Heatwave anxiety can make you feel 'incredibly helpless' - here's how to manage it

Image source, Tavia Watts Image caption, Mum-of-two Tavia Watts, 36, says the heat leaves her feeling "like the world is literally ending" By Ashitha Nagesh , Senior reporter  and  Georgina Rannard , Climate reporter Published 3 minutes ago At the peak of the June heatwave, the warmest June on record in England, all Tavia Watts could think about was how hot it was in her two- and five-year-old's bedroom - above 30C in some cases. "During the heatwave, I've got a high level of anxiety all the time and I'm pretty much useless," she told the BBC. "I've had to leave bedtime when my husband reads [my kids] stories to have a little cry and to calm down, because it's just too hot in their room and I'm afraid for them." Feeling "incredibly helpless", the 36-year-old posted a short reel to her hundreds of followers on Instagram, in which she voiced her inner anxieties. To her surprise, it got more than 18,000 likes and 1,700 reposts. In the video Tavia, a stay-at-home mum living in Cheltenham, says the heat "feels like the world is literally ending", she's "terrified for [her] children's lives", and that she "wants to scream at the people not taking this seriously". This Instagram post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Instagram The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip instagram post Allow Instagram content? This article contains content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Meta’s Instagram cookie policy , external and privacy policy , external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’ . Accept and continue The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. End of instagram post Young people and women most at risk Watts is not alone. A 2022 study from the University of Bath estimates that about 4.6% of people in the UK have climate anxiety, which is recognised as a form of mental distress by professional bodies and the NHS. Young people and women are among the groups most at risk, according to a study published in 2025. "Anticipatory anxiety", related to heatwaves in particular, has become more common, say psychologists Dr Caroline Hickman from the University of Bath and Dr Emma Lawrance from the University of Oxford. "Once people have been through a traumatic event like a flood or a heatwave, they anticipate the next one," Hickman, who offers therapy to individuals experiencing climate anxiety, told the BBC. In the UK, "now we're getting the repeat, repeat, repeat [heatwaves]. It triggers that sense that 'I can't be safe in the world, and the world can't be trusted'," she added. In June's heatwave, Hickman said she "had people saying they're going to kill themselves, I've had people saying they're going to terminate pregnancies, I've had people saying that they want to sell their houses and