The summer heat continues to come and go in waves, and while the hot summer sun may be great if you’re out at the lake, it may tire you out or leave you feeling in a daze if you’re just trying to get through the day. The summer heat can physically affect us, but can it also have an impact on our cognitive health? That’s the question researchers recently set out to answer.
For their study, researchers put some college kids to the test. During the summer, some kids elected to stay on campus instead of returning home, and some of them lived in dorms with central air conditioning, while others did not live in a unit with AC. The average room temperature of students in the air conditioned dorms was 71 degrees, while in the non-temperature controlled rooms it was 80 degrees.
In the morning, researchers sent short tests via text message to each individual. The first test measured cognitive speed and memory, while the second test focused on attention and processing speeds. Each student took two tests a day for 12 consecutive days.
Summer Heat and Cognition
After looking at the data, researchers found some interesting correlations between room temperature and test scores.
“We found that the students who were in the non-air-conditioned buildings actually had slower reaction times: 13 percent lower performance on basic arithmetic tests, and nearly a 10 percent reduction in the number of correct responses per minute,” said Joe Allen, co-director of the Center for Climate, Health and the Global Environment at Harvard University. “I think it’s a little bit akin to the frog in the boiling water. [There’s a] slow, steady — largely imperceptible — rise in temperature, and you don’t realize it’s having an impact on you.”
The findings add to the growing body of evidence that heat can impact mental performance. A previous study back in 2006 found that employee work performance began to drop when office temperatures climbed above the mid-70s. That study found that worker productivity peaked at about 72 degrees and decreased by about 9 percent when temps exceeded the mid-80s.
Allen concluded that the findings help to highlight how greatly the heat can impact our cognitive ability.
“We all tend to think we can compensate, we can do just fine” during heat waves said Allen. “Evidence shows that the indoor temperature can have a dramatic impact on our ability to be productive and learn.”
So if you have mid-terms or finals coming up, cross your fingers and hope that it’s a cool day, or that your building has air conditioning!