Heatwave and Mental Health (Credit-Freepik)
The heat waves are rising all over the world and causing a lot of damage. While there are issues of dehydration and heat strokes, studies are suggesting that it might also be responsible for declining mental health, the heat among other things is not only affecting the physicality of human beings but is also having adverse mental health.
Emotional distress: The heat can trigger mood swings, making you feel irritable, anxious, depressed, or even aggressive. You may not be able to predict your reaction, you may be good one moment and then any minor inconvenience will make you angry or sad. Heat often triggers that helplessness in people.
Scattered Focus: Concentrating on tasks becomes a struggle when it's hot. Simple things feel overwhelming, and staying focused is a challenge. While you may be in the zone working on completing something, the heat and sweating will disrupt your flow and then you will not be able to focus on anything other than the heat.
Sleepless Nights: High temperatures, especially at night, disrupt your sleep. This lack of rest can leave you feeling tired, and grumpy, and worsen existing mental health issues. All humans require a comfortable temperature to sleep in, if your body is too wound up or heated up, it will not be able to relax and sleep.
Feeling the Pressure: The heat can pile on stress and make you feel overwhelmed. Concerns about the heat itself or its impact on other aspects of your life can contribute to this feeling. You will feel overwhelmed and unable to work on anything else. The heat makes you feel a certain helplessness, as you cannot stop the sun or turn down the heat.
Body Blues: The heat can cause physical symptoms that affect your mental well-being. Headaches, fatigue, dizziness, and nausea can all contribute to anxiety and low mood. When your body is already fatigued, the urge to do anything else disappears. Your body is drained of energy to function at all and will seek rest and sleep.
Behavioural Shifts: The heat can influence your behaviour. You might act impulsively or have difficulty managing anger. It's like the heat turns up your emotional thermostat. When your body and brain are overheating, it is difficult to think straight and you will grasp at straws to release this energy and pressure off of you.
Some other side effects of the heat are.
Credit: Canva
A Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare has raised serious concerns about growing doctor burnout, especially among junior and senior resident doctors, and warned that it is now affecting both doctor well-being and patient safety. Noting that overworked doctors are a risk for patient safety, the panel said that fatigue-driven errors and burnout could compromise care.
To tackle this, the committee recommended that the government introduce and strictly enforce a formal “Clinical Duty Hours Regulation” policy. This should mandate fixed rest periods and monitored duty rosters, with oversight mechanisms to prevent violations, stated the panel in its 172nd report presented before the Parliament.
The recommendation comes amid growing concern over long, unregulated shifts in teaching hospitals, where residents often work extended hours with limited rest.
The panel warned that such conditions not only increase the likelihood of clinical mistakes but also contribute to burnout and mental health stress among young doctors.
The Panel noted that due to persistent human resource shortages, the working hours of junior and senior residents doctors often stretch from 24 to 36 hours. This increases risk of clinical errors and burnout, thereby compromising patient safety. Thus it recommended a mandatory working-hour regulatory framework:
However, it noted the contractual engagement must not substitute regular appointments, as excessive reliance on contractual staff may dilute institutional accountability and continuity.
Instead, the panel has recommended adopting a "Total Support model for medical professionals" to attract and retain qualified doctors and specialists in the public health system.
Also read:India Must Integrate Technology To Build Preventive, Holistic Healthcare: Experts
The policy calls to:
Also read: Doctors Share Preventable Risk Factors That Can Land You in the Emergency Ward
Burnout is distinct from depression, which influences every aspect of life and often involves persistent thoughts of hopelessness or worthlessness. Burnout typically involves limited manifestations to the work environment, although its impact can resonate into other areas.
Symptoms of Burnout
1. Exhaustion: Prolonged mental and physical depletion of your energy levels.
2. Depersonalization: Cynicism and lack of concern creep into relationships and communication.
3 Reduced Personal Achievement: Your work loses worth, and you may feel you are not up to standards, giving in to frustration and reduced originality.
These signs frequently coincide with physical signs (headaches, muscle pain, sleeplessness), emotional signs (self-doubt, loneliness, unhappiness), and behavioral signs (social withdrawal, outbursts of anger, abandonment of obligations).
Credit: Joe Thompson/Instagram
Continuing the legacy of football legend Joe Thompson, his wife Chantelle revealed she is pregnant with his baby after IVF treatment using frozen embryos.
Joe Thompson died in 2025 after developing cancer for a third time - beating the illness twice.
But after the former Manchester United star was diagnosed with Hodgkin Lymphoma for a third time, which had spread to his lungs, he died aged 36.
"It just means absolutely everything. I know it's never going to replace Joe obviously. Joe's Joe. But to be able to bring his baby into the world again is beautiful," Chantelle said.
She said Joe had two visions of their family with a baby boy before he died, and he even gave her the name for the baby boy he predicted, and she got pregnant on her first attempt of IVF after he had died.
Egg freezing, also known as oocyte cryopreservation, is an option that has gained significant traction in recent years. It offers women the ability to pause their biological clock and preserve the possibility of having children in the future.
Egg freezing takes a woman's unfertilized eggs from her ovaries and stores them at sub-zero temperatures to be utilized later. It is made to enable women to keep their fertility intact, especially if they are not yet ready to have a baby.
Dr. Pavithra M, Obstetrician, Gynecologist, and Infertility Specialist, told HealthandMe that the workup begins with hormone workup and evaluation of various parameters, such as age, body mass index (BMI), and ovarian reserve.
"On the second day of the menstrual cycle, baseline ultrasound scanning is performed to assess the number of follicles; thereafter, various tests of blood are conducted to assess hormone levels. If a woman's parameters are all normal, then she is administered hormonal injections for about 10-12 days."

It causes ovarian hyperstimulation and multiple mature eggs, monitored through ultrasound scans. A trigger shot is administered once the follicles have reached optimal size to help with final egg maturation. It takes 34-35 hours from the trigger shot, wherein eggs are retrieved by minimally invasive procedures under general anesthesia.
"Using a transvaginal ultrasound probe with a needle, each follicle is punctured, and the follicular fluid is aspirated. The retrieved eggs are then screened for quality before undergoing vitrification—a rapid freezing technique that minimizes ice crystal formation and cellular damage," Dr. Pavithra added. The eggs are then stored in liquid nitrogen tanks for long-term preservation.
While egg freezing is possible at various stages of life, experts recommend doing it at an optimal age -- in the late 20s or early 30s when the eggs are of higher quality-- for better outcomes.
Credit: annabellegurwitch.com
Annabelle Gurwitch, an American author, actress, and television host, has opened up about her lung cancer diagnosis in her new memoir.
In her sixth book, ‘The End of My Life Is Killing Me’, Annabelle Gurwitch offers a satirical take on her journey with stage 4 lung cancer. The best-selling author found out about her cancer status in 2020, when she went for a COVID-19 test.
In the book, Annabelle Gurwitch writes about her life as a "cancer slacker", her divorce, treatment with a targeted therapy that turns off the gene that has gone rogue, radiation, and chemotherapy, all with a humorous take.
Notably, the American actress had no symptoms and was not a smoker. She went to get her “persistent little cough” tested for COVID, when a doctor told her that there was something suspicious on her lungs.
Soon after, an X-ray and a biopsy confirmed her diagnosis of stage 4 cancer.
Annabelle Gurwitch called lung cancer a “stealthy disease" as, other than her little cough, she exercised every day and felt like she was in really good health.
“You know, you can be asymptomatic with Stage 4 lung cancer because lung cancer is a really stealthy disease, and this is why it's such a big killer, still the No. 1 cause of cancer deaths, because some lung cancers, like the one I have, are not recognized by the immune system," Annabelle Gurwitch told NPR.
"So my body didn't know that it was - anything was happening, which is, I mean, I was going to regular doctor's appointments. And this is why it's often diagnosed at a late stage, and such a big killer because it's not diagnosed at an earlier stage,” she added.
Also read: Early-Stage Lung Cancer Surgery Safe, Effective Even After 80, Reveals Lancet Study
Contrary to long-held assumptions, a significant proportion of lung cancer cases now occur in people with no history of smoking. The American Cancer Society reports that approximately 10-20 percent of lung cancers in the U.S are found in non-smokers, often attributed to genetic mutations like EGFR, environmental exposures, or radon gas.
These cases are more common in women, younger adults, and individuals of East Asian descent, but they can affect anyone.
Also read: New AIIMS Study To Probe How PM2.5 Is Surging Lung Cancer Risk In India
Early Signs and Symptoms to Look Out For
Lung cancer symptoms can mimic less serious conditions, which is why they’re often dismissed or misdiagnosed. If you experience the following symptoms persistently, don’t ignore them—regardless of your age or smoking history:
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