When Heat Breaks Your Already-Overloaded Brain (13% Slower Reaction Time Is Real)

Ever notice your brain just stops working when it's blazing hot outside? You're not imagining it. Research shows that at 90 degrees, your reaction time slows by 13% and your brain's ability to process information drops significantly. For those of us already juggling overloaded lives, heat can turn our minds to complete mush.

In this episode of Human First AI, host Claire shares her personal breakthrough moment - sitting in her sweltering, non-air conditioned studio, staring at piles of chaos and feeling completely paralyzed. Instead of forcing another to-do list, she discovered how to use AI as a "visual thinking partner" to cut through the overwhelm.

You'll learn:

• Why heat literally impairs the same brain functions many of us already struggle with
• The "chaos photography" method: documenting your overwhelm without judgment
• How to upload photos to ChatGPT and ask the right questions to identify patterns you can't see
• Why adding your Enneagram type creates game-changing personalized strategies
• How to distinguish between urgent tasks and visual noise that's just adding to stress

This isn't about having AI solve everything for you - it's about building your own understanding and developing better patterns for how your brain works under stress. Perfect for anyone who thinks in pictures rather than lists, or feels completely stuck when the temperature rises.

Because sometimes you need a smarter mirror to show you what you can't see in the moment.

Human First AI drops every two weeks with practical solutions for real everyday problems - because AI should support what makes us beautifully human.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Have you ever noticed thatwhen it's blazing hot outside,
your brain just stops working?
You stare at your summerto-do list and suddenly can't
remember how to think at all?
Well, I have some news researchshows that heat literally impairs
the same brain functions thatmany brains already struggle with.
So what you're feeling isnot a sense of weakness.

(00:22):
It's your brain protecting itselffrom more cognitive overload.
And today.
We are going to make senseof this messy hot brain.
I'm Claire Vve, the host.
This is Human First ai, the podcastwhere we tackle real everyday
problems with practical AI tools anda human heart behind every solution.

(00:45):
so last week I'm sitting in mynon-air conditioning studio.
It's already a million degreesand I'm staring at a jumble eye of
sheets, random to-do lists, unfoldedlaundry calendars with scribbles.
My brain felt like it could breatheand the prayer paralysis is real.
Why is this so hard?
At 90 degrees, your reaction timeactually starts to slow by 13%,

(01:10):
and your brain's ability to processinformation drops significantly.
That's insane.
No one talks about that.
So for those of us already with overloadedbrains, and then it's hot and your
brain is now already challenged enoughand it's going into a complete mush.

(01:30):
And I realized when I was going throughthis struggle last week and why everything
felt so hard to do is that I realizedthat why AI has been so brilliant,
because it's allowing me to have a visualthinking partner when the traditional
planning of looking at everything andorganizing it is just not working.

(01:52):
But this is the thing.
It's not really about just thesummer planning and the heat.
The real problem is that we'reexpecting our brains to perform.
When you're actually impaired, when theheat gets over to 90 degrees, you're
working overtime just to keep cool, andthen as a result, there's less bandwidth.

(02:12):
So imagine that you're alreadyoverwhelmed and then it's hot out.
This is where I love technologyand where it can support what the
research is already showing us.
So I used AI to help me understandmy visual overwhelmed patterns,
but I had to do the thinking myselfand just let AI kind of create some

(02:33):
scaffolding and infrastructure thatI could build my own system within.
So if your brain feels heatfried, you feel overwhelmed.
And you think in pictures,maybe not always lists.
Take a picture of everything.
That's what I did.
The pile of forms, the scatteredlists, my toddler outgrown summer

(02:54):
clothes on the floor, the clutteredcar wear list go to die, you name it.
I then uploaded these chaos photosto chat CPT and just ask it to
analyze the visual overwhelm.
Not to solve everything for me, butjust to help me see patterns in.
Essentially what I couldn't see, orI just needed a plan to simplify it.

(03:18):
This is what I wrote.
I'm looking at thesephotos of my summer chaos.
My brain feels completely fried.
I can't think straight.
Help me identify what needs immediateattention versus what can actually wait.
Don't gimme, another to-dolist, but help me understand
what I'm actually looking at.
And then a plan.
And for those of you that have doneyour Enneagram tests, I add after

(03:42):
saying, Hey, I am an eight withseven one, please come up with a
plan for my specific personality.
Game changer.
If you haven't done that,this has complete lead.
Change everything, especiallywhen you have things on your
computer, things on pieces ofpaper, there's different mediums.
It's all over the place and youjust need it all in one spot.

(04:03):
The AI.
Could see that I had a bunch of schedulesand lists and things stuck to things
I didn't notice that my planning wasscattered against all different things
from phones, notes, computer, and I justgot it to use it as a visual interpreter
So.

(04:24):
If you are feeling this way, youkind of just staring at a blank
page, or you look at your messand you don't know where to start.
That's okay.
That is so crippling sometimes,especially if it's hot out.
So the first thing is document your chaoswithout giving yourself a hard time.
Your brain feels like it's melting.

(04:45):
Photograph everything overwhelming.
You counters, car seats, computerscreens, piles of papers.
Get it all into one spot.
It's like the brain dumpof the life around you.
Second, upload five, sixphotos to chat GT and ask.
My brain is completely heat fried.
I'm overwhelmed.
I don't know where to start.

(05:06):
Looking at these photos ofall the spaces that I need,
organize and come up with a plan.
What patterns do you notice first?
What seems urgent versus mental clutter,at least getting you started there helps.
And then lastly, once we went backand forth, I said, can you group these

(05:26):
by urgency and show me what needsattention this week versus what's
just adding to more visual noise?
You're building your ownunderstanding and not getting orders.
The more I've been able to do this,more I've learned about myself.
And now eventually I don'tneed AI to be sorting at all.
I'm starting to see patterns inmy own behavior that I didn't see.
And sometimes it's just nice tohave, you know, a smarter mirror

(05:49):
to kind of give you those patterns.
You're developing different patternsfor yourself that, you know,
sometimes you can't see right away.
The struggle is real.
And it's okay.
Going through the process offiguring out how your brain works
under stress is honestly makingyou so much more resourceful.
And it's a very exciting chapterto recognize how you work best.

(06:13):
you're learning to adapt,to use tools creatively.
And that's what this wholehuman first AI is all about.
So those are human skills that noamount of technology can ever replace.
Experiment with this.
The next time you feel overwhelmedor a little heat fried, or you feel
like your brain's melting like mindeddid last week, instead of forcing
yourself to make another to-dolist, take photos of your chaos.

(06:37):
Start with just one area and see whatpatterns emerge with when you get AI's.
Help seeing what youcan't see in the moment.
As I always say, AI is not the answerto everything, but when it supports what
the research shows about how our brainswork under stress and under heat, it
becomes a tool that can make everydaylife a little more beautifully human.

(07:01):
I'm your host Claire, er.
Thanks for listening toHuman First AI podcast.
I'm here every two weeks.
Let's keep creating techthat supports people first.