Can The Temperature Affect Your Productivity?

BOSTON (CBS) - Does being too hot or too cold in the office affect your productivity? A new study from the University of Southern California says it can, especially if you're a woman.

Researchers studied more than 500 students in Germany, placing them in rooms with a range of temperatures and asking them to complete cognitive tasks.

They found that women performed better on math and verbal tasks as room temperatures rose from 60 to 75 degrees. Men performed better at lower temperatures, but the temperature change had a greater effect on women than it did on men.

It has been documented that women like warmer indoor temperatures in general, but this study suggests it's not just that women feel more comfortable in those conditions, but that bumping up the thermostat in a mixed gender workplace could actually boost productivity.