Heat can trigger or intensify mental illnesses

Heat waves are not only a threat to physical health, but also have negative effects on the psyche. Anxiety disorders and depression can be caused or aggravated by the enormous stress caused by prolonged temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius. The likelihood of aggressive behaviour and fatigue both increase on high temperature days. In the light of the continuing rise in the number of hot days to up to 80 per year by the end of the century, the psychological consequences of the climate crisis should not be underestimated, appeals environmental physician Hans-Peter Hutter of MedUni Vienna. The danger to mental health comes not so much from singular events such as individual hot days, but rather from repeated and frequent negative events such as those caused by the climate crisis. The prevailing feeling that the stressful condition cannot be improved or changed is particularly hard on the psyche. "In situations of helplessness, the stress hormone cortisol is produced in greater quantities, which, when released over a longer period of time, has a number of detrimental effects on both physical and mental health," explains Hans-Peter Hutter from the Centre for Public Health at MedUni Vienna.