How being cold could affect your mental health this winter

There are real concerns about how many people will be able to adequately heat their homes and get enough to eat this winter. Winter in the UK already triggers excess deaths, more than there should be, given that Britain doesn’t have the coldest climate.

The impact that cold weather has on physical health is obvious. But what is less well known is the effect colder temperatures have on mental health. We are beginning to understand much more about the relationship between our physical and mental health, rather than considering these as completely separate entities.

New research highlights something that hasn’t, up to now, been well understood or given much attention – the impact of cold on mental health. Researchers tracked a group of people for several years to investigate the impact of colder temperatures on their mental health. Not only did they find that living in a colder home adversely affects mental health, but they also identified factors that contributed to this.

For example, the stress of not being able to heat a room or house sufficiently creates not only a financial strain, but a psychological one. And that’s not all. It also generates a sense of being out of control or of being inadequate. There are feelings of lost autonomy, or if you have a family, of failing to provide for their most basic needs.

Other behaviours were observed such as limiting socialising by not inviting others to your home or going to bed early just to keep warm. Both actions limit social interaction which, over time, can have a significant impact on the individual and on the social contacts they have.

Taking into account all these aspects, the researchers found that for people who did not have any prior mental health problems, their risk of developing severe mental distress doubled when exposed to a cold environment for a sustained period. For those who had existing mental health problems, the risk of severe psychological distress tripled.

As with so many other aspects of ill health, the experience of cold housing is not felt equally in our society. There are groups who face an elevated risk of developing severe mental health problems triggered by living in cold environments. Single parents, Black people and those currently unemployed are particularly vulnerable.

To keep up to speed with all the latest opinions and comment, sign up to our free weekly Voices Dispatches newsletter by clicking here

What makes this situation particularly frustrating is the solution is not complex. We don’t need more research or another government review. The answers are well-established: improved insulation, better and fairer access to energy deals, greater financial support and housing stock that is fit for human habitation. This, of course, all costs money – but so does human misery.

The idea that it is only those who have severe mental health problems who pay the price is a fallacy. Mental health – or to be more accurate, mental illness – costs everyone in society, whether that be through lost productivity or increased use of health resources.

But we shouldn’t need to reduce everything down to economics in order to bring about change. Knowing that some people are suffering unnecessarily should be enough to act.

Sadly, that isn’t the case in Britain, so we can expect not only more excess deaths this winter, but considerable psychological distress accompanying them – which we have the wherewithal to prevent, but insufficient compassion to act.

Ian Hamilton is a senior lecturer in addiction and mental health at the University of York