Understanding the specifics of the discomfort index

The level of discomfort a person feels in varying levels of heat and humidity is known as the ‘discomfort index’. Increasing global temperatures are contributing to stress, job losses, and an alarming rise in gender-based violence.

A meteorological term used in line with weather forecasting, the ‘discomfort index’, is a measure for heat-driven stress and anxiety.

This index is mostly concerned with our feelings and emotional responses toward discomfort and how this may fluctuate with the rise and fall in both humidity and heat.

Over the summer, across several coastal regions of the global south, we’ve seen record-breaking heatwaves and a huge increase in discomfort across the board. This is likely to continue and become more commonplace throughout this century as climate change ramps up.

What causes a rise in the ‘discomfort index?’

With land heat levels rising, especially in the summer, coastal areas are seeing more water evaporate from oceans. Large volumes of saline water are also hitting shorelines.

The temperature difference between the land and sea becomes imbalanced as a result, meaning the air feels even more humid than it is supposed to be.

This high humidity combined with heatwaves that have now become common in climate-sensitive regions, like Indian coastal areas, leaves cities with alarmingly high levels of discomfort index.

Higher heat leads to abnormal phenomena classified under ‘climate extremities.’ This can include minor health hazards like headaches or more extreme problems such as acute dehydration, climate disparity, and more.

Is a rise in discomfort index causing an increase in domestic violence?

With a rise in discomfort index, humans feel what experts call ‘climate emotions.’

From irritability to a rise in anxiety, climate emotions range from very subtle to severe. What starts as a mood swing can become violent outbursts and myriad forms of aggression when suffered for a prolonged period.

A South Asia-based study published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry looked at an alarming pattern across three countries, India, Pakistan, and Nepal between 2018-18, wherein it was found that an increase in temperatures has led to a substantial rise in domestic violence against women.

The study tracked 194,871 women between the ages of 15 and 49 to map out patterns in the prevalence of intimate partner aggression and its types, which are broadly categorized into physical, sexual, and emotional violence.

The research established a significant association between high heat index born out of various extreme climatic conditions like high temperature, rising humidity levels, and high levels of hygroscopic pressure, factors that also directly link to discomfort index, and the frequency and prevalence of gender-based violence, majorly intimate partner violence (IPV).

With every one-degree Celsius rise in annual mean temperature and rise in real-time real-feel temperatures in regions, an increase of more than 6.3 percent in incidents of physical and sexual domestic violence was noted across the three countries.

According to the study, India is projected to witness the highest IPV prevalence in the 2090s among the three countries with 23.5 percent when compared to Nepal (14.8 percent) and Pakistan (5.9 percent).

Michelle Bell, professor of environmental health at Yale University and co-author of this study states that there are many pathways, both physiological and sociological, through which higher temperature could affect the risk of violence.

Heat stress, job loss, and even more violence

Employment is likely to be hit hard in the coming years by a phenomena termed ‘heat stress.’

Defined as heat above what the human body can tolerate without having a physiological impairment, ‘heat stress’ happens at temperatures beyond 35°C with high humidity levels. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has warned of large-scale economic and productivity losses due to heat stress as an occupational health risk.

ILO in its report called “Working on a warmer planet: The Impact of heat stress on Labor Productivity and decent work”  projects global productivity losses to amount to 80 million full-time jobs (2.2% of total working hours worldwide) in the year 2030, if the current trend global temperature rise of 1.5°C doesn’t go haywire and become even more.

Southern Asia and Western Africa will face the most loss in working hours in place of their climatic conditions, which are highly vulnerable to a rise in heat stress and discomfort index.

The poorest will be worst hit and sectors like agriculture and construction are set to be the most affected.

The agricultural sector is projected to account for 60% of the total working hours lost due to heat stress by 2030 while the construction sector will account for 19%. Textile workers and brick kilns workers across India are also expected to suffer.

The harsh conditions, intense physical labor, and very short breaks make all of these workers particularly vulnerable. These sectors also employ a large number of informal workers who lack access to healthcare and other social protection in cases of accident or injury, including those caused by heat stress.

Extreme heat thus sets off a chain reaction of socio-economic effects that affects living conditions and often forces people to stay at home without any means to earn a daily wage, which puts a lot of pressure on households and gives rise to violence against women.