It is hot and humid. Students are sweaty and students are tired. It is the beginning of the new school year and temperatures are soaring above the 90’s.

In the final month of the summer season, students and faculty must battle this heat. With heat, comes distraction. This blistering heat during the school day can have a major effect on students’ abilities to learn and work.[su_pullquote align=”right”]

“All I can think about is cooling down.”[/su_pullquote]

As the temperature rises, the first thing that is affected is how one feels, which leads to performance problems. In the confines of a hot school, with very limited air conditioning, there are different indications of how the heat is affecting the body. You feel tired. You are grouchy. You are having a harder time concentrating. These difficulties come as your body tries to combat the heat and maintain a normal temperature.

“It is definitely harder to concentrate because as the day goes by and the rooms get hotter, all I can think about is cooling down,” admits Woodland junior, Olivia Rua. “It makes me not want to be at school learning.”

Besides the most noticeable problems, the heat can also lead to health complications. Therefore, it is extremely important on hot days to take measures to beat the heat in and out of school. Some of these measures include: wearing light colored, loose clothing, drinking a lot of water, and eating meals throughout the day.

With the lasting memory of relaxing beach days and temperatures exceeding those of summer vacation, it may become difficult for some students to concentrate at this time of the year.

But, if measures are taken to combat health and concentration problems, the heat will soon be behind us and we will be on to our next worry- the snow.