Experts advise paying more attention to the effects of heat as an increase in a variety of social and mental health problems is linked to heat.
Aggression, domestic violence, mental health emergency presentations and hospitalisations, and problems related to behavioural and mental disorders, including self-harm, all increase with rising temperatures.
Dr Cybele Dey, a child and adolescent psychiatrist from the University of NSW and a member of Doctors for the Environment Australia, says the role of heat in exacerbating mental health issues is under-discussed considering "how widespread heat is and how many people are being impacted by it".
People's mental health is expected to deteriorate when global temperatures rise due to climate change, making heatwaves more intense, frequent, and prolonged.
Dr.Dey says it comes down to a need for the world to transition away from fossil fuels.
"That is what's driving these increases in heat, which are already baked in over the next several decades," she said.
"But we can make a difference to how much worse that gets by a rapid transition off fossil fuels, now."