You enter the warm school at 7:25 am as an MLA student. You were just in the cold outside where you could see your breath. The school-issued gortex that is used for formation barely warms you up. Even if you are no longer suffering, you know you will have to be there for another 38 minutes.

The temperature is starting to get lower but it isn’t uncommon for there to be outside formation at this time of the year. What about the effect the cold has on these students? Cadets are shivering in the low temperatures, hoping that they don’t get sick. They will be trying to warm up during the beginning of the first period. Why should we risk our health for a grade?

Over the last few days, the weather has dropped to approximately 40° degrees Fahrenheit. Diseases caused by cold temperatures like hypothermia and frostbite usually take effect when the body temperature falls below 95° degrees (Prevent Hypothermia & Frostbite, 2019). The body temperature begins to drop at 50°F. While 40°F isn’t a significant drop from 50°F, it still harms the human body. The school should not risk students’ health.

Recently, studies regarding the effect of temperature on students have been released. A student’s priority is to learn and a research document made by the Australian government released last year proved that cold temperature has a worse effect on students than warm temperatures (Johnson et al, 2021). By conducting tests in both cold and warm temperatures it was found that there is a greater drop in grades when students are in cold temperatures. Students in first period won’t be as focused on learning as they are on keeping themselves warm.

That wasn’t the only research done. Another experiment done in the United Kingdom two years prior found similar results. When the temperature was 9° degrees lower than the recommended amount, 77° F, the number of mistakes increased to 44% (Simoes, 2019). The further away the room temperature is from 77°F, the more prone students and people, in general, are to making mistakes. The article says that it might be human nature, instead of focusing on work we prioritize body temperature. We may not be taking tests outside, but we will still be recovering from the cold during first period. By these findings, would students perform better if they weren’t subjected to the outside formation before the start of school?

Cold weather also has a major effect on mental health. As the temperature drops, the suicide rate rises. A temperature change, like what we are experiencing right now, usually causes seasonal affective disorder. This mental disorder is when mood changes due to the change in weather. A college professor and psychiatric nurse practitioner, Brandon Thatcher, states that “They are reporting higher incidents and more prevalence and more frequency of mental illness diagnoses and symptoms…” By having indoor formation when the weather starts getting colder, we can improve the mental health of students.

Will it be better to have indoor formation? Research shows that it can benefit us as students. We won’t have to be as afraid of getting sick. We will at least improve academically in our first period. Lastly, our mental health will improve in a warmer environment. The benefits of indoor formation are clear to see.

Works Cited

“Cold Stress – Cold Related Illnesses.” Center for Disease Control and Prevention The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), 2018. Web. https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/coldstress/coldrelatedillnesses.html

Eveson, Ashley Pun. “Winter Weather and How it is Affecting Some Utahns’ Mental Health.” The Daily Universe 2022. Web. https://universe.byu.edu/2022/01/12/winter-weather-and-mental-health-its-effects-in-utah-county/

Gavel, Doug. “When the Heat is On, Student Learning Suffers.” Harvard Kennedy School 2018. Web. https://www.hks.harvard.edu/announcements/when-heat-student-learning-suffers

“How does Cold Weather Affect Your Health?” Harvard Health Publishing 2014. Web. https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/how-does-cold-weather-affect-your-health

Johnston, David W. “Upside-Down Down-Under: Cold Temperatures Reduce Learning in Australia.” IZA – Institute of Labor Economics 2021. Web. https://docs.iza.org/dp14214.pdf

Mullins, Jamie T. “Temperature and Mental Health: Evidence from the Spectrum of Mental Health Outcomes.” National Library of Medicine 2019. Web. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31590065/

Simoes, David. “Comfort in the Classroom: How Temperature Affects Learning.” Zehnder 2019. Web. https://www.zehnder.co.uk/blogarticles/comfort-classroom-how-temperature-affects-learning