A study found that higher temperatures are associated with an increased risk of ER visits for mental health conditions.
As nearly 90 million Americans are facing heat advisories and suffering through triple-digit temperatures, a study showed that sweltering heat can have an impact on mental health.
Higher temperatures were associated with an increased risk of ER visits for mental health conditions, a Boston University study found.
Severe heat can leave people dehydrated and at an increased risk of sunstroke, but extremely warm temperatures can have other effects.
The hotter it gets, the more violence and domestic abuse cases police see, according to independent medical journal The Lancet.
“With this heat, people tend to get less sleep. Less sleep means that they have less impulse control and certainly their judgment becomes much more impaired,” clinical psychologist Dr. Jeff Gardere tells Inside Edition.
To cool down, most people know to drink plenty of water, but drinking too much also has its own consequences.
Ray Jordan, 10, was hospitalized for water intoxication after drinking six bottles of water in one hour after getting exhausted by the heat while playing outside with his family.
“He started getting disoriented and couldn’t make a sentence,” Ray’s family tells Inside Edition. “I mean he couldn’t stand up.”
“I felt like I just passed out on the spot and then I couldn’t remember anything,” Ray says.
So how much water should you drink?
“Within an hour I’d say one to two [16.9 oz bottles] of water would have been efficient,” emergency room doctor Nyle Khan tells Inside Edition.
Ray’s family says they never would have thought about the dangers of drinking too much water.
“I mean, we would have thought, don’t drink that much because you’ll be up all night using the restroom. Not [don't] drink that much because you might die,” Ray’s family says.
