Many Irish people can’t cope with heat because their bodies are adapted to a cold, wet climate, a leading neuroscientist has said. 

Ireland has enjoyed - or endured, depending on your point of view - several weeks of prolonged sunshine this year. 

Scientists have raised concerns this could be the planet's hottest year on record and neuroscientist Dean Burnett said the bodies of many people in northern Europe are not used to heat. 

“We have adapted to a colder climate,” he told Moncrieff. 

“Humans originally came from Africa and they would have had all the adaptations for an African climate and when they went further and further afield, they slowly changed in response to the colder, wetter climate that we ‘enjoy’ these days. 

“There’s also hormonal factors and certain sort of psychological factors - it’s all quite subtle - but we are more adapted to wetter climates than hot and sunny ones.” 

A man suffering from heat.

Internally, the human body maintains a consistent temperature of 37°C and this means quite a lot of work at times.  

“We have all these mechanisms to get rid of heat,” Dr Burnett said. 

“Sweat and red skin and flushing and all the things we usually rely on which are part of [surviving] in a humid environment.” 

All this extra work requires more calories and it can leave people feeling exhausted. 

“You’ve got less energy to do other things,” Dr Burnett said. 

“When you move, that produces more heat which normally isn’t a problem in a cold climate but when it’s hot outside, it does take its toll.

“Weirdly, hot weather can make us more lethargic. You use more energy to try and deal with it.” 

People queuing for ice cream from an ice cream van on the beach at Portmarnock in Dublin, Ireland

Still, biology is not always destiny and it is possible for people to acclimatise to diverse environments. 

Dr Burnett describes himself as “okay” with temperature changes - but that was not always the case. 

“My wife and I are very different people,” Dr Burnett said. 

“She’s of Indian origin, so she feels the cold very closely. 

“But I’m one of the people who is weirdly neutral when it comes to temperature changes and I think it stems from my teenage years working summer holidays in a busy Italian restaurant which involved walking from the open kitchen oven to the walkin freezer 50 times a day.” 

However, this weekend heat-lovers will be disappointed; Met Éireann are thunderstorms and perhaps even hail in some parts of the country.

Main image: A woman suffering from heat . Picture by: Alamy.com