How Summer Heat Affects Our Mental Health?

Occurring during March and June, heat waves are a very common phenomenon in India. According to the Government of India, when the summer heat touches a temperature of 40 degrees Celsius or beyond in plain areas and almost 30 degrees in hilly areas, heatwaves become pronounced [1]. Every year a marked number of deaths are caused owing to these heatwaves. According to records, the highest number of deaths owing to heatstroke occurred in 2015 in India [2]. Read on to know how summer heat affects our mental health.

Summer heat can adversely affect your body in several ways. To avoid severe health issues, both mental and physical, it is important to understand how to deal with the summer heat. 

How can Summer Heat Affect

When you dwell in tropical countries or places that are known to have bad summer spells, you will have to observe some precautions. To start with, the summer heat can lead to the following problems: 

• Nausea 
• Dizziness 
• Dehydration owing to extreme sweating 
• Severe fatigue and tiredness 
• Dropping of pulse 
• Diarrhea 
• Headaches

While physically, the symptoms can be treated by acting fast and cooling down the body by drinking water and shifting yourself to a cool environment, heat may have prolonged effects on you mentally.

Mental Effects of the Summer Heat 

When exposed to summer heat day in and day out, it is normal for you to start feeling disoriented. Exposure to heat for long hours will begin to make you feel very fatigued, and you will barely have the strength to move your limbs or work with the same level of productivity and focus. This disorientation is likely to last for days and will leave you forgetting things and losing your grip over small daily struggles.

Summer heat and migraine headaches are also very common. With recurring headaches like these, it is normal for you to continue feeling unwell for a longer spell of time. Moreover, research has shown that exposure to extreme heat makes you lose your cognitive senses. This does not allow you to perform your daily activities with the same ability or calmness as you used to do earlier. Summer heat can cause brain fog in extreme cases, and the same can then lead to sensory impairment. While brain fog refers to many symptoms that may dilute your ability to think clearly, sensory impairment means that any of your senses may not be at their best. These include your vision, taste, smell, or touch. Knowing that these issues are a possible result of summer heat, you can take the right steps to reduce their impact.

Evade Summer Heat and Its Effects

While staying indoors is a good way to stay away from the scorching sun, this can’t always be an option, especially if your work involves spending a good amount of time outdoors. You will have to balance the temperature and continue with your work without letting the heat bother you mentally or physically. The best way to combat summer heat is by having fluids. So, stay hydrated and carry lots of lemon water or detox water whenever you step out to run an errand or go to the office. Try to avoid alcohol and coffee during the summer months, as they are known to dehydrate you.

Do not eat heavy meals. Instead, try to choose food that is light on your tummy and break your meals into smaller portions that you have more frequently. Try wearing light-colored clothing, as this will make you sweat less and will absorb less heat too. The less you sweat, the more the body will be able to retain water, and you will feel less dehydrated. Cover your face and body as much as you can to save yourself from getting a sunburn.

While it is not possible to avoid the summer heat completely, you can always give summer mental health a priority and practice mindfulness techniques to keep the balance intact in your life. This way, you can enjoy the good and blissful side of summer on a beach or through a peaceful summer break without having to worry about adversities.

Further, you can discuss any mental blocks you experience by being open about it with your friends or on social media, and mental health can then become easy to tackle with ideas that your peers and experts can relate to and advise you on. While this is a good way to discuss and debate, in case you are looking for a personalized one-on-one chat with an expert, you can get a doctor consultation online on Bajaj Finserv Health. Connecting to an expert of your choice is easy to do here, and you can do so in just a click to talk to someone online without stepping out in this heat. This saves time and helps you comfortably reach a diagnosis right from home.