Heat wave has harmful effects on your mental health

(Image: Unsplash)

Research has shown that we do not exactly thrive in an extreme heat wave. In fact; we sometimes get mental problems or existing complaints get considerably worse. How come? WANT editor Dennis Mons explains this in detail.

We are suffering from extreme heat waves worldwide. The exact definition of a heat wave is still scientifically disputed, but the (reasonable) consensus is now that the temperature will be higher than 99 percent of the national climate average for at least four days.

More broken than you love

Aside from the fact that your egg gets fried during a heat wave (we’re referring to your head, although you can probably actually fry an egg in the sun), extreme heat has a greater effect on your functioning. We inadvertently become sluggish and even gibberish, partly due to the fact that we lose a lot of fluids and become dehydrated. Aggression also increases because of a hormone fluctuation.

Of course it is partly a matter of habituation: people who live, for example, in Southern Europe, South America, Australia and Africa, don’t know any better when it comes to extreme heat, but even they don’t attract those heat waves anymore. Getting used to heat in combination with mental problems is still an impossible task. And that heat creeps further and further upwards. Is that because of climate change? … Probably not. However?

Here we go again (Image: ANP/De Vries Media)

Flashing mental complaints during a heat wave

Extreme heat, according to research by (among others) Science Direct, causes serious mental problems. Temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius cause a 2.2 percent increase worldwide in mental health problems. When the temperature rises by one degree, the risk of suicide or suicide attempts even increases by 0.9 percent. In England, according to research from 2007, this was even 3.8 percent with an increase of one degree above 18 degrees Celsius.

Often they are people who have to deal with, for example, bipolar disorder, or other mental problems. According to figures from 2017, it appears that (at the time) 792 million people had to contend with this.

“In recent years, more and more research has been done into the effect of extreme heat and whether it worsens the situation of people with mental complaints,” says Dr. Laurence Wainwright of the University of Oxford in an interview with the English newspaper The Guardian.

“We also have evidence that sleeping poorly, or sleeping less, makes the situation worse,” Wainwright said. “A few of those nights can be the trigger for depression.”

Then sleep outside (Image: Unsplash/Hernan Sanchez)

Don’t do drugs, mmkay?

Medications for those kinds of problems make sure that heat makes your brain go crazy. Strangely enough, extreme heat even makes that medication less helpful in dealing with mental problems. It can also cause your medication to worsen the situation. It is therefore a good idea to dive into the package insert, or to call the doctor to inquire.

“The antipsychotics we use for people with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder interfere with the perception of thirst,” Wainwright says. “Our body signals when we are thirsty, but the medication disrupts that signal.”

It should be clear that drugs (such as MDMA and XTC) are not a good idea in this heat. It makes people forget that they have to take in a lot of fluids. And that is an extremely bad idea with your head in full sun at a dance festival (I speak from experience).

The (now chewed up) tip is therefore: drink plenty of water. A cold beer is certainly nice when it is warm, but keep in mind that alcohol dehydrates you. You sweat more and go to the toilet more often, which means you lose a lot of fluid.

Well, one then… (Image: ANP/Venema Media)

The brain doesn’t pull a heat wave well anyway

A recent study by a university in Boston quickly showed one thing: we by definition do not function well when it is too hot, even without mental problems. During the test, it was found that thirteen percent of the people tested had a reaction time that was literally thirteen percent slower than normal.

We can say that we have a challenge. In our humble opinion: if we continue to ignore climate problems, depression, suicide, crime and aggression will only increase because of (among other things) the increase in temperature. It is not without reason that people say: keep your head cool, drink water.

Also try to do everything at a slower pace if possible. Experts state that some of the mental problems are also caused by people being busy. Mainly because they think they are much less productive. And worrying is the last thing to do during a heat wave.

So keep an eye on each other, and feel free to invest in a nice air conditioner. As you can read in the article below, they really don’t have to be expensive.

Beat the heat wave with this cheap air conditioner from Aldi

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Mental dip? That could just be because of the heat wave