At home
- In the morning, as long as the outside temperature is still lower than the inside temperature, open all your windows.
- Close them when it gets warmer than inside and close blinds and/or curtains.
- Open everything again in the evening (think of burglars, especially if you are on the ground floor).
- Turn off all your devices when you're not using them. (TV, laptop, Play Station, chargers, etc. Everything gives off heat.)
- Set up a fan, if you have one. It provides a bit of cooling, because it blows away the warm layer of your skin.
- Freeze a plastic bottle of water in the freezer and place it in front of the fan. The air blown around is considerably cooler.
Body and health
Normally, your body ensures that excess heat is dissipated. But when it's very hot that doesn't work anymore. Tips to cool down (your skin).
- Your body uses your head, neck, wrists and feet to dissipate heat. So keep those areas cool. Keep hands and wrists under the tap or (better still) in a bowl of water. Put a wet towel on your neck or on your head. Or take a foot bath.
- Do not take a cold shower, but lukewarm.
- Wear airy clothes and preferably cotton or linen rather than synthetic.
- Drink at least two liters a day instead of the normally recommended one and a half liters. Alcohol does not count. That will only dry out.
- Rather drink something lukewarm than something ice cold (even though it's still so tasty now). Your body does indeed cool down from ice-cold drinks, and then quickly turn on the internal heating so that you get warm again.
- You usually eat less when it is this hot. Little appetite. That's not for nothing: eating a lot warms up your body.
In bed
Sleeping in this heat can be a real challenge. Also here are a few facts and tips.
- Make your pillow cooler with frozen gel pads from the drugstore or bottles of frozen water. You lose most of your heat through your head. With a cool pillow your whole body cools down.
- Cool your neck (see above).
- Place a fan (with a frozen bottle of water) next to your bed.
- And in general: keep calm, don't get upset about the heat. It raises your heart rate and further raises your body temperature.
