美国国家公共电台 NPR How High Heat Can Impact Mental Health

 

NOEL KING, HOST:

A new investigation¹ shows that low-income neighborhoods are hotter than wealthier ones in dozens of big cities across the country. This investigation is from NPR and the University of Maryland's Howard Center for Investigative Journalism². And it shows that the heat impacts physical health but also that it might have an effect on mental health. Here's NPR's Nora Eckert.

NORA ECKERT, BYLINE³: In Jeanetta Churchill's Baltimore row house, the air conditioning is blasting. She relied on it more than usual when a blistering⁴ heat wave swept through Baltimore this summer.

JEANETTA CHURCHILL: I don't even want to see what my power bill is this coming month.

ECKERT: But keeping cool isn't just a matter of comfort for her. It's a way to manage her bipolar disorder⁵.

CHURCHILL: Heat is a challenge for me when it comes to my mental health. When I get too hot, it's hard for me to sleep, and when I don't get enough sleep, that can trip me over into mania⁶.

ECKERT: There are a few signs she's entering a manic episode - rapid speech, irrational⁷ purchases or bouts⁸ of anger. Sometimes, her episodes spiral more seriously.

CHURCHILL: I have at times had suicidal ideation - not attempt but just my mind was racing⁹ so fast, it was out of control.

ECKERT: Heat can be a stressor for most people, but Ken¹⁰ Duckworth, medical director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, says people with severe mental illnesses are hit harder than most.

KEN DUCKWORTH: In the summertime, heat waves are a risk for people with serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder and bipolar.

ECKERT: One of the main reasons is medication. Drugs used to manage severe mental illnesses can have dangerous side effects in the heat, like dehydration¹¹ or heat stroke.

DUCKWORTH: They reduce your body's ability to modulate¹² temperature.

ECKERT: For Andrea Landry-Brown, these side effects hit hard. When she was living in California, on one particularly hot summer day, she says it got up to 110 degrees. She was driving with her kids in the backseat when she started hallucinating.

ANDREA LANDRY-BROWN: I'm driving down the street, and I literally¹³ saw people walking in front of my car.

ECKERT: It was a side effect of the medications she took for PTSD, anxiety and bipolar disorder. She'd been sensitive to medications in the past, but she thinks the heat sent her over the edge.

LANDRY-BROWN: The heat would just make it worse. Whatever the side effects were, it was just that much worse.

ECKERT: NPR and the University of Maryland's Howard Center looked at connections between heat and health in Baltimore. The Howard Center analyzed¹⁴ emergency response data from the summer of 2018 and found that calls for psychiatric conditions increased by nearly 40% when the heat index spiked¹⁵ over 103.

(SOUNDBITE OF PHONE RINGING)

ECKERT: Baltimore Crisis Response, Inc. receives hundreds of calls every day.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Any psychotic symptoms? Are you currently hallucinating, hearing voices?

ECKERT: Their founding executive director, Edgar Wiggins, says although many of their patients experience mental illness, that's usually not the only health condition they're dealing¹⁶ with.

EDGAR WIGGINS: If you've got a chronic¹⁷ behavioral health condition, chances are you're not taking care of or managing your diabetes¹⁸ or your hypertension. So if you want to add to that temperatures of over 100 degrees with this vulnerable population, it really puts them at risk.

ECKERT: Wiggins says 3 out of 4 of their mental health patients also abuse substances. And according to the Howard Center, calls relating to substance abuse more than doubled in extreme heat. Dr. Duckworth from the National Alliance on Mental Illness says the risks of heat are only getting more urgent.

DUCKWORTH: These are risks that you need to be mindful of as you contend with, you know, what is likely to be an increasing run of extremely hot days.

ECKERT: And while climate change wasn't a big part of his training in medical school, he says it's impossible for the field to ignore now. Nora Eckert, NPR News.

1 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

2 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 blistering   

adj.酷热的；猛烈的；使起疱的；可恶的v.起水疱；起气泡；使受暴晒n.[涂料] 起泡

参考例句：

• The runners set off at a blistering pace. 赛跑运动员如脱缰野马般起跑了。
• This failure is known as preferential wetting and is responsible for blistering. 这种故障称为优先吸湿，是产生气泡的原因。 来自辞典例句

5 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

6 mania   

n.疯狂；躁狂症，狂热，癖好

参考例句：

• Football mania is sweeping the country.足球热正风靡全国。
• Collecting small items can easily become a mania.收藏零星物品往往容易变成一种癖好。

7 irrational   

adj.无理性的，失去理性的

参考例句：

• After taking the drug she became completely irrational.她在吸毒后变得完全失去了理性。
• There are also signs of irrational exuberance among some investors.在某些投资者中是存在非理性繁荣的征象的。

8 bouts   

n.拳击（或摔跤）比赛( bout的名词复数 )；一段（工作）；（尤指坏事的）一通；（疾病的）发作

参考例句：

• For much of his life he suffered from recurrent bouts of depression. 他的大半辈子反复发作抑郁症。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It was one of fistiana's most famous championship bouts. 这是拳击界最有名的冠军赛之一。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

9 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

10 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

11 dehydration   

n.脱水，干燥

参考例句：

• He died from severe dehydration.他死于严重脱水。
• The eyes are often retracted from dehydration.眼睛常因脱水而凹陷。

12 modulate   

v.调整，调节(音的强弱)；变调

参考例句：

• Please modulate the sound on the TV.请调节一下电视的音量。
• This system could modulate the voice signal effectively.这个系统可以对语音信号进行有效的调制。

13 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

14 analyzed   

v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析

参考例句：

• The doctors analyzed the blood sample for anemia. 医生们分析了贫血的血样。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The young man did not analyze the process of his captivation and enrapturement, for love to him was a mystery and could not be analyzed. 这年轻人没有分析自己蛊惑著迷的过程，因为对他来说，爱是个不可分析的迷。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 spiked   

adj.有穗的；成锥形的；有尖顶的

参考例句：

• The editor spiked the story. 编辑删去了这篇报道。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They wondered whether their drinks had been spiked. 他们有些疑惑自己的饮料里是否被偷偷搀了烈性酒。 来自辞典例句

16 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

17 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

18 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。