor and co-author Aparna Lal said it was possible extended periods in air-conditioning could prevent people from adapting to the climate.

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The authors also argue that these findings are important for housing policy and design in very hot regions of the world.

Norman Frank Jupurrurla, Warumungu Elder and study co-author, argued that there is an urgent need for better housing.

"Today we still live like we used to live in humpies, our houses are poor and overcrowded…these houses have been built for England or cold country. We need houses to be built for this hot climate here in Tennant Creek today," he said.

The study's authors urge Australians and particularly policy-makers to start recognising the importance of Indigenous Australian knowledge when it comes to living, and thriving, in hot climates.

For Jupurrurla, it starts with gwarda.

"Gwarda means thinking, listening, hearing, seeing, concentrating, feeling what is happening around you," he said.

"In the old days, in the wintertime, people would walk out in the desert, collecting seeds and bush potato when it was cool. In summertime they would live in the river and creek country. In the very hot weather they'd be around the spring country where they could get water.

"They wouldn't go into the desert when it was very hot, too dangerous. Gwarda tells us these kind of things, and much more."

Quilty said cultural change may be the "most important tool" in adapting to climate change.

"Perhaps we should all be having an arvo nap when it's hot rather than turning up the AC," he said.

The research has been published in Lancet Planetary Health.

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