In May, a study evaluating climate change’s impact on neurological disorders was released. The study was run by Professor Sisodiya of University College of London and founding member of Epilepsy Climate Change. Her team reviewed 332 papers focused on 19 different nervous system conditions, including epilepsy published between 1968 and 2023. They found “clear evidence” of climate change’s impact on brain conditions.
I was reading Rough Sleepers when I discovered the study, Tracy Kidder’s recent NY Times best seller about Dr. Jim O’Connell. In 1985, Dr. O’Connell established and directed Boston’s Healthcare for the Homeless, whose mission is medically treating the homeless community. As part of his book research, Mr. Kidder accompanied Dr. O’Connell’s team as they drove through downtown Boston’s streets seeking out homeless people in need of healthcare. Mr. Kidder also wrote about his visits to Boston’s Pine Street Inn, which provides overnight shelter and beds for single men and women. Discovering Dr. Sisodiya’s study while reading Rough Sleepers emphasized the additional challenges homeless people face due to extreme weather conditions, especially those with neurological disorders.
While my book Seizing Control isn’t a bestseller, I still have a couple of things in common with author, Tracy Kidder. I was a Housing Advocate at Action for Boston Community Development for 12 years, beginning in 1989. In this role, I too visited Pine Street Inn, and other Boston shelters on a weekly basis where I advised the residents about how to obtain subsidized housing. I reviewed their applications, accompanied them to appointments at housing authorities and filed appeals, if they were denied housing unfairly. The homeless people Mr. Kidder described sounded familiar. Although he wasn’t describing my specific former clients, the book’s characters had similar backgrounds. They were often battling drug or alcohol addiction, while managing health conditions. In addition to Pine Street Inn, I recognized many of the supportive institutions Mr. Kidder referenced, as I also sent my former clients there.
Another commonality between myself and Mr. Kidder is that we both thank my neurologist in our books’ acknowledgements. I used a pseudonym (Dr. E), but Tracy Kidder acknowledged her directly. I always read a book’s acknowledgement section first, as it sometimes provides author insights that are useful to recall while reading the book. When I saw Dr. E’s name in the acknowledgements, I thought Mr. Kidder’s book would include details about a homeless person with epilepsy, as she is an epileptologist. Although the book mentioned multiple neurological conditions, including seizures, it didn’t delve deeply into epilepsy’s challenges. But when I read about Dr. Sisodiya’s study, I immediately thought of the homeless people with epilepsy.
It is well documented that climate change negatively impacts everyone’s health. Warmer temperatures and shifting weather patterns can decrease air quality, leading to asthma attacks and other respiratory and cardiovascular challenges. Exposure to extreme heat can lead to heat stroke and dehydration, as well as cerebrovascular disease. For those with epilepsy, extreme heat can be a seizure-trigger, so just being outside on extremely hot days can make them more seizure prone. Lack of sleep also causes seizures. People sleeping on the streets in optimal weather conditions often get poor sleep, even more likely in extreme weather conditions.
Dr. Sisodiya’s study acknowledges that it will be years before climate change is significantly mitigated, and suggests that in the meantime, practitioners provide information about the impacts of temperature extremes and adverse weather events on brain health. Connecting these and advising patients with neurological conditions to avoid extreme temperatures are important mitigating steps. I’m grateful Dr. Sisodiya and her colleagues are promoting them. As a former housing advocate who used to have uncontrollable seizures, when I imagine being homeless with epilepsy in today’s world, I see one more important reason to tackle climate change immediately.
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