Dr LeCrone
05-31-2006, 01:39 PM
Last week I began the discussion of how prolonged heat can produce negative psychological effects on many individuals. For example, the effectiveness of some of the medications used in treating psychological disorders can be disrupted in individuals exposed to prolonged heat. Lowered frustration, irritability, anger, and other psychological problems seem to correlate with prolonged exposure to elevated temperature in some individuals. Stress reducing activities, including recreation and exercise, may have to be altered in the face of prolonged heat.
Other psychological ramifications of a long, hot summer include:
• Individuals, whose likelihood is directly affected by the weather such as those in ranching and farming, are under tremendous stress and pressure. Many of these individuals are facing massive economic loss and perhaps even the necessity of selling their livestock and farms.
• Mothers who have relied upon the outdoors to occupy their young children's time and energy during summer months often find that one hundred plus degree weather moves everyone inside and creates stress, confusion, and even pandemonium at times.
Obviously, there is very little that we can do to change the weather which leaves us with the necessity of changing our response to the fate that Mother Nature has dealt us. Following are some strategies for dealing with the rest of the heat wave of 1998.
• Remember that hot summer is a time limited phenomena. At some point, changes will occur in the weather and although this is an endurance contest, change will occur. Those of us living in the Southwest know that the change may be several weeks to several months away, but one morning we will wake up to a cool, crisp sigh of relief. Knowing that a change will occur enables us to embrace the old saying, "This too shall pass."
• Try to find ways to modify activities and create options that enable you to continue with work and play in some modified fashion. A walk in the air conditioned mall is, for most of us, better than no walk at all. If you have never experienced a stroll at sun up, this may be the time to give it a try. The heat is much more bearable and the scenery often looks different early in the morning. Consider changing your work pattern to different hours if you have not already done so. Beginning at day break and stopping in the early afternoon is often preferable to working through the mid to late afternoon heat. Consider postponing certain outdoor activities until cooler weather arrives. Reading a good book may have to replace a round of golf or working in the garden.
As a friend of mine recently said, "A change in the weather is just around the corner," and then after a long pause he continued by saying, "And the corner is going to be in October or November."
Copyright c 1998 Harold H. LeCrone, Jr., Ph.D.
Other psychological ramifications of a long, hot summer include:
• Individuals, whose likelihood is directly affected by the weather such as those in ranching and farming, are under tremendous stress and pressure. Many of these individuals are facing massive economic loss and perhaps even the necessity of selling their livestock and farms.
• Mothers who have relied upon the outdoors to occupy their young children's time and energy during summer months often find that one hundred plus degree weather moves everyone inside and creates stress, confusion, and even pandemonium at times.
Obviously, there is very little that we can do to change the weather which leaves us with the necessity of changing our response to the fate that Mother Nature has dealt us. Following are some strategies for dealing with the rest of the heat wave of 1998.
• Remember that hot summer is a time limited phenomena. At some point, changes will occur in the weather and although this is an endurance contest, change will occur. Those of us living in the Southwest know that the change may be several weeks to several months away, but one morning we will wake up to a cool, crisp sigh of relief. Knowing that a change will occur enables us to embrace the old saying, "This too shall pass."
• Try to find ways to modify activities and create options that enable you to continue with work and play in some modified fashion. A walk in the air conditioned mall is, for most of us, better than no walk at all. If you have never experienced a stroll at sun up, this may be the time to give it a try. The heat is much more bearable and the scenery often looks different early in the morning. Consider changing your work pattern to different hours if you have not already done so. Beginning at day break and stopping in the early afternoon is often preferable to working through the mid to late afternoon heat. Consider postponing certain outdoor activities until cooler weather arrives. Reading a good book may have to replace a round of golf or working in the garden.
As a friend of mine recently said, "A change in the weather is just around the corner," and then after a long pause he continued by saying, "And the corner is going to be in October or November."
Copyright c 1998 Harold H. LeCrone, Jr., Ph.D.