Mental Health Can Be Affected by Climate Change – Health and Wellness Nashville

According to a report in the Miami Herald, a new report warns we have until 2030 to stop climate change from raising temperatures above a key threshold. Another study found that the increasing heat could also lead to a decline in mental health.

Nick Obradovich, research scientist at the MIT Media Lab and co-author of the new study, warned of “catastrophic” dips in mental health for some if climate change causes the global temperature to increase by 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

For the study, researchers combed through a decade’s-worth of data from US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, which had two million people self-assess their state of mental well-being.

Researchers say they noticed an increase of “problems with emotions” during 30-day periods that had temperatures averaging over 86 degrees Fahrenheit. Both people with low income and women were 60 percent more likely to have emotions tied to weather than those with a higher income and men, respectively, according to the study’s findings.

More specifically, the study determined that there was a 0.5 increase in mental health difficulties for people in a month that averaged over 86 degrees Fahrenheit when compared to a month with an average between 77 and 86 degrees Fahrenheit.

The study also found that a 1-degree Celsius increase over 5 years — or a 1.8-degree Fahrenheit increase — causes a 2 percent increase in mental health problems.But that’s not all: The study used climate change models to predict that anywhere between 9,000 to 40,000 suicides could be caused by climate change by the year 2050 if nothing is done to stop the rising temperatures.