Experts: Soaring temp affects human behaviour

Ranchi: Two youths on a bike got into a brawl with petrol pump staff near Karamtoli on Wednesday noon after they jumped the queue, demanding that the employees should fill the fuel in their vehicle first. In another incident, two bikers argued for overtaking each other, leading to traffic snarls on Tuesday afternoon. Jumping traffic lights in the sweltering heat has become a regular sight. With rising temperature, soaring tempers on the streets leading to road rage and traffic violations are becoming common, giving a tough time to the traffic police personnel.
Mental health experts have attributed such phenomenon to temperature-induced stress. Speaking to TOI, Dr Basudeb Das, the director of the Central Institute of Psychiatry (CIP), said they are also seeing a rise in the number of patients at their OPDs with temperature (heat)-related stress. “Temperature has a direct influence on the way humans behave and hence, patient inflow goes up during Summer, mostly May to June. The unruly behaviour on the streets in which one tends to be highly aggressive and exhibits violent behaviour, most of which are unprovoked, is called ‘maniac excitement’,” he stated.
Another psychiatrist, Dr Siddharth Sinha, termed such behaviour as seasonal affective disorder (SAD). “Our city experiences dramatic weather changes at short intervals. Such radical change in temperature has direct correlation with change in human mood,” he said, adding that adequate sleep and relaxation therapy, such as listening to music, helps to calm frayed nerves and tackle aggression at the individual level .
Historically, SAD is usually associated with people living in colder countries, where sunlight is not visible for months. “However, the trend is on an upward swing in countries like India, taking a toll on one’s mental health,” he said.