Health

Ways to Survive a Hot Summer Day

The heat of summer days can be quite intimidating. While it could be a mere annoyance for healthy people, medically fragile people and elderly can suffer the worst. In some cases, unusually high temperature can be fatal for older people. We have heard about the cases of deaths among elderly during heat waves. If weather…

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Drink enough cool water: Cool water can help to regulate your core body temperature and keep yourself hydrated. Warm water will make your body warmer and cold water could irritate your throat or shock your internal organs. You should drink a glass of water each hour, even if you aren’t thirsty. Avoid coffee or soft drink, because they are diuretic and may cause you to lose more water.

Eat lighter, non-spicy meals: Heavy meals can raise your body temperature, due to cranked up metabolism. If you want to keep your body cool, try to eat smaller portions to give your body enough time to complete the digestion process.

Wear loose fitting, light colored cotton clothes: It’s obvious, tight clothing will restrict air circulation over your skin. Loose cotton clothes will absorb sweat and allow ample air to circulate and cool down your skin. Based on physics principle, dark matter absorbs more light energy. So, if you wear dark shirt under the sun, you will heat up pretty quickly. White clothes reflect light the most, so you will feel cooler. If you have long hair or beard, you may consider trimming them down.

Block the sunlight: You need to block the sunlight, if you want to keep your house cooler. It’s a good thing to try to naturally block the sun, using trees. You should plant tall, leafy trees east and west of your house, so it will be cooler during the morning and afternoon. If possible, use highly reflective roof and install heat insulator just under the roof. This will significantly reduce the temperature inside your house. Another option is to use put an increasing number of solar panels on your roof. This is possible if you have more flexible budget. You can contribute in reducing the carbon footprint by converting intense, summer sunlight into electricity.

Another step is to improve the air ventilation in your house. It’s a good idea to open all windows and doors during the hottest time in summer. You can improve air circulation further by using multiple house fans inside your house. If it is still unbearable, an air conditioning unit is the most direct way to cool yourself down. Instead of cooling down the whole house, you should put the AC unit in your bedroom or family room. This way, you can use an AC unit with lower wattage. It is possible for you to reduce energy utilization and overall energy bills. If you have solar cell panels above the roof, you can directly convert some of the sunlight energy to cool down the interior of your house.