How do heat waves affect the human brain? Shocking facts revealed by the climate crisis
How do heat waves affect the human brain? Shocking facts revealed by the climate crisis
With temperatures becoming more severe and prolonged due to climate change, scientists have begun to sound the alarm about the impact of this climate disruption on one of the body’s most important organs: the brain. From mental fatigue and lack of concentration to the exacerbation of serious neurological diseases, heat waves appear to pose a direct threat to our cognitive and psychological abilities, and perhaps to our nervous balance.
Heat, which has always been associated with fears of drought, fires, and electrical outages, has today become the focus of medical questions that go beyond its usual environmental effects to knock on the doors of the human brain itself. Concerns are increasing that severe heat waves put pressure on our nervous abilities and our thinking and decision-making skills, the features of which are beginning to be clearly evident in neurological clinics, research centers, and in human stories that constitute a collective alarm bell.
Heat waves hit children’s brains
Among these stories is the story of the child “Jake” published by the British BBC website. He had not yet completed his first year when epileptic seizures began to attack him as the summer heat increased. As the condition repeated, it became clear that it was not a passing symptom but rather a seasonal pattern linked to rising temperatures. He ended up being diagnosed with a rare syndrome known as “Dravet” (in English:Dravet syndrome), which is a condition that makes the brain vulnerable to any thermal change, and in which the nerves are unable to maintain their balance.
What makes the matter more dangerous is that the case of the child “Jake” is not an exception. Neurologists – including Professor Sanjay Sisodia from the University of London – confirm that his disorders are only a model of dozens of neurological conditions, which worsen with every heat wave, ranging from certain types of epilepsy to strokes and psychological disorders, and every summer in which the temperature rises, emergency visits to hospitals double, while worrying indications appear that the human brain is gradually beginning to collapse under the pressure of the new climate.
Mental processes generate additional heat
Although the temperature of the human brain does not differ much from that of the body, it is one of the organs that produces the most internal heat due to its highly active nature. Thinking, remembering, and emotions are all processes that generate additional heat, and the body needs a precise mechanism to cool the brain through blood vessels. When temperatures get out of control – as in the current summer days – this mechanism becomes insufficient, and this may lead to imbalances in nerve signals.
This results in a change in mood, a decline in concentration, poor decision-making, and perhaps more profound disturbances. Recent studies have confirmed that heat waves affect the secretion of some molecules responsible for transmitting nerve signals, which may make the brain work like a clock with some gears removed, based on Sisodia’s description. He adds: “The most affected are those who already suffer from neurological diseases, where their ability to sweat or regulate their body temperature is limited”.
Medicines may increase the risk of heat
The strange thing is that medications may become part of the problem; Some psychological and neurological treatments affect temperature regulation centers, which makes patients vulnerable to conditions such as “heat exhaustion” or sunstroke. This risk increases when high temperature is combined with poor sleep, which is a common condition in the summer. Which makes the symptoms of convulsions or epileptic seizures more severe.
The effects do not stop there; In cases of dementia such as Alzheimer’s, hospitalization rates are observed to increase during heat waves, not because of the heat alone, but because the elderly become less able to interact with environmental changes, and may forget, for example, to drink water or turn on cooling devices. This means that heat waves do not only attack the brains, but also bring down our behavioral and cognitive immunity.
Infants and pregnant women are victims of climate change
At the heart of this crisis, there are more vulnerable groups that are barely mentioned in most discussions, such as infants and pregnant women, as studies show that severe heat waves are associated with an increase in premature births by up to 26%, which is a major risk factor for brain development in fetuses, and these early births may later lead to cognitive difficulties, such as delayed speech, or underlying neurological disorders that do not appear until years later.
Professor Jane Hirst from the British Imperial College points out that there is much that we do not know about the groups most at risk; With more than 130 million births annually, most of them in hot and poor regions, heat may be a threatening factor for neurodevelopment at crucial stages of formation.
The danger is not limited to high temperature alone; Climate change also contributes to expanding the spread of insect-borne viruses, such as Zika and dengue, which are capable of directly infecting the nervous system of newborns. As mosquito breeding seasons extend due to rising temperatures, the possibility of these diseases being transmitted in environments that lack resilient health systems increases. Which doubles the threat to neurodevelopment in its early stages.
Heat waves push our brains toward danger
With every new summer, the picture of this hidden danger becomes clearer, as cases of strokes increase, rates of depression rise, and the phenomenon of “climate anxiety” may spread, which is a psychological disorder generated by fear of the fate of the Earth and its global warming. While some people may adapt to the heat, others feel mentally suffocated, psychologically regress, and become more vulnerable to neurological fragility.
Here comes the role of science in trying to decipher the mystery of this phenomenon. Some researchers attribute differences in vulnerability to heat waves to genetic differences that make some brains more vulnerable to heat than others, which in the future may become a key to understanding human ability to adapt to a changing climate. Perhaps what neurological patients are experiencing today will become a collective experience if climate change continues at this intensity.
What these facts reveal is not only related to individual health, but also touches on the essence of our relationship with the planet on which we live. Heat waves have become a reflection of the inability of health and environmental systems to keep pace with the acceleration of climate change, and hence the need for an approach that combines scientific research, preventive policies, and community awareness campaigns.
Hence you seeThe Earth Guards Foundationthat the challenge is no longer just protecting forests or coasts, but rather protecting the human brain, as the last line of defense in the battle for survival, a battle that cannot be won unless we realize that every rise in temperature represents an urgent message that threatens our biological balance, and our ability to think and make decisions.
