beat the summer heat

12 Simple Ways to Help You Beat the Summer Heat

Summer is closing in on us and it is closing in fast. It goes without saying that the scorching summer is hard on our bodies, our moods, and our electric bills. People all over Nepal and further are feeling the burn and the sweat. Don’t let the temperature get you down, though. Here are some simple tips to beat the summer heat even if it feels like the sun is out to get you.

Dress Smartly

Avoid wearing tight clothes or dark-colored clothes. They tend to keep in your body warmth. Go for loose, cotton wears in light colors instead. Throw in a hat while you’re at it to protect your head and a pair of sunglasses for your eyes. Don’t forget to slather on some sunscreen for that extra protection.

Schedule Around the Sun

Have outdoor activities in the wee (and cool) hours of the morning until around 9 AM when the sun extends its prickly rays. Reserve indoor activities from 9 AM until around 4:30 PM when the sun is hottest.

Do You Sweat Profusely? Try Applying Antiperspirants at Night for Maximum Effectiveness

For many of us, sweat-inducing humidity is the worst part of summer. You can get the sweating under control with a few tricks. One of them is applying antiperspirant at night. Because during the night time, your sweat glands are less active and your skin is drier. This allows the active ingredients to get down easily in your sweat ducts and clog them. The effect of ingredients usually lasts around 24 hours so it’ll remain active even when you shower in the morning.

Optimize Your Fans

Did you know that if you face your fan out at night, your room will stay cooler and you might be able to sleep more comfortably? What this does is it sucks the warm air out of the room and pull cooler air in.

Switch out Light Bulbs and Turn off Electronic Devices

Even a single incandescent bulb can generate a significant amount of heat. Per hour, a regular light bulb emits 85 British thermal units of heat (one BTU is the amount of energy needed to heat 1 lb. of water by 1 degree Fahrenheit). For comparison, a compact fluorescent light gives off 30 BTUs per hour, and light-emitting diodes give off 3.4 BTUs per hour.

Additionally, devices like computers to TVs to smartphones are also potent heat sources, so shut them off and unplug them if they aren’t in use.

Drink Plenty of Water

This is something we’ve been hearing ever since we were little. When you’re sweating a lot, either because of exercise or the summer heat, drinking water becomes even more important. Think of your body like an air conditioner. Whenever your body heats up from physical activity or the hot weather outside, your internal air conditioner turns on to keep you cool. Like an air conditioner, your body uses a coolant, i.e. your sweat. And when you perspire, you lose the moisture. As you lose water to dehydration, your body temperature rises. Therefore, it is important to refill the tank by drinking loads of water, even when you’re not thirsty.

Besides water, there are many other options to keep yourself hydrated. That does not mean you chug down on alcoholic and caffeinated beverages. Opt for smoothies, or fruits and vegetable juices. But plain water is free and easily accessible for most of us.

Watch What You Eat

Although you may not feel particularly hungry when it is hot, it is important that you do not stop eating. Try to have smaller and more frequent light meals. Avoid spicy foods because, like caffeine, they can activate neurotransmitters, called acetylcholine, which are located in your brain. These could stimulate your sweat glands in a not-so-comfortable way. So, start incorporating more fruits and salads in your diet.

Exercise, Even in the Heat

Don’t use the hotness as an excuse to stop exercising. Being aerobically fit increases your capacity to handle heat. “Training induces a lot of characteristics that you typically see in somebody that is actually heat-acclimated,” says Heather Wright, a research officer in the Flight Research Lab at the National Research Council Canada in Ottawa, who studies the effect of heat and other stresses on the body.

Working out acts like a session of heat stress, she said. “With heat acclimation as well as with training, your resting core temperature decreases,” says Wright. “As your temperature increases with exertion, heat and that sort of thing, it takes a longer period of time before your temperature reaches high levels, which are of concern.”

Why not use common sense strategies like switching to water sports, avoiding the sun when it’s strongest, and exercising in short bursts?

Spritz Yourself

Nothing cools you down so much as cool water. When you’re commuting or even indoors on a particularly hot day, carry a small spray bottle with you with which to spritz your face with water anytime. Make sure to bring a hand towel too.

Know Your Best Cooling Points

You’ve probably heard that you can pour water over your wrists or neck to cool off quickly. The reason this remedy works is because both your wrist and neck both contain pulse points – essentially, areas where you can feel your pulse because your blood vessels are closer to the surface of your skin. Because they’re too close, however, you can also cool off your blood and body temperature by getting the area in contact with cool water.

There are many other pulse points in the body. Get acquainted with them to cool down faster and more effectively.

Cool Down Your Car with This Japanese Trick

To get your oven-like car closer to a bearable temperature, roll down one window and open and close the opposite door a few times to cool it down. What you’re doing here is to help circulate air by drawing the hot air out from the opening/closing door, and causing the cool(er) air to enter your car.

Think Cool

Escape. Relax with A Winter’s TaleThe Call of the WildDoctor Zhivago, or Smilla’s Sense of Snow. “Reading about cold can take your mind off the thermometer, evoking one’s own experience of ice and snow,” says Walter A. Brown, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the medical schools of Brown and Tufts Universities and an expert in the placebo effect. “It’s also a bit of self-hypnosis. Sometimes when I shower and the water is cold, I tell myself it’s hot and I can make myself believe it.” You can save that last insight for another season entirely.

There you go, 12 simple tips to beat the summer heat. There are countless other ways to deal with troublesome summer conditions. But we think these simple ways can help you cope with the hot and humid weather conditions effectively and easily. How do you keep yourself cool in summer? Share with us and other readers.

References:

Lifehacker

Rappler

Real Simple

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