The heat waves of 2026 had serious health impacts in Europe and beyond. Hence, it is urgent to propose better protections to shield people from negative heat exposure which worsened the health of millions of people. Digital tools which work to personalize heat warnings and increase preventive strategies like drinking water or reduce physical activity outside during the hottest times of the day. Sounds simple, but thousands of people continue to put themselves at risk to suffer seriously from heat exposure. The macro-level general population warning’s could be much more specific if they included additionally the relevant medical conditions of an individual (Du et al. 2026). Prior health conditions affect the general preparedness to cope with heat. We have an obvious case of bi-directional causality. A worsening heat health spiral could be at the origin of so many premature deaths during heat waves. Search for “cool locations” should be considered very seriously for heat-health protection.
