Photo by humonia - Getty Images
Man with Ice Pack
A man tries to keep cool with a fan and an ice pack in a heat wave.
If this past week’s torrid weather left you cranky, irritable or otherwise mentally off kilter, there’s a good chance you can blame it on the heat. As we should, we hear a great deal about the physical toll and dangers associated with increasingly common and prolonged heat waves, but the mental health impacts often get short shrift.
Granted, the physical risks are substantial. Heat kills more folks than any other type of weather-related disaster, including hurricanes, floods or tornadoes. With global warming, heat stroke is an increasingly common life-threatening medical emergency. What’s more, the rise in nighttime “low” temperatures, not just the day’s highs, means folks without air conditioning (much of the world) endure days or weeks without the ability to cool down.
To worsen matters, the psychological and neurological impacts from hot weather are considerable, and I’m not just talking about feeling grumpy. For example, many heat stroke victims suffer long term neurological complications. For them, “fry your brain” is more than a glib idiom.
Hot and Humid
Heat illnesses are more common in areas where the temperature exceeds 90 degrees Fahrenheit combined with moderate to high humidity for a sustained period. Sound familiar? In those dangerous wet-bulb conditions and absent AC or another cool down method, even a young and healthy person’s body is hard pressed to avoid heat exhaustion or stroke.
On the psychological side, prolonged exposure to extreme heat is a known contributor to higher rates of violence and suicide, and it can exacerbate schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, substance abuse, anger, sleep issues and neurodegenerative disorders, such as dementia. Heat exposure also creates fatigue and impairs cognition, which messes with judgment and decision-making.
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So, this is our new hotter world, one full of challenges, not the least of which is the mental well-being of people, families and communities in areas with high heat and low availability of AC. Unfortunately, while many nations have adopted plans to address the effects of climate change on their infrastructure and economies, very few are prepared for the mental health impacts.
Most Vulnerable
Those most vulnerable in this regard are folks with an existing mental health issue, which comprises a substantial percentage of the population. The prevalence of anxiety, depression and chronic stress has increased markedly since the advent of smartphones and the Covid pandemic. Consequently, many if not most of us are sufficiently stressed to be susceptible to heat-induced psychological harm.
In addition, demographically, the old and young are most at risk for heat-related mental effects. The young because their brains are still maturing and highly sensitive to environmental stressors, and the old because they are less physically resilient when exposed to extreme temperatures.
Adding to the grim picture, our mental health treatment system remains overwhelmed, with demand far outpacing supply, and as the world warms this will only worsen. Granted, we remain an adaptable species, however, current climate trends point to a future, and a not too distant one, where our bodies and minds may meet their limits in this regard.
Finally, the emerging damage from climate change is eroding mental health not only due to heat waves but also because of the pervasive anxiety and despair it fosters. “Climate angst,” as some call it, is a very real malady. Caring, sensitive people are deeply worried about what the future will bring, particularly for their children and grandchildren. This foreboding sense of an emerging climatic dystopia has helped fuel skyrocketing rates of generalized anxiety.
Believe me, I’d like to end on a hopeful note but have trouble finding one. As Sir David Attenborough put it: “We live our comfortable lives in the shadow of a disaster of our own making. That disaster is being brought about by the very things that allow us to live our comfortable lives.”
More and more, that comfort is slipping away.
For more, visit philipchard.com.
