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Posted: Jul 25, 2022 10:16 AMUpdated: Jul 25, 2022 10:16 AM

Losing Your Mind While Losing Your Cool

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Victoria Edwards

If it's not enough that heat makes you physically sick, now we are being warned that it could make you mentally ill.

Recently physicians around the globe have been warning about heat exhaustion and stroke but not psychologists are warning that heat can cause you to do things you normally wouldn't do.

Dr Asha Shajahan, of Beaumont Health, says there is a common reaction to the heat that people may not realize -- suicide. "What may be called summer depression may actually be a medical condition that has the potential to impact every person, regardless of age, gender, and health status. You don't have to have a history of mental illness to become mentally incapcitated by the heat."

The reason is because as the brain cools itself down, all of its energy goes into that process, leaving other parts of the brain without enough oxygen and bloodflow. This leads to diminished functionality in the parts that regulate your emotions and that help you make appropriate decisions. Some people will only feel irrtiable but others will experience rage and begin acting out in physical ways. People could also feel woozy and be unable to think through their actions even as they take them automatically.

This is not a new phenomenon because most law enforcement have always said that crime goes up along with the temperature.


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