Our brains are responsible for managing the environmental challenges we face, especially higher temperatures and humidity, for example by triggering sweating and telling us to move out of the sun and into the shade.
When those environmental conditions move rapidly into unaccustomed ranges, as is happening with extreme temperatures and humidity related to climate change, our brain struggles to regulate our temperature and begins to malfunction. Seizure control can deteriorate in epilepsy, symptoms worsen in multiple sclerosis and the incidence of stroke rises, with more stroke-related deaths. Many common and serious psychiatric conditions, such as schizophrenia, are also worsened and their hospital admission rates rise.were of people with neurological conditions.
The global scale of those with neurological and psychiatric conditions that could be adversely affected by climate change is huge. About 60 million people have epilepsy worldwide. Globally, about 55 million people have dementia, with over 60% living in low- and middle-income countries.