Heatwaves and high temperatures can have a dramatic impact on people’s physical health. We only have to look at the increases in emergency department admissions during recent heatwaves to know that.
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| A spike in suicides linked to spikes in heat. |
But not many people realise that high variations in temperatures can also impact our mental health.
For my PhD thesis I studied the socio-environmental drivers of suicide rates in Australia from 1986 to 2005. I found that sudden spikes in average temperatures can be attributed as a risk factor for suicide in some cities.
Read the story from The Conversation by a Researcher from the Queensland University of Technology, Xin Qi - “Heatwaves linked to an increase in Australian suicide rates.”
