{"id":540611,"date":"2026-07-09T07:41:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T07:41:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/540611\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T07:41:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T07:41:20","slug":"children-mental-health-hospital-visits-rise-with-extreme-heat-study-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/540611\/","title":{"rendered":"Children mental health hospital visits rise with extreme heat, study finds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Mental health hospital admissions among children and young people increase during periods of high temperatures, a new study has found. As global temperatures have been rising at an accelerating pace, their impact on health is expected to intensify correspondingly, authors warned.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Extreme heat raises the risk of several mental health conditions, from substance use and depression to anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder and behavioural disorders, according to the <a data-ylk=\"slk:study;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0890856726002224\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">study<\/a> by the University of Sydney in Australia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;Hotter-than-normal weather, which is becoming more frequent because of climate change, is already affecting the mental health of some of our most vulnerable young people,&#8221; said lead author Wen-Qiang He.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">One in seven 10-19-year-olds worldwide experiences a mental disorder, accounting for 15% of the global burden of disease in this age group, according to the<a data-ylk=\"slk:World Health Organization;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.who.int\/news-room\/fact-sheets\/detail\/adolescent-mental-health\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"> World Health Organization<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A burden projected to worsen due to climate change, Wen-Qiang He warned, adding that mental health is an increasingly important consideration in climate adaptation and public health planning.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">By 2090\u20132099, heat-attributable admissions are projected to rise between 6.0% and 7.7% under a low or moderate greenhouse gas emissions scenario and by 20.8% in a high emission scenario.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The researchers analysed data from all mental health hospital admissions among children up to 12 years old and adolescents from 13 to 17 years in New South Wales \u2014 Australia&#8217;s most populous state \u2014 between 2001 and 2022.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">They found that hospital admissions rose during hotter days, especially during the cold season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">While the reason for the higher number of mental health visits remains unclear, the researchers suggested that unexpected temperature changes may influence stress responses, sleep and mood.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Related<\/p>\n<p>How does heat affect mental health?<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The study notes that high temperatures make it harder for the body to regulate its internal temperature, affecting cell function, inflammation, blood pressure, and the brain&#8217;s cooling and oxygen supply.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">It can also trigger mental stress, impair sleep, and contribute to irritability, aggression and violence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Elevated temperatures can also have an indirect effect on health, reducing sleep quality and social interaction.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">With temperatures set to intensify due to climate change, the study authors call for better prevention and adaptation strategies tailored to children and young people with mental health conditions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">These include providing access to air-conditioned rooms in schools, community centres, and youth services, adjusting school schedules to reduce outdoor activity during peak heat, and specifically including mental health in public heat warnings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mental health hospital admissions among children and young people increase during periods of high temperatures, a new study&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":540612,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[2885,7133,103,229730,229729,61,60,410,100015,2361,222599],"class_list":["post-540611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-climate-change","tag-global-temperatures","tag-health","tag-high-temperatures","tag-hospital-admissions","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mental-health","tag-mental-health-conditions","tag-public-health","tag-study-authors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}