PENSACOLA, Fla. (WKRG) — The heat wave has been taking a toll on a lot of us. We understand the physical toll it can take, but News 5’s Drexel Gilbert has been reading some studies on how the hot weather can also impact our emotional and mental well-being. Here’s this week’s Minute with Drexel:
Hey y’all! Good grief! It has been so hot for so long! During these extended heat spells, we need to take extra care to stay cool! We need to do things like stay in the air conditioning, and if you don’t have air conditioning, try to get to a place that does. I also keep fans running in most every room in our place to keep the heat -and the power bill- down! We also need to drink lots of water, take cool showers and baths, wear light colored and thin clothing, eat cool foods like fruit and salads.
You may already know all of that.. but what you may not know is that extended heat can really do a number on our emotional and mental health. When we get “hot under the collar,” and by the way that’s an idiom that means angry, annoyed or irritated, it can lead to things like disruption in our sleep to causing us to be snappy to others when we might not do so otherwise, or to be unkind in situations where we otherwise wouldn’t be.…