Here we tell you how to keep a cool head at UVA.
Now it’s getting really hot, up to 40 degrees. What does this do to the brain, our most important working tool?
Nothing. The brain floats well protected and isolated in its cerebrospinal fluid. Researchers have now discovered that it is always a little warmer up there than in the rest of the body, even without a heatwave. The average temperature in the brain is 38.5 degrees, in deeper brain regions it can be as high as 40.9 degrees. It also turned out that a woman’s brain is about 0.4 degrees Celsius hotter.
The reason for the heat: the brain, our organ of thought and control, has a highly active metabolism with high heat production. Even when we sleep. 20 to 25 percent of our energy is burned there, for a good cause of course.
What conclusions do we at UVA draw from this knowledge?
Keep working, even if the soup is running. But it is important to keep the rest of the body cool so that the entire system does not overheat.
Always wag your tail
A waving tool works well against heat. Grab the last pizza flyer or your colleague’s vacation postcard.
From an ergonomic and energetic point of view, a classic fan is of course best: it sits comfortably in the hand and delivers the greatest possible air movement with minimal frond effort. Hand fans have been around in our part of the world since the 16th century and in the past every lady had several (now we know why: to compensate for the 0.4 degrees!). Interesting fact: The fan was also a means of communication; women sent secret messages to their lovers using certain fan postures and gestures. Nice.
Cooling down with an advertising classic
Whether for lover’s talk or a cool head: in hot times, we give away basement workstations at the agency, plus the dogs have to share their UVA-blue bathtub with us. If that doesn’t help, we go for ice cream at an Italian restaurant. Otherwise, just think about winter. Our recommendation: this classic Deutsche Bahn advertisement. We wish you happy shivering.
