How Houston’s Extreme Heat Impacts Our Mental Health

[Music] y'all already know that Houston's original neighborhood downtown is for everyone and it is popping in August with downtown Houston's plus most popular events in Market Square Park and Trey Park like Blanket Bingo movies under the stars the summer trivia series and beats and Flow Yoga you can also enjoy cool treats at these night events from their Market Square Park Farmers Market vendors and toot Suite in Trey Park learn more about these great events at downtown houston.org downtown Houston get energized and [Music] revived today on City cast Houston we've just Endor the hottest days of the year in htown and we all know how the heat affects us physically but could this brutal weather be messing with our mood to help us understand the unexpected toll Houston's increasingly hot summers can take on our mental health I'm joined by Dr awesome Shaw chief of Psychiatry with Harris health and Bob [Music] hospital it's Monday August 26th I'm rill ramzan and here's what Houston's talking about Dr sha welcome in how are you I'm doing well how are you doing I'm doing okay you know it is hot outside and just trying to stay cool like everyone else in the city and before we get into the very Tech technical stuff about what exactly is happening when it comes to our mood and mental health with the heat I got to ask you how do you stay cool during these long hot summer days yeah it's it's hot because of course it's hot outside you have to go out there's no choice you have and when you sit in the car even that is too hot or 100 degrees but you have to do it so there are many things you can do we'll talk about it but it's not easy for sure it's noty and it's not cooling down either yeah that's the other thing right like we're all looking and waiting for that one cool front quote unquote right so we can kind of get back outside and enjoy this Houston weather but it is so hot now I hinted at this right like how is this going to impact our mood but first I want to start with I think about winter right it's cold out there it gets darker earlier it can really impact our mental health and it's actually categorized as Seasonal effective disorder and we always hear it linked to winter but first what exactly is seasonal effect disorder sure sure Seasonal effective disorder is a condition which is known for many years maybe even a decade plus and it's a condition which is linked to lack of sunlight so lack of sunlight causes Seasonal effective disorder and you can think about it in areas where you have shorter uh days and it happens in those areas and it happens in winter months what happens you get sad you get depressed you get dysphoric and you lose motivation to do things and and it lasts only in those months of each year and then it goes away when Sun starts coming it goes away and it's almost yearly thing in certain people and they may or may not get medications during those months uh but it's only in those months of the year in certain areas of the country has been known phenomena for many many years so that's Seasonal effective disorder yeah and you hinted at it right like it only happens during those months and actually during those winter months you know for me I love being outside and the excitement of better weather that is going to come with spring and the summer you know you get to jump in the pool you go to the beaches you travel and so much more that excitement is like what keeps me going but there's new research now which is finding that people are experiencing Seasonal effective disorder during the summer as well what is happening why is that right right they've always thought that Seasonal effective disorder is in the winter month but the last few years as we see that it's getting more hotter and hotter and hotter every year we are finding out that during these Extreme Hot months with extreme Sun we are also finding some mental health changes mood changes anxiety changes in people in the months of June July August or may whenever we see excessive sun in the past we used to think lack of sun but now we know that even too much Sun causes problems what are those problems so those problems are slightly different than the typical Seasonal effective disorder you see in the winter months how different they are they may not present as typical dysphoria typical depression they present as more irritability anger fatigue mood swings snapping or getting upset easily so those kind of mood changes as opposed to getting completely withdrawn or or getting sad or dysphoric again mood changes again getting anxious but slightly different than what we see in the winter months and this is again because of the serotonin changes in the brain we see that so is this an actual clinical diagnosis or is this just something to watch out for right because when you think of excessive heat and mental health is something that we haven't thought of so is this an actual clinical diagnosis now not yet a dsm5 TR clinical diagnosis what is dsm5 dsm5 is psychiatrist diagnos IC manual so not yet in that maybe in the next iteration perhaps but not yet there but yes we see it we see changes in the mood in summer and we even see more visits and we can talk about that in a minute in the hospital and so during these months absolutely it is seen yes but in terms of diagnosis not share an official diagnosis should it be a clinical diagnosis in our field we make a clinical diagnosis of symptoms when the symptoms become uh to the point that it causes functional impairment is this causing functional impairment to people it is causing some impairment um to the point that okay let's talk about statistics during summer month we are seeing more emergency room visits because of mental health reasons during summer months and what we are seeing more is about 8 to 10% more visits in the month emergency room because of mental health reasons during summer months like I work in bentto uh we have a psychiatric emergency room the number of patients coming to see a psychiatrist has increased about 10% Plus in these months we are seeing that so that is a problem that's causing functional impairment so the question that should it be a diagnosis if it continues to be what is happening yes it should qualify for Seasonal effective disorder summer variant or the other one would be called winter variant this will be summer variant so yes it could be a qualifier for a diagnosis so we've always heard this with winter right as we've already established when did you start noticing this trend that we're seeing an increase during the summer months like when did you find this out we started seeing this three years ago more so uh the phenomena have been there a while but the heat if you think about it the more hotter months or so it started two or three years ago more or so and it's increasing every year it's not decreasing the trend is not decreasing global warming is happening everywhere climate change all those things have been people are paying more attention to it in the last three years and this is perhaps the third year that we are noticing it more and more and more uh studies are being done and this is more on the horizon of being noticed so it's been a pretty intense Heat Wave this August right so what happens to us when it gets really hot outside what are some of the behaviors again that start popping up more or signs our listeners might be experiencing Seasonal effective disorder or summer sad which also just makes me sad saying it again it's not yet classified as sumerset but we talking about it as it's sumerset it's not official diagnosis yet as I mentioned but the symptoms of these changes are fatigue irritability anger mood swings snapping out and people uh just kind of argue with each other a lot more so than normal those are some of the common things and also anxiety symptoms getting worried about things getting anxious getting [Music] nervous the Holocaust Museum Houston's new exhibition facing Survival by David Cen is now on view through January 5th David's work has hauntingly captured the poignant stories and portraits of more than 24 Holocaust Survivors including Houston's own Elsa Ross and Ruth Steinfeld also featured is osht Survivor Martin Greenfield who became one of America's greatest men's tailor making custom suits for six presidents and notable celebrities Holocaust Museum Houston is always free for kids 18 and under and college students it's also free for everyone Thursdays 2: to 5:00 p.m. plus they are open Labor Day and free for active duty military and their family you can get your tickets now and learn more about facing survival at hmh.org slfac survival that's hmh.org slfac Survival your general admission ticket to the Holocaust Museum Houston gets you in all exhibitions and galleries feel your max with Brooks running and the all new ghost Max 2 they're the shoes you deserve designed to streamline your stride and help protect your body treat yourself to Feelgood Landings on an ultra high stack of super comfy nitrogen infused cushion that takes the edge off every step every day the Brooks ghost Max too you know technically they're a form of self-care Brooks let's run there head to brooksrunning.com to learn more Dr sha with it being so hot outside people are spending more time inside and they're probably on social media so does social media play a role in all of this as well social media plays a role in everything good or bad both because it can make you more anxious can make you more worried can make you even more irritable because sometimes you may end up reading things repeatedly which can make you upset which can make you more anxious so yes it does play a role but it depends on person's personality how much are you going on social media what negative uh channels you are reading or or visiting or how much you are visiting the things which are making you more upset so it's individualized so on those really hot days right like last week it was super hot I'm thinking back to last summer as well where we had that historic heat Dome on those 100 degree plus weather days are you seeing an increase in ER visits due to mental health yeah all those hot months we are absolutely wow if you look at our ER data this month last month has been the busiest in the last almost 20 years for Mental Health visits how worried are you because it seems like it is getting hotter and hotter right climate change is real and this is just another impact or fall out from climate change it is not only worrisome but there's another thing which is that the trend of this hot weather is completely changing it used to be that August used to be the hottest month in in Houston it changed to May June and now we are back in August and still it's hot so there's no end to it you cannot predict when it's going to start when it's going to end so there is no prediction of this hot weather anymore uh when it's going to start when it's going to end and that's another worrisome thing because you cannot plan uh it will be good if you know when it's going to come it used to rain a lot but I think the rain has also decreased a lot uh that it used to happen so yes it is definitely a word Islam phenomenon I know you're still researching this and we're still pretty early in figuring out like just how this is going to impact so many honi but are we ready to handle the amount of potential cases we could see in with mental therapist are they prepared I'm a person who's always positive minded okay so I always see glass as half full as opposed to have empty so if you ask the same question for somebody else perhaps the answer may be different but my answer usually is always on the positive side Houston is blessed to have the largest medical center Houston is blessed to have the largest network of healthcare providers which includes mental health clinicians professionals also so yes on a bigger scale we have a lot of professionals who can handle this but on a minute scale even these lot of mental health professionals may not have availability to see you next day next week next month um a lot of these providers are cash providers so yes there are individual challenges but on a bigger scale we are decently equipped to handle it but on a minor scale we may not be because there are individual challenges of insurances but on a bigger CH scale we are decently okay better than some other states let's talk Solutions because in the winter I've heard people can buy a lamp for light therapy but in the summer we really can't turn off the sun we can't make it that much cooler outside right and some people have to work in the Heat or don't have AC as well are there any treatment options right now to help us combat this of course the first thing is if possible don't go out and heat again easier said than done if you have to go out you have to go out but if you are out in heat try to use the Hat which covers ultraviolet rays and there are many available they're very cheap they're not expensive um maybe even less than 10 bucks heat starts from your head so try to cover your head that's the first thing possible number two try to hydrate yourself drink as many fluids just drinking water alone is not enough adding electrolytes to it is important because when you are in heat you lose electrolytes you sweat you pass your urine and you lose Electro so you need to drink gorade or lemonade or something like that because you need sodium and potassium in your body otherwise you can have cramps you can be confused all those things can happen so wear a hat hydrate use some electrolytes in the form of goror whichever you want so those are few basic things everybody can do then there are so many medications which interact with sun and we miss that so for example if you're talking about psychiatric medications the most important psychiatric medication is lithium uh lithium is a mood stabilizer very commonly used but if you are out in Sun a lot it can cause impaired concentration in your body so in that case you need to check with the physician and maybe alter the dosage of lithium because if you're out in Sun a lot maybe you need a different dosage of lithium if you're taking certain vitamins or certain antifungal antibiotics so better check with your physician and the easiest thing is if you're taking a medicine please check the bottle there's a warning a sticker warning on your bottle if it interacts with sun or going out in sunlight so this next one is going to be kind of hard to answer for you but I just want to know like what is that fine line of when listeners should get professional help versus oh look I was out in the sun I know I'm irritable right now and I can just kind of Ride This Out like what is that fine line when should they get help I think the answer is simpler than we think um everybody can get irritable everybody can get fatigued everybody can get angry if you feel that your anger irritability fatigue or being upset is causing functional problem and it's causing problems with your peers at work or at home and it's lasting and it's not going away maybe that's the time that you need to talk to somebody whereas if it goes away and it's only shortlived you may be okay but if it's stays and it's causing problem in your relationship at your work maybe it's time to seek help earlier you described yourself as a pretty positive person and I get that sense talking to you what do you do to help lift your mood and stay positive I try not to watch news because news to me is the number one depressant I try to watch comedy shows if possible that to me is the number one mood lifter and uh you know try to help people and that's the positiveness you can bring but honestly news media I read news though I definitely read news but reading news is not full of emotions so I try not to watch news and that keeps me more happier gotcha and that makes sense Dr sha so in addition to reading the news you know you could also put City cast Houston in your rotation we try to keep things positive here as much as we can hey thank you so much for joining us I really enjoyed learning about what's happening right now thanks for sharing your knowledge with us and stay cool out there okay and I hope to have you back on soon thank you and nice to see you and hopefully we'll be back that was Dr awesome Shaw among his many titles and responsibilities he's the chief of Psychiatry and director of mood disorder research at the Harris health system and bentop hospital if you appreciated this episode give us a rating and leave us a review wherever you listen to podcast and also please share this episode with your favorite group chat I know they're going to love it you can also subscribe to our daily newsletter hey Houston for events news and happenings around htown thanks [Music] that will do it for today I'm reill Raman thank you for listening and I hope you learn something [Music] new oh you don't have to answer it you don't have to answer it I was just doing it for me yeah yeah