Context:
- The blistering, unrelenting heat is making you anxious and irritable, even depressed; it’s not all in your head. Soaring temperatures can damage not just the body but also the mind.
- As heat waves become more intense, more frequent and longer, it has become increasingly important to address the impact on mental health, scientists say.
Effect of extreme Heat:
- High temperatures are strongly associated with an increase in suicides, researchers have found. Heat has been linked to a rise in violent crime and aggression, emergency room visits and hospitalizations for mental disorders, and deaths — especially among people with schizophrenia, dementia, psychosis and substance use.
- For every increase in temperature of 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) scientists have estimated that there is a nearly 5% increase in the risk of death among patients with psychosis, dementia or substance use.
- Researchers have reported a 0.7% increase in suicides linked to rising temperatures, and about a 4% to 6% increase in interpersonal violence, including homicides.
- Heat not only fuels feelings such as irritability and anger, but also seems to exacerbate mental illnesses, such as anxiety, schizophrenia and depression. Older adults, adolescents and people with preexisting mental illnesses are particularly vulnerable, as are people who do not have housing or are of lower socioeconomic status.
- More than 2 million people with private insurance and found that emergency department visits for mental illnesses were significantly higher during the five or six hottest days of summer, compared with the coolest days of the same season.
- The gap was evident across a range of mental health conditions, including mood and anxiety disorders, stress disorders, schizophrenia, substance use disorders and self-harm.
- Extreme heat is an external stressor that seems to be exacerbating people’s mental health symptoms. The effect is likely to be even more pronounced among people with limited or no insurance coverage or who are experiencing homelessness.
- Scientists have proposed various biological explanations for the connection between soaring temperatures and mental health disorders. At least some of these illnesses may have a simple origin: disrupted sleep. Older adults and women are more likely to be affected: One study found that sleep loss among older adults is about twice as high as among younger people.
- Some mental health problems may be an extension of physical issues. Nearly every patient’s pulse or heart rate was higher than it had been three months earlier. The increase in your heart rate can increase the anxiety, so heat causes a lot of physical changes, which leads to a lot of emotional and mental changes.
- Serotonin, a neurotransmitter linked to mood, anxiety and depression, also regulates the body’s ability to sense temperature. Increased sunlight and heat can raise serotonin levels and may lead to mood swings, aggression and irritability. A range of widely used drugs — including antibiotics, beta blockers, some antidepressants and antihistamines — also affect the body’s ability to sense and regulate body temperature.
- Medications prescribed for schizophrenia, depression and bipolar disorder — including widely used lithium — impair the body’s ability to sweat and cool itself. Extreme heat and sweating can concentrate levels of lithium in the body to toxic levels, and can lead to serious physical and mental problems and even death, Shah said.
- Other drugs suppress thirst and can result in dangerous levels of dehydration. Alcohol, caffeine and some medications that increase urine output can also lead to dehydration, mental problems and confusion.
- Some crops absorb less zinc, iron and other micronutrients. Deficiencies of those nutrients can have psychiatric consequences, including neurodevelopmental disorders.
- Rising temperatures are expanding the reach of disease vectors, including ticks, that carry pathogens that may cause psychiatric and neurological symptoms. Heat also increases allergens and pollutants, and worsens air quality, which alone can trigger anxiety and depression.
Conclusion:
- Heat is only one aspect of climate change, and its immediate effect on mental health can be difficult to extricate from emotions regarding the larger existential threat.
- Last year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that rising temperatures, displacement, famine and economic and social losses would lead to deep anxiety, grief and stress. Children, adolescents, older adults and those with chronic health problems are particularly vulnerable, the report cautioned.
- Scientists have coined the term “climate distress” to describe a multitude of feelings triggered by the environmental changes appearing around us: anxiety, terror, sadness, shame, guilt. Those who already have anxiety or are depressed may have an even more difficult time coping.
- People often turn to cognitive behavioral therapy, medications or other strategies to cope with difficult emotions. But “when it comes to the climate crisis, those interventions fall apart, because the threat is real,” not just a matter of perception.