Summertime selfishness isn’t imaginary

Q: Summer is a beautiful time, but I feel like people get more testy in hot weather. Is there anything to this? — Charlene A., Springfield, Illinois

A: A recent study confirms that people are less likely to feel kindly toward others when they’re hot.

Researchers did three experiments.

■ One experiment found that retail employees in an uncomfortably warm store were 50 percent less likely to do helpful things for customers.

■ A second experiment paid people to take an online survey, but first they had half of them imagine a time they were uncomfortably hot. After the paid survey ended, a full 76 percent of people who had not imagined being hot were willing to take an extra survey, but only 34 percent of those who’d thought about being overheated were willing.

■ In their last experiment, the authors found that 95 percent of college students in a cool room agreed to fill out a survey to benefit a local nonprofit, compared to 65 percent of those in a room heated to 80 degrees.

The researchers think that heat makes people more tired, and therefore less motivated to help others.

Q: My son’s soccer coach is having them do vision drills. Does this stuff really make sense for a sports team? — Quentin H., Napa, California

A: If done right, vision training is a smart move. To use it effectively , your son’s coach should consult with a sports vision specialist so that each team member can be given vision tests.

The tests can assess visual acuity, eye tracking, eye alignment and dominance, depth perception, processing speed and eye-hand coordination. That allows the eye doctor and coach to determine if an athlete needs targeted vision training to improve skills such as anticipating the trajectory of a bouncing ball or quickly changing focus from near to far objects.

You see visual superiority in the NBA . When Steph Curry brings the ball up court, he looks like he’s staring into space, but he sees everything through acute peripheral vision; plus he has sharp depth perception and hand-eye coordination.

In any sport, visual exercises can improve performance. But it’s also essential to make sure eyes are protected. As chair of the medical advisory committee of The United States Squash Racquets Association, Dr. Mike showed the USSRA Board pictures of eye injuries until they mandated protective goggles for squash matches.

Email questions for Mehmet Oz and Mike Roizen to youdocsdaily@sharecare. com.