IN SUMMER, ACS HELP STUDENTS FOCUS BETTER

Boston, July 11: Living in dormitories without air conditioning ( AC) during a heat wave can lower students’ ability to focus, harm their working memory and increase reaction times, a Harvard study has found.

The field study, the first to demonstrate the detrimental cognitive effects of indoor temperatures during a heat wave in a group of young healthy individuals, highlights the need for sustainable design solutions in mitigating the health impacts of extreme heat.

“Most of the research on the health effects of heat has been done in vulnerable populations, such as the elderly, creating the perception that the general population is not at risk from heat waves,” said Jose Guillermo C e d e n o - L a u r e n t , research fellow at Harvard University in the US.

“To address this, we studied healthy students living in dorms as a natural intervention during a heat wave in Boston,” said Cedeno- Laurent, lead author of the study published in the journal PLOS Medicine.