This article is part of our monthly Mental Health & Climate Change series about how extreme weather and other climate impacts affect our psychological well-being—and ways we can cope.
“When we think about the health impacts of climate change, we often think of our lungs, our hearts, or the spread of infectious diseases. Rarely do we think about the organ that allows us to learn, remember, create, care for one another, and adapt to an uncertain future: the brain,” writes Burcin Ikiz, PhD, in the foreword to the new, landmark report, The Impact of Climate and Environmental Change on Brain Health.
Whether we’re aware of it or not, our brains are profoundly impacted by the environmental conditions around us. After being outside on an especially hot day, we’re more sluggish and irritable. If we don’t have access to air-conditioned indoor spaces, hotter days make it more difficult to focus and learn. When wildfires erode air quality year after year, we may experience anxiety and depression—because of both worry and the direct impact of smoke particles on our brains. Babies born to mothers pregnant during frightening storms may be at higher risk of neurodevelopmental harms that unfold for years. After Hurricane Sandy, researchers found that babies whose mothers had been directly impacted by the storm gave birth to children at higher risk of behavioral and mental health problems in preschool.
Tell Congress: The Climate Clock Is Ticking. Act Now for Our Kids’ Future.
The new report from the Neuro Climate Working Group, an international coalition of scientists, clinicians, and public health and policy experts, makes the case that we need to pay much more attention to brain health in a changing climate. It describes how climate change impacts our brains, who’s most at risk of harm, and what we can do about it. According to the report, environmental changes influence brain health through six primary forms of exposure:
- Extreme heat makes it harder for us to think and sleep, which can disrupt everyday quality of life and worsen other illnesses. Hotter temperatures can exacerbate symptoms of existing neurological and mental health disorders (such as dementia, epilepsy, and schizophrenia) and increase the risk of poor mental health outcomes, including depression, anxiety, and suicide. Prenatal and early childhood exposure to extreme heat may even impair brain development.
- Extreme weather events, such as climate-intensified hurricanes or wildfires, affect brain health through injury, trauma, and displacement. Climate disasters can disrupt access to essential healthcare services and medications, including care for mental health and neurological conditions. The aftermath of extreme weather events can linger for months and even years, leading to chronic stress and long-term neurological and psychological consequences, including depression, anxiety, and PTSD. For people with pre-existing mental health conditions, exposure to climate disasters can make symptoms worse.
- Air pollution, such as the tiny particles found in wildfire smoke and pollutants emitted when fossil fuels are burned for energy, contributes to an alarming range of poor brain health outcomes. Prenatal and early childhood exposure to unhealthy air has been linked to disrupted brain development and a higher risk of mental challenges later in life. Air pollution raises the risk of stroke and contributes to cognitive decline and dementia: recent research suggests that up to 1 in 4 dementia deaths can be attributed to air pollution.
- Food insecurity and malnutrition are increasingly exacerbated by weather extremes that make it more difficult to grow and access healthy food. And when people cannot access enough of the essential nutrients needed for health, their ability to think, learn, and thrive is impaired. Food insecurity and malnutrition are especially dangerous in the critical window of pregnancy and early childhood, when the brain is developing most quickly.
- Water and soil contamination increase exposure to brain-harming toxic contaminants that affect neurological development and function. For example, warmer temperatures can increase pests in agriculture, leading farmers to use more pesticides on their crops—and when it floods, these chemicals can contaminate floodwaters, flow into streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans, and permeate soils. Exposure to pesticides during childhood is associated with higher risk of mental health conditions like anxiety, depression, and mood disorders.
- Vector-borne diseases are becoming more common as warmer temperatures increase the habitable range for insects that carry viruses and bacteria that cause disease. For example, Lyme disease (caused by bacteria carried by ticks) and Chikungunya (a virus transmitted by certain mosquitoes) can trigger acute and chronic neurological complications.
The weight of these impacts, the report details, is not distributed fairly. Pregnant people, babies and children, older adults, people living with disabilities, people with existing mental health or neurological conditions, economically disadvantaged communities, and communities of color all face disproportionate risk from the hazards listed above. Those who are particularly geographically vulnerable to climate risks—including many Indigenous communities, coastal communities, and much of the Global South—will also experience greater threats to brain health as climate change intensifies.
My own family is particularly attuned to the intersection between brain health and environmental exposures. One of my children lives with a complex neuroimmune illness, and the idea that climate change is creating a world where more families will struggle with the impact of illnesses that impair brain health frightens me, to say the least.
But I’m drawing hope from the fact that initiatives like the Neuro Climate Working Group are making inroads in putting brain health on the map of climate action and climate policy. Their new report offers guidance for researchers, policymakers, clinicians, educators, communities, and everyday people on how to better respond to the growing threats to our brains.
What can we do as individuals? Spreading awareness about risks to brain health and ways to keep our families and communities safe is key. We can advocate for brain-friendly climate adaptations, like built environments that promote healthy temperatures and air quality. Just as importantly, we can push for climate policy that holds polluters and government leaders accountable for addressing climate change by reducing greenhouse gas pollution.
A healthy future requires healthy brains—let’s put our minds together to make that happen.
Tell Congress: The Climate Clock Is Ticking. Act Now for Our Kids’ Future.