As the summer approaches you need to know how to stay cool in the heat.
It happens every year, before you know it the summer is upon you in all it’s humid and muggy glory. You set out for work wearing a sweater over your shirt as you adjust to the new climate only to find yourself sweating buckets by midday. There are some simple, effective things you can introduce into your day that will help you to stay cool in the summer months.
So what do you need to do to stay cool at home?.
A cool body means a cool head and its important you keep your wits about you as the heat rises and often tempers flare. There is nothing more agitating than having to get to work hot and bothered, perspiring and feeling ratty because you didn’t sleep well the night before. Incorporating these great steps into your summer wil ensure you stay cool, no matter what.
1: Make the most of fans
Fans are an excellant way to stay cool in summer with the most effective option being a good quality ceiling fan. Ceiling fans must be the right size and appropriate for the room. Make sure you have it set on the summer setting which pushes air down and not the winter setting which creates an updraft displacing warm air that has risen. Standing fans, cleverly placed in a bedroom or living room are also very effective.
2: Draw the blinds
People often forget this simple but effective way of keeping the house feeling cool. In the middle east and in countries with warmer climates it is common practice to keep rooms inside the house as dark and shaded as possible. The practice of opening the windows and blinds and letting the hot air and sun beat in on the house is ill-advised.
3: Cross breeze
If you find a nice breeze picks up on a hot day or perhaps towards the evening hours try opening windows in the house to promote a cross breeze. If you open windows, just a crack even if its sunny and the blinds are closed a good cross breeze can lower the temperature in a room significantly. The effectiveness of the breeze will depend on a number of factors, see which windows work best for you and leave them open if you can at night while you sleep.
4: Cook outside
Don’t underestimate the amount of heat generated by cooking. Just having the oven on or a few stove rings burning will increase the temperature in the kitchen and the rooms leading off the kitchen by a few degrees. There’s no better time than the summer months to bring out the BBQ and cook in the garden. Eating outside will also keep you cool and will ensure the inside of your house is nice and clean and cool too.
5: Cool under the covers
One of the biggest complaints people have about the summer is that it is hard to sleep especially during July and August when the heat is at its peak. Chris Baskind from mnn.com has some great advice on how to stay cool under the covers in his article: ‘5 unusual ways to stay cool’. He suggests there that you fill your hot water bottle with iced water and keep it on the back of your legs and knees. It is also best to use cotton instead of latex pillows as keeping the head cool keeps the whole body cool.
