"Just a Fan?… It's Dangerous," Experts Warn

[Anchor]

No matter how hot it gets, many elderly people rely solely on an electric fan at home due to electricity bill concerns.

They believe a fan's breeze is cool enough, but does our body actually feel the same way? Reporter Jeong Banseok investigated.

[Reporter]

Electric fans are much more familiar to the elderly than air conditioners.

[Mr. Ha / Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul: Leaving the air conditioner on while sleeping is harmful anyway.]

[Ms. Ahn / Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul: Since I live alone, I just live with the fan on.]

When 104 elderly people in rural areas of South Korea were surveyed during the 2018 heatwave, the first thing they turned to for the heat was not an air conditioner, but a fan.

Electricity costs were the biggest reason.

Just how effective is a fan in lowering body temperature?

Although mornings and evenings have become cooler, many places saw daytime highs soaring to 33°C to 34°C (91°F to 93°F) yesterday (August 12).

Indoor temperatures are usually slightly higher than this and can rise up to 36°C (97°F).

A Canadian research team measured the core body temperature—meaning the temperature inside the body, not the skin—of 18 elderly people aged 65 and older at 36°C (97°F) for eight hours.

Their core body temperature rose up to 38.3°C (101°F), and turning on a fan made little difference in the results.

This is because when the ambient temperature is high, a fan blows already heated surrounding air onto the body.

When the core body temperature reaches around 39°C (102°F), it can cause organ damage along with life-threatening heatstroke symptoms.

The researchers analyzed that once indoor temperatures exceed 33°C (91°F), fans fail to properly lower body temperature.

Of course, feeling the breeze from a fan causes sweat on the skin to evaporate, providing a cooling sensation.

The Canadian research team warns of this as a "false sense of security."

They explain that people may fail to take necessary cooling measures because they feel cool on the skin while the inside of their body is not cooling down.

Older adults, who sweat less, are especially vulnerable because their internal body temperature drops much less, requiring extra caution.

[Kim Hojoong, Professor of Emergency Medicine at Soonchunhyang University Bucheon Hospital: You can think of the current heat as wind blowing in a desert. No matter how much wind blows in a desert, it is not a wind that cools you down, but rather one that intensifies the heat or dries out the body even more. Therefore, a season has arrived where we can no longer get by with just a fan....]

The World Health Organization advises that setting the air conditioner to 27°C (81°F) and running a fan together can reduce electricity bills by up to 70% while making it feel about 4 degrees cooler.

(Photo: Yonhap News) (Video footage captured by Cho Chang-hyun | Video edited by Jung Yong-hwa | Graphics by Choi Haneul, Kim Yeji)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.