A new study by Harvard University, researchers found that extreme heat makes it harder to think! The study was published in the July 10 2018 edition of PLOS Medicine as part of a special issue on climate change and health.

In the study, researchers tracked 44 students living in college dorm rooms during the summer of 2016. About half of the students lived in air-conditioned buildings, while the rest lived without AC.

Over 12 days -- including a five-day heat wave -- students took two tests each morning just after waking up. One test measured students' cognition and their ability to focus. The second test measured how quickly students processed and memorized information.

The findings showed that during the heat wave, students who lived in the heat performed significantly worse than those who lived in air-conditioned dorms.

The overheated students experienced decreased test scores across five measures, including reaction times and memory. Students in air-conditioned rooms were not just faster, but also more accurate.