Clair and Baker (2022) studied the longitudinal impacts of living in cold homes on mental health. Cold homes are a concern in the UK and have been shown to impact physical health in numerous ways, including increasing the risks of mortality. However, before Clair and Baker, there had been little research on the effects of cold homes on metal health. Their findings indicated that living in a home that was not suitably warm was associated with nearly double the odds of experiencing severe mental distress for those who had no mental distress at the beginning of the survey, and over three times the odds of severe mental distress for those previously on the borderline of severe mental distress.
These findings were similar to Chen et al. (2025), who found that a cold spell significantly impaired the mental well-being of older adults. Participants reported depression, mood disturbances, disrupted sleep patterns, and heightened social isolation.
You can find out more at:
- Clair, A., & Baker, E. (2022). Cold homes and mental health harm: Evidence from the UK Household Longitudinal Study,Social Science & Medicine, Volume 314, 115461, ISSN 0277-9536, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115461.
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Chen, J., Shi, X., & Delina, L. L. (2025). Cold spells and mental well-being: the influence of cold spells on older adults in Jinan, China. Cities & Health, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/23748834.2025.2513781
