Hi all, we’ve been doing our best to beat the heat ourselves and it has me thinking about the impact the weather has on our well-being.
If you’ve stepped outside anywhere in Utah or the broader Western U.S. this week, you already know the reality we are dealing with: we are in the grip of a historically brutal heat wave. Just yesterday, Salt Lake City shattered an all-time temperature record, peaking at a blistering 109°F (43°C), as a massive “heat dome” traps oppressive, stagnant air across the Rockies and the desert Southwest.
When the weather gets this extreme, the conversation naturally shifts to physical safety, staying hydrated, avoiding heatstroke, and keeping our homes cool. But we also need to talk about the hidden, psychological toll this weather takes. Extreme heat doesn’t just exhaust our bodies; it actively disrupts our mental health.
The Reality of Summer SAD
We are culturally conditioned to associate Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) with the winter months: a slump brought on by short, dark, freezing days. Because of this, feeling depressed or anxious in July can feel incredibly isolating. You might think, “The sun is out, I should be happy and thriving.”
But Summer SAD (sometimes called reverse SAD) is a very real, very challenging condition. While the winter version of this disorder often makes us want to hibernate, the summer version tends to wire us in deeply uncomfortable ways.
Why Extreme Heat Messes With Our Minds
Beyond the clinical definition of Summer SAD, the sheer intensity of a 100-degree-plus heat wave acts as an intense environmental stressor on the brain and body.
- The Panic Mimic: When you overheat, your body responds with a rapid heartbeat, sweating, shortness of breath, and dizziness. If you are prone to anxiety, your brain can easily misinterpret these physiological cooling mechanisms as the onset of a panic attack, triggering a vicious cycle of real psychological distress.
- Medication Sensitivity: This is a vital, often-overlooked factor. Many common mental health medications, specifically SSRIs (antidepressants), can interfere with the hypothalamus, making it harder for your body to regulate its temperature and sweat properly. This means the heat hits you harder and faster than someone not on these medications.
- Circadian Disruption & Sleep: With the sun rising earlier, setting later, and overnight temperatures remaining uncomfortably warm, our natural melatonin production gets confused. Poor sleep is one of the fastest tracks to emotional vulnerability, irritability, and cognitive brain fog.
- Eco-Anxiety: It is entirely valid to feel a sense of dread when stepping into 109-degree heat. The visceral reality of climate change and extreme weather events (including the wildfire smoke that often accompanies these heat domes) can trigger a deep, existential stress known as eco-anxiety.
Cooling Down Your Mind (and Body)
If you are feeling restless, agitated, or unusually down this week, please give yourself grace. You aren’t doing summer “wrong,” your body is reacting to a hostile environment. Here are a few ways to protect your peace until the heat breaks:
- Hydrate for your brain: Dehydration actively worsens anxiety and irritability. Drink more water than you think you need, and add electrolytes to replenish what you lose to sweat.
- Shift your schedule without guilt: If you normally love an afternoon walk, let it go for now. Move your outdoor time to the very early morning or late evening. There is no moral failing in staying inside the air conditioning all day.
- Audit your media consumption: If reading the news about the heat wave and wildfires is sending your eco-anxiety into overdrive, it is okay to step back. Stay informed enough to be safe, but set boundaries on doomscrolling.
- Embrace physiological cooling: When you feel an anxiety spike coming on, cool your body down rapidly. Splash ice water on your face, hold an ice cube, or put a cold damp towel on the back of your neck. Activating your mammalian dive reflex with cold water is a proven way to force your nervous system to reset.
The environment shapes our inner world just as much as our thoughts do. Stay safe, stay cool, and remember that it is okay to seek shelter, both physically and emotionally, while this heat wave passes.
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This post does not constitute therapeutic counseling or advice; the contents of this post are provided as a learning resource. We share the contents hoping that if you are in need of mental health support you will reach out to us directly or to a mental health professional in your area.
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