Hot weather and heatwaves can have a big impact on your mental health. While the sunshine and vitamin D can boost your mood, excessive heat can leave you feeling flustered and fatigued. So whether you’re feeling irritable, overwhelmed, or all of the above, it’s important to take steps to manage and protect your mental health during a heatwave. We’ve put together some simple steps to help you beat the heat.
Here are some of Dr. Krause’s tips for managing your mental health in the hot weather.
1. Medication
Certain types of psychiatric medication can cause photosensitivity. This may make you burn quicker. Read the instructions and make sure you take extra care to protect your skin from the sun.
Some types of psychiatric medication can also cause excessive thirst. Make an effort to keep extra hydrated in this weather.
2. Manage discomfort
Hot weather increases frustration and bad temper. One cause of this may be discomfort. Make sure you’ re dressed appropriately and can cool down. Take breaks if you are doing manual work. Avoid over crowded or overstimulating places if they impact you.
3. Manage difficult emotions
Manage angry feelings by knowing your triggers. Recognise your internal responses to these. For example, clenching your jaw, pacing, heart speeding up. Pause, observe these feelings, and plan an alternative response in your head.
4. Try to sleep
Lack of sleep impacted by heat affects mental health by raising anxiety or lowering mood. Make your sleep environment comfortable by covering windows, letting the breeze in, and trying to catch up on lost hours when you can.
5. Avoid dehydration
If you are drinking too much alcohol you run the risk of dehydration. Cut down on alcohol by:
– having spritzers,
– alternating with soft drinks,
– having alcohol free days,
– keeping extra hydrated if drinking at festivals, clubs, or bars.
6. Eat adequately
People tend to eat light when it’s hot, but if you have an eating disorder, you need to eat adequately. Try not to skip planned meals or eat food that you know may trigger a relapse.
7. Download the free Calm Harm app
stem4’s free Calm Harm app helps you manage intense and difficult feelings and ride the wave. The app supports you in breathing, pausing, and focusing on any of the range of the tasks it provides.
Calm Harm is an app developed for teenage mental health charity stem4 by Dr. Nihara Krause, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, and uses the evidence-based treatment Behavioural Activation Therapy to help you improve your mood by encouraging you to increase your motivation to carry out a variety of tasks in order to help you to move forward, take control and feel positive.
Download the Calm Harm app for free on the App Store and Google Play to help you be mindful and stay in the moment, regulate difficult emotions, and reduce tension. To try some of the quick and easy activities that can help you beat the heat, check out the Calm Harm Instagram.