Hot weather can affect your mood

[janbear]

Hot weather can affect your mood

Sheryl Kahn
NewsChannel 3

Feeling a little tired or a little cranky? You're not alone. Studies show there are physical and psychological reasons why the heat can bring out the worst in people. There's even evidence that during the summer, a few people suffer from a kind of depression usually associated with winter -- seasonal affective disorder. Which means the heat wave could mean many more weeks of very short tempers.

It seems to be a fact of human nature, the higher the temperature the lower your boiling point.

"I get mad more often because I'm hot," Said Christina Labuen. "It just irritates me."

"It's paradise 10 months of the year. Hell for two months."

It's hard to see the light at the end of the long, hot tunnel. When the heat is so extreme and so relentless for so long, it can really affect the way you feel, and sometimes act.

Psychologist Linda Emerson says, "You're already in a bad mood; your mind is primed to be angry. Also, when you're hot you're not thinking as clearly so you're more likely to have a knee jerk reaction and go off on somebody. That can turn little disagreements into huge fights in a heartbeat."

Christina Labuen says she argues when it's hot.

"I don't sit in the front seat; I sit in the back seat because we don't get along when it's hot."

Labuen's husband says they argue about the heat.

Christina says, "He wants to go out early; I want to go out late. When we finally go he's mad because it's late already, it's too hot!

They say their conflicts are just verbal, but statistics show there's often more violence during heat waves. And while you can't always avoid it there are ways to diffuse a heat-induced confrontation. Keep in mind that you may be more upset than usual because you're hot and uncomfortable and though right now it seems like it won't ever happen, it will cool off again -- eventually.