Extreme heat and physical and mental health: A qualitative study with low-income women in South Texas

Heat waves in the US are becoming more frequent, longer, and more intense due to climate change. South Texas is especially vulnerable because it is experiencing the highest increases in heat "danger days" nationally and has a high number of residents living in unincorporated neighborhoods known as colonias, which often lack basic infrastructure. The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore how extreme heat affects the physical and mental health of Latina women who live in South Texas colonias. Focus groups with 18 women ages 20-70 revealed a cycle of physical and mental health consequences of extreme heat in which heat-related physical stress and exhaustion were followed by a sense of despair, worry, and anxiety. Participants described inadequate infrastructure within their homes and in their neighborhoods to tolerate heat, leading them to avoid being outdoors during daytime but still enduring heat in homes without proper cooling options. Being indoors also contributed to sedentarism, which participants linked to greater risk for developing medical conditions such as diabetes and heart disease. Women with depression were at further risk of isolation when outdoor time was reduced. Implications for the built and natural environment in low-resource neighborhoods, as well as for research on the physical and mental health impacts of extreme heat, are explained.