How the heat can impact your mental health
(KION-TV)- With some areas of the central coast still dealing with high temperatures, what can it do to not only to your physical, but your mental state?
Emergency Medical Physician for Salinas Valley Health, Dr. David Ramos, explains this and the uptick they see in heat related illnesses.
“We have an uptick here to be sure,” Dr. Ramos said. “I think, you know, most of what we see folks working in around their yards or, you know, more commercially, the ag folks. Right. So I would say that the ag companies do a pretty good job of making sure they take care of their folks. But still, you're going to run into stuff, especially on those uncharacteristically hot days that nobody's you know, even though you see it on the weather, you don't quite expect that it gets you. It sneaks up on you.”
Dr. Ramos says the symptoms from being in the heat too long can be a continuum. What can start as heat exhaustion can lead to heat stroke which impacts your mental state.
“And those who meet criteria of folks are altered, they're confused, they may be teething and they may be passed out and their temperature is over 40 degrees centigrade or 104 degrees.”
But what if you’ve already been diagnosed with a mental illness? Can that make it worse?
“Certain populations are a little more predisposed to heat injury and heat stroke,” Dr. Ramos said. “One of the folks that might be are the folks on mental health, because a lot of the drugs those folks use predisposed you to your cooling mechanism, your intrusions are killed, cooling mechanisms are shutting down.”
So how can we ensure we stay safe from the heat? On top of some recommendations like loose clothing and long sleeves, wearing a hat is crucial.
“That prevents half of your problem of the sun beating down on your head and setting you up for a heat stroke that way, because that's 20% of your heat dissipation comes from your head.”
As far as consuming food and liquids…if you’re eating a regular diet and drinking plenty of water, Dr. Ramos says that’s usually enough to keep you cool.
