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Wednesday, July 11, 2018 –
11:57am
Hot weather really does fry our brains, a new study has
confirmed.
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Researchers at Harvard University found that people who
were exposed to hotter temperatures “did significantly less well”
in cognitive and memory retention tests than people in
air-conditioned environments.
The research, published in the journal Plos Medicine, focused on 44 students at a
Boston university. Half of the subjects had been assigned to dorm
accommodation with air conditioning, while the other half
lived in halls without it.
“They were followed before, during and after a five-day
heatwave, when the indoor temperatures exceeded 26C without air
conditioning,” The Times reports.
“The students performed two cognition tests, measuring
processing speed and working
memory – and when the temperature rose, the scores of those in the
hotter accommodation dropped by about 13% compared with their
air-conditioned peers,” the newspaper continues.
Memo Cedeno, from Harvard Chan School of Public Health, said the
research shows that “even strong and healthy people” suffer
impaired intelligence in the heat. “We see news pieces on
heatwaves and mortality in older people, but the rest of us feel
immune,” he noted.
The reality, that all types of people are affected mentally,
“could be because of loss of bodily fluids”, Cedeno added,
or because the brain is working harder maintaining
critical functions such as thermoregulation.
The researchers have “recommended the roll-out of sustainable
air conditioning systems wherever possible”, reports The Independent.
However, Professor Max Headley, a physiologist at the University
of Bristol, suggests that the study has made “a mountain out of a
molehill”. Scientists were already aware of the mental impact
of tiredness and thirst, which are the likely factors at play in
the Harvard research, he argues.
“To my mind, the observations can be readily explained by simple
physiological factors that are entirely predictable. I can’t see
that it’s anything to get excited about,” Headley said.
Brain Medicince
heatwave Weather
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