Table 1.

Summary of the Impacts of Climate Change on Health Behaviors.

	Eating behaviors and the food system	Physical activity and sedentary behaviors	Sleep	Substance use	Preventive care	Water consumption
Rising temperatures	Negative impact on crop yields and the nutritional quality of vegetables and legumes [13]; Could be dramatic in places where dietary diversity is low [14]; Increase food insecurity globally, since even the wealthiest nations often rely extensively on food imports [15]; Impact individual behaviors through food availability and prices [16]	Associations non-linear with tipping point (i.e., sharp decrease) around ~30°C, depending on other local factors, such as humidity [17–20]; Simulation studies suggest an overall negative impact on physical activity participation [21,22]; Particular threat for outdoor workers with productivity declining at 20°C [23,24]	Amplify sleep disturbances and obstructive sleep apnea, particularly in elderly, low-income populations and other vulnerable groups [25]; Nighttime temperatures registering above 25°C reduce individual sleep duration by over 7 min compared with 5–10°C [26]	Few studies available and mixed findings depending on the geographical context; Effects on alcohol potentially mediated by prolonged daylight [27–29]	Effects mediated by extreme weather events; see below	Effects mediated by rising sea level; see below
Extreme events	Harm agricultural production and threaten food supply-chain [30] and ultimately food prices [16]; Might be associated with unhealthy eating behaviors through mental health issues such as post-traumatic-stress-disorders [31]	Direct negative effect through the deterioration of sport and physical activity facilities as well as bike paths and pedestrian walkways [17, 32, 33]; Indirect negative effect through acute stress disorders [34]	Negative impact on sleep that can be mediated by mental health issues such as greater post-disaster states of fear or anxiety [25, 35–39]	Increase in alcohol use was observed after hurricanes [40–42]; We did not found significant associations with smoking [41, 43]; Effects moderated by history of traumatic experiences, gender and spirituality [44]	Negative impact on medication adherence, and preventive care via health systems breakdown [45,46]	Can disrupt and contaminate water supplies (e.g., via damaged drinking water wells), thus impacting fresh water accessibility and consumption [47]
Air pollution	Can accumulate in the food chain and potentially reduces worker productivity in the food sector [48]; Might also be associated to unhealthy food choices via neuro-biological mechanisms, such as neuro-inflammation and self-regulation [49]	Negatively associated with leisure physical activity and active transportation, and positively with sedentary behaviors, with pronounced effects among participants with respiratory conditions [17]; Negative impact of air pollution from wildfires on physical activity in children and adults [50–52]	Potentially associated with higher sleep disturbances such as snoring, sleep initiation and maintenance and sleep apnea [53–55]	Few studies available; Greater air pollution concentration was associated with a significant increase in emergency department visits for substance abuse during the following days [55] but this effect has not been replicated in a second study [56]	Potential association not mentioned in the present review	Potential association not mentioned in the present review
Rising sea level	Salt water intrusion into ground water supplies negatively impacts crops yields and food nutritional quality [57–59]; Daily sodium consumption of 5.2–16.4 g has been found in low-lying coastal countries, while the daily recommended dose is around 2 g [60,61]	Can negatively interact with extreme weather events and strengthen their direct negative effects on physical activity infrastructures	Living in a zone threatened by rising sea level can be associated with mental-health-mediated sleep issues [62]	Potential association not mentioned in the present review	Negative impact on preventive care (e.g., toilets or latrines use) has been observed because of forced-relocations [62]	Salt water intrusion threatens access to safe drinking water and increase individual’s sodium consumption

Note. A more detailed discussion of the issues in this article can be found in a preprint available at https://osf.io/pb8vc/.