Body Temperature and Mental Wellbeing

Today’s post is brief and practical because our recent weather reminded me to talk about body temperature and mental wellbeing.

Body Temperature Affects Mental Wellbeing

Body temperature can affect our mental wellbeing. We can develop mental health symptoms due to hot weather and an increase in our body temperature just because we do not feel comfortable. Hot weather can induce physiological changes, like loss of fluids and loss of electrolytes, which can affect our mental wellbeing. Physiological changes can affect the efficacy of medications, including psychotropic medications, and even cause toxic levels of the medications in our bodies.

The Issues: Medications, Sun, Heat, and Demographics

Medications

Some medications, including medications prescribed to treat mental health symptoms, can affect our body’s management of electrolytes. Some medications affect our body’s management of fluids. Some medications affect our body’s ability to perspire to cool down. Some medications affect the central thermostat in our brain (hypothalamus) which controls body temperature. Hot weather may affect the efficacy of medications we ingest.

Sun

Some medications make us more sensitivity to the sun’s rays, increasing the risk for damage of skin by the sun.

Heat

Heat can affect us directly by causing us to feel hotter and causing our body temperature to rise. Body temperature can affect our level of consciousness and our ability to function, physically and mentally. Heat can damage the medications we take.

Demographics: Beyond Age and Gender

Population data includes demographic data. This type of information helps us to understand the characteristics of a community. This type of information also allows us to learn more about the variables associated with a health condition, the treatment of the health condition, the barriers to treatment, the access to treatment, the response to treatment, and other variables related to the symptoms experienced by the population in question and the response of the population to treatment.

Age and gender can affect our body’s ability to manage body temperature. As we age, biochemical factors change in our body, affecting how we process what we ingest and how we create and breakdown building blocks in our body.

Based on the hormones in our body, we may respond differently to medications compared to other people. Based on the genes we carry, we may respond differently to medications compared to other people. Genes are carried on sex chromosomes and on non-sex chromosomes. Gender, despite a common misunderstanding, is related to our hormones; is not strictly an XX and XY issue; and is fluid. Yes, gender is fluid because there are multiple genetic compositions which dictate whether a person is a man or a woman. Genetic make-up (genotype) is not directly translated into the same phenotype (physical manifestation). Gender falls on a spectrum, based loosely on genotype. Even prenatal hormone exposure can affect the fully developed adult human being. The issue is complex and is not a matter for politicians, nor for the general public. Let the scientific experts explain this issue to us.

And, then, we have the psychosocial characteristics of demographics. Income, socioeconomic status, housing, access to transportation, employment status, education, and other data. You guessed it: money contributes significantly to a person’s access to housing, to the engineering systems to control the temperature in housing (heating system, cooling system), to the quality of a person’s lodging (insulation, type of windows).

The Solution: Body Temperature and Mental Wellbeing

My personal opinion is that housing is a right not a privilege and healthcare access is a right not a privilege. Resolve these two issues and we even the playing field for everyone. That will literally take an Act of Congress. I hope we can enact such an Act, for the safety and dignity of my fellow residents in the USA.

In the interim, please consult the recommendations identified by the Cleveland Clinic: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/22111-hyperthermia

In New York State, consult the Department of Health website to locate cooling centers near you:

https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/weather/cooling/

Call a neighbour or a friend to drive you to one of the cooling centers if you do not have access to public transportation, to a vehicle, or to a driver’s license.

During hot weather, arrange to stay with a friend or family member who has a cooling system.

Ask your healthcare provider about programmes in your area which can assist with the purchase and installation of air conditioning devices. Your elected officials at the state and federal levels may have office staff to assist you in identifying such resources. Remember, the telephone number for the US Capitol Switchboard is 202.224.3121.

Call your medical provider or call 9-1-1 if you are experiencing symptoms of a heat-related illness.

Take-aways: Body Temperature and Mental Wellbeing

Body temperature control is relevant to our mental wellbeing.

Hot environments can affect our sense of mental wellbeing.

Medications and lifestyle habits and psychosocial variables can affect our ability to manage our body temperature.

We can take steps to control our body temperature and maintain our mental wellbeing. We, as a society, owe it to each other to develop sound public health policies which address the inequities in society prohibiting some people from having access to the very basics in life: shelter, heating systems that work, cooling systems that work, and healthcare.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Full stop. Period.

Of course, music to inspire us all. Stay cool and have a good time, despite the heat.

Queen performing ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’

Be safe. Take care. We will create a society in which everyone has access to their basic needs like housing and food and ambient temperature control. No one can stop us.

Disclaimer: This post is not meant to substitute for a consultation with your healthcare professional team.

If you are having thoughts of hurting yourself or someone else, please CALL 9-1-1; CALL 9-8-8; or GO TO THE nearest EMERGENCY ROOM.

Selected References:

American Psychiatric Association Newsroom. (July 20, 2023). Extreme Heat Can Take a Toll on Mental Health. American Psychiatric Association. Accessed online on June 28, 2025, at https://www.psychiatry.org/news-room/apa-blogs/extreme-heat-can-take-a-toll-on-mental-health

Bandsholm Leere Tallaksen, H., Johannsen, E.B., Just, J., Hansen Viuff, M., Gravholt, C.H., Skakkabæk, A. (August 1, 2023). The multi-omic landscape of sex chromosome abnormalities: current status and future directions. Endocr Connect, 12(9). Accessed online on June 28, 2025, at https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10448593/

Cleveland Clinic. (August 26, 2024). Health-Related Illness (Hyperthermia). Accessed online on June 28, 2025, at https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/22111-hyperthermia

Lafta, M.S., Mniwyi, J., Affatato, O., Rukh, G., Dang, J., Andersson, G., Schiöth, H. (20 February 2024). Exploring sex differences: insights into gene expression, neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, cognition, and pathology. Accessed online on June 28, 2025, at https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2024.1340108/full

Sokoler Steiner, N. (July 24, 2024). Some medications can increase risk of heat-related illness. Have an action plan for when temperatures spike. UCLA Health. Accessed online on June 28, 2025, at https://www.uclahealth.org/news/article/some-medications-can-increase-risk-heat-related-illness-2

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