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‘It can affect your attention, your cognition’: DC expert describes extreme heat’s mental health harms

By Kate Ryan

Plenty of people report having the wintertime blues, but studies show extreme summer heat can also have negative impacts on mental health.

“Extreme heat — it’s not just a physical story, it’s a mental health story,” said Dr. Lorenzo Norris, the senior associate dean for education and an associate professor of psychiatry at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences.

He told WTOP that people are most familiar with winter weather and its effects on mood and mental well-being.

“We definitely know that extreme heat can increase irritability, frustration and anger,” said Norris, adding that research on the effects included a JAMA study that showed an increase in mental health-related visits to emergency departments during hot weather events.

Extreme high temperatures can also increase anxiety, Norris said.

“Heat can also cause a disruption in our sleep. That for me is massive, because sleep disruption can pretty much affect everything,” he said.

Another symptom people may experience on the hottest days of summer, said Norris: “Studies have been shown it can affect your attention, your cognition.”

“All of these things, in and of themselves, can exacerbate mental health conditions,” he said.

When patients notice the negative effects on their mental health, Norris said, they should seek the care of a medical professional.

Norris is eager to help patients recognize the importance of paying attention to heat and its impact on their mental health.

If patients don’t understand that high temperatures can cause or exacerbate those feelings, “We’re not going to take the necessary precautions to make sure that we are practicing good self-care, hydrating ourselves, staying cool, checking on each other,” he said.

Older patients and people with existing mental health conditions are at the highest risk of experiencing those symptoms and seeing them worsen, said Norris.

“First and foremost, if you’re experiencing significant mental health symptoms of any type, you should actually be working to speak with a health professional,” he said, and that could include calling 311 to be connected with local services or calling 911 when needed.

Aside from checking in with a health professional, patients can make sure they have access to cool environments and check their hydration levels.

“Dehydration plus extreme heat is a very big problem and then the third thing is, and I will continue to harp on this, because heat does affect sleep — protect your sleep,” Norris said.

States seek to lower drug prices by targeting the companies that manage them for health plans

By The Associated Press
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — As consumers worry about medication costs, states are trying to lower drug prices by reining in big companies that oversee prescription coverage for health insurers. Some of those companies, called pharmacy benefit managers, also own pharmacies, and one of them, CVS, has spent millions of dollars fighting the regulations. Affordability is a key issue ahead of this year’s midterm elections. Legislators in at least a dozen states passed laws this year to limit compensation to the companies, set minimum payments from the companies to pharmacists and require the companies to disclose more information to their clients, states and the public. A Tennessee law will bar pharmacy benefit managers from operating retail pharmacies as of July 1, 2028, though CVS Health Corp. has filed a federal lawsuit to avoid having to close its 136 pharmacies there.
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