Overheated: Is the Summer Sun Hijacking Your Brain?

How to Keep Your Cool When Everything (and Everyone) Feels a Bit Too Hot to Handle

You know that moment...when you’re standing in the checkout line, sweat dripping down your back, and someone says, “Cheer up, it’s a beautiful day!” And you think: If they say one more word, I will absolutely combust.

Welcome to feeling overheated. And not just on the outside.

We’re talking about the full-body, brain-fogged, I-can’t-handle-one-more-thing kind of overheated. The kind that has less to do with the temperature outside and more to do with what’s happening inside your nervous system.

This isn’t just weather. It’s neurological warfare.

Why You Feel Like You’re Boiling, Emotionally and Mentally

When temps rise, so does your stress response. That’s not you being dramatic. That’s biology. High heat affects your brain’s emotion center, the amygdala, which is designed to detect danger and alert your body. When your core temp rises, your amygdala interprets it as a threat. It doesn’t care whether it’s because you’re running from a lion or just walking across a blacktop parking lot in July.

This triggers a cascade: cortisol goes up, patience goes down, and you’re more likely to overreact, shut down, or spiral.

In short, heat hijacks your brain.

The Emotional Equation of Feeling Overheated

Overheated = (External Heat × Sensory Overload + Emotional Load) – (Hydration + Breaks + Flexibility)

Let’s break that down.

External Heat: Obvious. You’re hot.

Sensory Overload: Sun glare, traffic noise, kids arguing, Slack notifications, all at once.

Emotional Load: Your own stress + everyone else’s.

Hydration & Breaks: How often are you actually drinking water or stepping away?

Flexibility: Are you allowing yourself to adjust… or just pushing through?

If the left side of this equation starts piling up and the right side stays empty? Boom. You’re not just hot. You’re crispy.

Heat Can Deplete Your Psychological Capital

At Sprouting Change, we talk a lot about Psychological Capital (PsyCap), or your internal reserves of Hope, Optimism, Resilience, and Efficacy. These are your mental savings account. When you’re overheated, you spend these fast!

Hope drains when you feel like you’ll never catch up.

Optimism wilts when even small things feel heavy.

Resilience crumbles after another night of tossing in the heat.

Self-efficacy drops when you can’t think clearly or get things done.

And if your environment isn’t helping you cool down or cope? That fifth piece, Environmental Efficacy, disappears too.

How to Cool Off Without Clocking Out

Ready for a reality check? This isn’t about “taking a vacation.” It’s about building rituals that protect your mental health even when you can’t change the weather or your to-do list.

Here are 3 quick strategies from our Conscious Coping Toolkit:

1. Micro-Cool Rituals

Put your wrists under cold water. Sit in the shade. Swish ice water in your mouth and do a big exhale. (Seriously, it works.)

2. Sensory Timeout

Try the 5-4-3-2-1 technique: Name 5 things you can see, 4 you can feel, 3 you can hear, 2 you can smell, 1 you can taste. It pulls your brain out of threat mode.

3. Reframe with Compassion

Instead of “Why am I like this?” try “What do I need to feel one degree cooler, mentally or emotionally?” That question alone can shift your emotional equation.

For Leaders: Turn Up the Care, Not the Pressure

If you're a manager, know this: hot, drained employees aren't lazy, they’re physiologically overloaded. Give your team:

Short cool-down breaks.

Permission to adjust work rhythms.

Visible signs that their comfort matters (cold drinks, fans, shade).

These simple actions improve Environmental Efficacy, which makes it easier for people to cope, reset, and stay in the game.

Bottom Line: If you are overheated, you are not broken, you are burned out...literally.