OKLAHOMA CITY –
During this week’s Mindful Monday, Trisha Koelsch, CEO of Calm Waters, is sharing how rising temperatures can affect mental health. Koelsch shares tips to care for yourself and loved ones.
How does the heat affect mental health?
Koelsch: They say heat makes you do crazy things. It really does. Those who are most susceptible are people who are on medication or if you’re drinking alcohol, even older people with dementia. It’s hotter outside; your fuse is shorter. It does typically lead to us not taking care of our mental health. We think so much about the physical aspects, but your mental health is just as important.
What are ways to help loved ones?
Koelsch: Make sure that you’re doing a lot of the same things that we hear about for our physical health during this hot weather. Make sure that you’re doing the same thing, but it’s for your mental health. So bringing them indoors, cooling them off, even making sure you’re getting a good night’s sleep. Ensuring that your older parents and those who are more susceptible to mental health illnesses to bring them in, make sure that they’re cooled off, sleep with a fan on at night. I know that it’s really hard to get a good night’s sleep if you’re too hot, so making sure that you’re cool enough at night and getting enough water, staying hydrated.
What are examples of heat impacting mental health?
Koelsch: Some of those examples are feeling that heat exhaustion, so being irritable quickly, your temperature rising. You will see the physical aspects on your skin; you’ll start to get redder, hotter, the irritability; they tend to withdraw, be more quiet and isolated. That’s when it’s time to, okay, let’s go take a break, let’s cool off.
What can people do if they need more resources?
Koelsch: Definitely reach out to a mental health professional. We do have resources that are more grief-focused at Calm Waters. So if you want to check our website, calmwaters.org, we have resources. And if it’s something that we can’t help with, we can get you to the right place.