How the Summer Heat in Phoenix Affects Our Mental Health

It’s 7 am on another day in July and you just got your nine billionth notification telling you that there’s an “excessive heat warning” in Phoenix today. You already knew this of course, because there’s always an excessive heat warning in Phoenix. Your friends and family from out of town all ask you why anyone would want to live in a place that’s so hot. We all have a readily available answer for them, “It’s a dry heat”, or “It’s only bad for a few months and the rest of the year is great!” Whatever your reason, I don’t have to tell you that it doesn’t make today any cooler. We’re setting records. You know it’s hot here. It’s hot everywhere these days, so maybe there’s no sense in talking about the actual heat anymore. But we most certainly can still talk about what these high temperatures are doing to our mental health! Read on to learn what the experts have to say about how the summer heat in Phoenix affects our mental health, what the heat can do to psych meds, and if there’s anything we can do about any of it…

We know that it’s hot everywhere, but yes, we’re calling out Phoenix specifically because well, it’s just hotter here. Other than Death Valley, CA, Phoenix easily outranks every other city in the U.S. for the hottest temperatures. Research has shown that higher temperatures are not only associated with but can be direct contributors to increased irritability, symptoms of depression, substance abuse, and even increases in suicidal ideation. Heat causes us to be more prone to making errors. Even the best of us become more impulsive and act out rather than thinking things through more fully. When it’s time to eat, we’re no longer just hungry, we’re starving because our bodies are physically working harder just to survive.

Here in Phoenix, the only real option for outdoor activity is to go swimming. For many, that’s not an option. Spending time outdoors is scientifically proven to help improve our mental health. Surely, you’ve heard about “touching grass” or going for a walk for your mental health. These aren’t just funny internet memes. They hold up to scientific scrutiny. According to the Mayo Clinic, spending as little as five minutes a day in nature can regulate the sympathetic nervous system. This is the system that’s responsible for fight or flight. When we’re trapped indoors or when the outside heat forces our bodies to reroute power to other systems for survival, our sympathetic nervous system suffers.

We can’t underestimate how the heat affects every area of our lives. As therapists, it’s no surprise that we hear a lot of venting in our offices. When it comes to the outside temperatures, we’re right there with you. The high temperatures can affect areas of your life that you never would have imagined until you experience it yourself. We’re not trying to minimize a single one of these, we just want to list them in bullet form so you can easily see the list and just how many areas of life the summer heat can affect that you may not have thought of or maybe that you have experienced and thought you were alone:

• More pollution
• Higher risk of wildfires
• Allergies
• Skin irritations
• Dying yards and gardens
• Odor issues
• Weight gain from lack of exercise
• Weight loss from lack of appetite
• Relationship issues from irritability
• Financial problems

So, what do we do about it? The easy answer would be to just stay indoors and crank that AC down to 60 for a few months every year. But if you’ve been paying attention or if you’ve lived in Phoenix for even one summer, you know the plethora of reasons that’s not a viable solution. We can continue to increase awareness about how the heat affects our mental health though. Let’s leave awareness about the actual heat itself up to the first responders and weather apps. We know they’ll tell us about that extreme heat advisory. We know that it’ll annoy us after they tell us one too many times. But that’s the lesson to take away today, give grace. Increase acceptance of how the heat can heighten our irritability. It’s not the weather app’s fault. After all, you appreciate it when you’re notified about rain, don’t you? The same goes for your loved ones, co-workers, strangers at the grocery store, and even other drivers on the road… everyone. Give grace. Show compassion. We’re all in this together. Be patient with yourself and with others. Be slow to react and quick to respond with kindness. No one enjoys walking through an oven when they leave their house.

When trying to cope with something so far out of our control that’s working against us, we need to remember to control what we can within reason. Here are a few more practical tips for dealing with the summer heat in Phoenix:

• • Practice grounding techniques. We like the 5-4-3-2-1 technique.
    • Name 5 things you can see
    • Name 4 things you can touch
    • Name 3 things you can hear
    • Name 2 things you can smell
    • Name 1 thing you can taste
  • Deep breathing
  • Mindfulness
  • Cold showers are a great state-of-mind change
  • Eat balanced meals to keep your blood sugar up
  • Keep your body moving in a safe environment
  • Take breaks when your body tells you
  • Decrease sensory at nighttime
  • Remember it’s temporary (we have 8 beautiful months in Phoenix!)

First, we want to state clearly that we are not psychiatrists. A licensed psychiatrist is the only mental health professional qualified to administer and prescribe medication. They are medical doctors. A psychiatrist is trained to monitor medication responses both physically and mentally. So, if you have any specific questions about your psychotropic medications, please see the doctor who prescribed them to you as this is not meant to be medical advice and we are licensed therapists, not medical doctors. Ok – disclaimer complete.

It’s reported that 11.5% of males and 21.2% of females over the age of 18 take some sort of medication for their mental health. So, we want to help raise awareness about how the heat can affect those who are taking psych meds. Whether you’re taking TCA’s, SSRI’s, SSNI’s, antipsychotics, or benzodiazepines, two things can happen:

1) Your body can react differently to heat because of the psych meds.

2) Your psych meds may not work as effectively because of the heat.

There is a lot of pharmacological and biological science involved, but in summary according to Psychology Today, thermoregulation plays a big role in this. Our bodies have a complex system that works to control our temperature. Psych meds, while great at reducing symptoms of depression, anxiety, and other mental illness symptoms, almost always have the side effects on our thermoregulation. Click here for a list of psych meds that may be affected by the heat.

We Phoenicians are a resilient bunch. We know that if we just make it through the summer, it’s smooth sailing from here until next May. The fall, winter, and spring are beautiful. It’s the reason we give to out-of-towners when they ask for an excuse for our insanity. Whatever your plans are for the rest of the summer if it’s to stay in Phoenix, don’t forget to hydrate, plan your days around the heat, and be mindful of how everyone may be handling this. The fact that you’re taking the time to read about it online already means you’re a step ahead of most. Take that compassion with you today as you step out into the 110º+ furnace we call outdoors. Keep in touch and give us a follow on social media for more tips or just to let us know your heat-related meltdowns (pun fully intended).