Heat waves worsen mental health conditions

London, July 13

Heat waves have a huge impact on our physical and mental health. Doctors often fear them, as emergency rooms quickly fill with patients suffering from dehydration, delirium, and fainting.

Recent studies suggest an increase of at least 10 percent in hospital emergency room visits on days when temperatures reach or exceed the upper 5 percent of the normal temperature range for a given location.

High temperatures can also worsen symptoms in people with mental health problems. Heat waves, as well as other weather events such as floods and fires, have been linked to increased depressive symptoms in people with depression and increased anxiety symptoms in people with generalized anxiety disorder, a disorder in which people feel anxious most of the time. weather.

There is also a link between daily high temperature and suicide and suicide attempts. And, broadly speaking, for every 1 degree Celsius increase in average monthly temperature, mental health-related deaths increase by 2.2 percent. Spikes in relative humidity also result in a higher occurrence of suicides.

Humidity and temperature, which are changing as a result of human-induced climate change, have been causally linked to increased manic episodes in people with bipolar disorder. This disease state causes significant damage and can lead to hospitalization for psychosis and suicidal thoughts.

Additional problems are posed by the fact that the efficacy of important drugs used to treat psychiatric illnesses can be reduced by the effects of heat. We know that many medications increase the risk of heat-related death, for example antipsychotics, which can suppress thirst and cause people to become dehydrated.

Some medications will work differently depending on a person’s body temperature and level of dehydration, such as lithium, a very powerful and widely used mood stabilizer that is frequently prescribed for people with bipolar disorder.

Confused thinking, aggressive behavior.

Heat can also affect mental health and the ability to think and reason in people without a mental health disorder. Research shows that areas of the brain responsible for framing and solving complex cognitive tasks are affected by heat stress.

A study of students in Boston found that those in rooms without air conditioning during a heat wave performed 13 percent worse than their peers on cognitive tests and had 13 percent slower reaction time.

When people are not thinking clearly due to heat, they are more likely to become frustrated and this, in turn, can lead to aggression.

There is strong evidence linking extreme heat to an increase in violent crime. Even a one or two degree Celsius rise in ambient temperature can lead to a 3 to 5 percent increase in aggression.

By 2090, it is estimated that climate change could be responsible for an increase of up to 5 percent in all categories of crime globally. The reasons for these increases involve a complex interplay of psychological, social, and biological factors. For example, a brain chemical called serotonin, which, among other things, keeps aggression levels in check, is affected by high temperatures.

Hot days can also exacerbate ecological anxiety. In the UK, 60 per cent of young people surveyed said they are very or extremely concerned about climate change. More than 45 percent of those surveyed said feelings about the weather affected their daily lives.

There is still much we don’t understand about the complex interplay and feedback loops between climate change and mental health, especially the effects of heat waves. But what we do know is that we are playing a dangerous game with ourselves and the planet.

Heat waves and the effects they have on our mental health are important reminders that the best thing we can do to help ourselves and future generations is to act on climate change. (The conversation)