It is expected to be up to 30 degrees heat in Sweden in the coming days – and then you can expect to be a little dumber, and a little angrier. It has to do with how our bodies and our brains react to the heat, according to science journalist Izabella Rosengren. She has written a book on the subject, which is based on research.
Rosengren says that the brain prioritizes making sure that we survive when it is really hot, because it is extremely sensitive to heat.
– It also means that the brain does not really prioritize some of the other functions, such as cognitive thinking. We become slower, slower, simply stupider. It’s easier to get angry. We become uncomfortable and everything becomes much harder, she says.
See what Izabella Rosengren says about how we can think to deal with the heat, in the player above.