As the world gets hotter, every summer breaks new temperature records. Along with these record-breaking summers are extreme heat waves which are very difficult to handle. Although it might seem impossible, there are a few things you can do to help keep cool during these trying times. This article aims to tell you what you need to do to effectively fight the extreme summer heatwaves.
Repair or Install Air Conditioning
If you are lucky enough to have air conditioning then you may end up being okay in a heatwave. However, if your air conditioner is not well looked after, it may struggle to keep you cool. With fans that wear down and drainage systems that get clogged, it’s important to keep your AC in good nick. Finding affordable air conditioning repairs in your local area should be your next step. Repairing your air conditioning is vital for fighting extreme summer heat.
If you don’t already have air conditioning and you are worried about potential heatwaves, look into how much it would cost. Sometimes, if you have a relatively small flat, you might be able to get a good air conditioning system put in for not that much money. Running the unit is going to be expensive anyway, but it might just be a price worth paying for. There is no better way of keeping cool so installing air conditioning will help you enormously when the heat waves come.
Get A Fan
Whether or not you have air conditioning, getting fans around your house helps to make you feel cooler. Increasing the circulation of air and having the feeling of a gentle breeze washing over you is a nice feeling, especially when it is unbearably hot. If you want to make them a more permanent feature you could have ceiling fans installed. These are good but standing fans can work really well too. Getting a fan and increasing the airflow in your house will help you survive a bad heatwave.
Soak Your Feet
Soaking your feet is a more old-fashioned approach to getting too hot but by no means ineffective. Fill up a bucket with cold water, or even ice water if you want, and let your feet soak in the cool water. The way this works is that the blood circulating your body will be cooled down when it passes through your feet. This in turn will make your whole body let hot and help to lower your body temperature. You can do the same with your hands but it is a little more convenient to have your feet in the water. Soaking your feet in cold water can help you stay cool.
Try To Spend Less Time Upstairs
As you know, heat rises. So, if you have the option, try to spend as little time as possible at the top of your house. If you have a basement, try spending the hottest parts of the day in there. Otherwise, avoid hanging out upstairs if you can, as it will inevitably be way hotter than the lower parts of your home. If you can manage to rejig the way your house is set up then it really might be worth it, you’d be surprised how much difference a few meters make. Spending less time upstairs is an easy way to remain a little cooler during the extreme summer heat.
Eat And Cook Fewer Hot Meals
This might not always be possible and it would be silly to do this if it greatly reduced your quality of life but eating and cooking fewer hot meals is a good way to stay cooler. Aside from the physical heat that you get inside your body from eating a warm meal, the process of cooking, whether it’s having the oven on or the stove, will heat your home even more. This is especially bad if you are cooking something at a high temperature for a long period of time. Most ovens, to cool themselves down, expel the excess hot air into the room via a fan. This will make an already hot house even hotter. Trying to limit the amount of time spent cooking will help you cope with severe heat waves.
Drink Less Alcohol
Although in the summer months it can be very tempting to while away the time with a beer or three, it does not help your body cope with the heat. As a diuretic, alcohol, despite being a liquid, actually dehydrates you. This can be quite dangerous when it is really hot as you will already be very dehydrated anyway. Try to avoid drinking an excessive amount of alcohol in the summer and make sure you hydrate yourself properly. This will help enormously in extreme heat.
Eat Fewer Protein-Rich Meals
Have you ever noticed that after a big meal that involved a lot of meat that you feel quite hot inside? What happens when you do this is that your metabolic rate increases. Your metabolism is essentially an engine that your body uses to burn food. When you consume protein-rich food your engine works harder and this actually causes your internal body temperature to increase. Trying to avoid protein-rich meals may help you feel cooler during the summer’s extreme heatwaves.
Go Swimming
It doesn’t matter where you decide to go swimming, in a lake, river or local swimming pool, always remember to follow the rules and stay within safety suggestions. This is especially true when it comes to river swimming as a river can look clear, clean and calm on the top, but under the surface, it could be flowing much faster or even have river reeds that can trap your feet, so do keep an eye out for any signs suggesting dangers.
Wet Towels
Not only is a damp towel good for cooling us humans off, but it was also the number one suggestion in a recent poll for ways to cool down your pet. You can even buy specific cooling towels that hold more water for longer. You can even place small towels in the fridge for us on your hands, arms and face.
Wake Up Early
This might sound like an odd suggestion, but the sun is at its hottest around midday, so if you get up early and do all your chores in the cooler sun you can then relax once it starts to really heat up. This suggestion works really well when you are a keen gardener.
There is something uniquely oppressive about the weather when it is really really hot. The way the air feels thick and it is kind of hard to breathe. When you are in that kind of situation, you can look for any way to get your body cooler. Some of the best ways to effectively fight extreme heat are to; repair or install air conditioning, get a ceiling or floor fan, soak your feet in cold water, spend less time upstairs, eat and cook fewer hot meals, drink less alcohol and try to eat fewer protein-rich meals. Hopefully, this article has helped you think about ways to combat extreme heat waves that you had not previously considered. Following these helpful tips should make your next hot summer a little bit more bearable.