As amber heat-health alerts spread across England this summer, a new study reveals that the warnings are being received - and promptly filed under 'things that don't apply to me.'

Research from the United Nations University's Institute for Water, Environment and Health found that seven in ten adults in England had seen a formal heat alert, yet 41 percent of them took no action to protect themselves. The most common reason wasn't confusion but disbelief: many simply didn't see themselves as being at risk.

Only 18 percent of people in England report a high perception of heat risk, and roughly 30 percent admit they know little or nothing about how to protect themselves. Social media, the system's main means of spreading the word, was the least trusted source of heat information, particularly among older adults - the group most vulnerable to extreme heat.

The national survey, which drew on the views of 1,097 adults and 29 heat risk communicators, comes as England's warning system has been severely tested this summer. On 26 June, temperatures at Lingwood and Strumpshaw Hill reached a provisional 37.7°C, breaking a June record that had stood since 1976, while the country was placed under only its second-ever Red Heat Health Alert. That record was surpassed on 13 August, when Kew Gardens in southwest London recorded a provisional 38.1°C - the year's hottest day so far and the fifth-hottest on record, though still short of the UK's August record of 38.5°C set in 2003. Further amber alerts followed through the month.

Dr. Mehri Khosravi, the study's lead author, sees a deeper cultural problem. 'Heat still gets treated as good weather,' she said, 'or as something that only happens to the very old and the very ill.'

The research also found that weather information from authorities in England is built mainly to coordinate institutions rather than to prompt households to act: informing the public, rather than motivating protective behaviour, was the dominant goal for three quarters of those interviewed.

Professor Kaveh Madani, Director of the UNU institute and a co-author of the report, said the country had only gone halfway. 'England has built one half of a heat plan, and built it well. The other half is where people actually live.'

The report calls for heat resilience to be built into housing and planning policy, with stronger enforcement of building regulations, and for greater use of trusted local intermediaries such as libraries, faith groups and social care providers to reach the people digital alerts miss. Because apparently, the message 'it's hot, maybe don't die' needs a more personal touch.