People from the "hotter" regions, how do you deal with the heat?
I am from Eastern Europe and this is the hottest summer on my memory. For at least 3 consecutive years the heat is breaking all records.
This stuff is unbearable, I can’t even play video games on my laptop, because it warms up very fast and the keyboard becomes uncomfortable for me to use.
So, could you please share any useful tips on how do you survive the summer?
Avoiding cold water is just bad advice and it’s perpetuated by people who do not live in hot climates. It violates thermodynamics to say adding cold stuff makes you hot.
If you’re already to the point of sweating, your body is trying to cool you down. Adding cool liquid will make you colder, not hotter. Go read medical recommendations for how to treat heat stress, they will never tell you to drink hot tea and eat some chillies
Yeah I’m confused about that too. I drink ice water all the time when it’s hot… But I live in an area with a mild climate, where 27C (80F) is considered hot.
The reason I’ve heard is that your body has to work really hard to warm up the cold water, which in turn means you feel warm more quickly once the effect of the cold water wears off. That’s why people in the desert drink warm tea.
It’s important to remember that humidity plays a huge role when it comes to managing thermal comfort, and the desert is a very dry place. Advice that is applicable to the desert might not apply in other places with high temperature/high humidity.
I don’t know whether drinking hot tea actually helps to beat the heat, but speculating a bit on it, we might guess that hot tea would promote sweating, which is highly effective for reducing body temperature in dry contexts, but less so in humid ones. The tea is also warmer than your body temperature if it is to be considered warm, and as such you will get hotter without getting any relief from the sweating, making drinking hot tea in a hot/humid scenario counterproductive if these assumptions are correct.
Also one of the reason why people in hot climates love eating spicy foods, especially during the day. When you eat something spicy, your mouth feels hot, but your body temperature is not actually increased. You’ll start sweating, but as your body temperature is not actually increased, you’ll ended up cooling your body instead.
I don’t buy the don’t drink ice water. I live in a place where summer temperatures are normally over 100° F (37.7° C). And nothing feels better after doing a lot of yard work like chugging ice water. The worst that’s ever happened to me was a brain freeze.
There is a reason people in the south US drink iced tea. A cold drink on a hot day, just feels good. It might be psychosomatic, but I’ve never heard anything outside of old wives’ tales about cold drinks being bad.
In fact, I’ve participated in the Hotter than Hell, a 100 mile cycling event, in Texas in August. At the halfway point they have snow cones made with sports drinks for the people participating. With over 10,000+ people a year participating and over 40 years you would think someone would have had a bad reaction if drinking cold water was actually an issue.
When the weather hits 40⁰ around here I might head to the cinema. They’re usually really well temperature controlled, dark and allows you to get out of the sun when it’s at its height. Nights when it doesn’t cool down are harder.
The one thing I don’t see mentioned enough for keeping your apartment cool is to close all windows and draw all curtains during the day and open them when the temperature outside is lower than that inside (normally ~an hour after sunset).
Heat reflects off all surface, so it’s not just about keeping light out.
Blinds on the outside of your windows help significantly too.
Totally. Blows my mind that people can’t seem to understand that if it’s hotter outside than inside, the inside won’t get any cooler by opening windows.
Last summer in London (42 C!!) we became a box of shadows during the day. Keep the cool inside.
I wish the temperature outside dropped below my house temp. If I run AC at even a money saving 83 degrees inside, the exterior doesn’t drop below that until around 6am.
Houses are built differently in hot areas. Very few windows facing south. Shutters on all windows. All windows deeply recessed. Channel the wind, ie have a deep through channel that spans across the house so any pressure differential causes air to exchange. Tiled floors. No/low insulation.
In Northern Europe, we live in sweat boxes designed for letting in maximum light and keeping beat inside the house.
I need AC for about 6 months out of the year (used to be three, maybe three and half) here in the east/south US. The humidity is so bad it makes 90F seem like 110F and even the shade won’t cool you down and it drops very little when the sun goes down.
I’m replying because my electrical panel is being replaced right now and I have no power (the router is on a batt backup)…it heated up in here and I’m able to psychologically deal with it for now…if the installation goes south and I’ll be without power for more than a few hours I’ll take the cat and head to my sister’s place :)
I’m in the US and it was 40C (104F) yesterday, which is normal for my area. I spent the whole day either indoors or in the neighborhood pool, and it was perfectly comfortable.
I mean, I bought my window ac at least 10 years ago, the only upkeep is cleaning the filter. no issues. I bought a house with an AC from the 70s or 80s in the wall, also nothing but washing the filters. Sure I'm using electricity, but I wouldn't call that upkeep.
But it’s either this or hospital. Human body can’t cool down in very hot and high humidity environments, for example 40 degrees and 90% humidity. My mother was sent to hospital due to heat stroke, AC is life-saving. It would be better if there were better ways.
Right. I don’t think individuals can or should do much beyond setting their AC at reasonable levels.
The responsibility is on governments to heavily invest in renewables so that we don’t continue on our current trajectory. If governments don’t act, the earth will inevitably force some sort of reduction in energy usage and it’ll be far less comfortable than higher taxes.
Exactly. The issue is with the source of electricity, not with the AC itself. Not to mention that leading by example is nice, but it's not always the best course of action. An individual avoiding AC is a drop in the water, and not going to save the planet, while suffering immensely. Hell, even if every single individual stopped using AC at home (which isn't even close to reality), that wouldn't have a significant effect, compared to what corporations, factories, etc. are doing.
The price of electricity in my country (the UK) has gone stupid high right now. We don’t have AC in our homes normally in the country. But I bought a 2nd hand portable unit about 7 years ago when my first son was born cos I was afraid of him gettin too hot at night. I have a 2nd son now and we have had some record high temps last month and o could only afford yo keep this AC unit on for a like 2 to 3 hours at night time in just his room and only on the hottest days. Anymore than that and we woild struggle to pay the energy bill that follows.
It’s not maintenance cost that’s the issue. It’s energy cost.
Indeed, many places are 40 and 90% within a day, but not simultaneously. You can see in your image how the peak humidity was at 00:00 and the peak temp at 14:00.
Indeed, many places are 40 and 90% within a day, but not simultaneously. You can see in your image how the peak humidity was at 00:00 and the peak temp at 14:00.
I agree. I have lived in hot, humid places without air conditioning. The only solution is to find cool places (in the shade, in a cellar), stay wet, drink lots of water, and avoid physical exertion until the sun goes down.
I am spoiled now. I live in a region with cheap, low-carbon electricity (almost entirely from hydro, nuclear, and wind) and modern infrastructure, so air conditioning is standard practice. I wish the whole world could have the same.
Most of the world does not have central heat and central air.
In many areas, pools can be difficult due to a number of economic, social, and other factors.
Additionally, running AC constantly also puts more heat outside and, depending upon your power source, increases emissions further contributing to global climate issues just making things worse.
Use fans. Air blowing on you will make you feel cooler. If you don’t have air conditioning some houses can benefit from one fan blowing inwards from the cool/shady side of the house and one fan blowing outwards on the hot/sunny side of the house.
If you need to be outdoors stay in the shade, wear sunscreen, move more slowly, drink plenty of water.
Avoid being out in the midday sun. If you do, try to walk in the shade as much as possible.
If your windows have external shades close them down when the sun is hitting that side of the house/appartment so that the heating up of objects from the sunlight happens outside not inside.
Wear shorts/skirts and loose clothes of thin textites that don’t retain much heat (such as cotton).
If you’re going to be out for long periods, bring water, ideally cold water.
Sure, if you have AC or, even better, a swiming pool, it’s a lot easier to keep cool, but these suggestions will work even for those who can’t afford those things.
I recommend getting a metal water bottle and carrying that around when you’re sightseeing or any activity that keeps you outside in the sun for long.
Also I personally never noticed any extra sweating when drinking cold water versus ambient temperature water, and I live in Portugal were we regularly get 40C or more in August. Generally, if it’s hot enough you’ll sweat more simply from the heat (as sweating is a natural cooling mechanism) even if all you drink is plain tap water. Sure, if you don’t drink water you’ll sweat less, as you’re getting dehydrated so the body will cut down on that.
Were did you learn that specific piece of information about cold water making people sweat more?
I’m in Phoenix. It was 112°f here today. It’s hot as balls.
However, I’m immensely more comfortable in this heat than I was when visiting Germany last summer when it was in the high 70’s. The difference is the humidity. I was constantly sweating, soaking everything while I was over there. Here? I get a little sweaty at 100°, sometimes. Our power infrastructure is pretty solid, so lots of air conditioner.
wouldn’t that blind passerbys? i already suffer enough from people hanging CDs to spook pigeons. I think shutters would be best here if you’re not in a rental
Honestly, I just love the heat. I strip down to as few layers as possible, put a fan on, and that’s pretty much it. Even when it gets really hot, I still find that easier than the cold. The question I really want to know is how do people deal with the cold!
The good old you can always add more layers. The coldest temperature I ever experienced in my region was -26°C, the hottest just over 40. Between the two, I much prefer the former.
But then again, it just boils down to what you’re used to. Our winters have always been on the harsher side, and I’m not even far up north.
Every new heatwave has me holding on for dear life. Judging by recent years, my body will have to adapt sooner than later, otherwise I’m going to have a really bad time going forward.
My issue with hot weather is that around 25°C i run out of layers to remove to stay comfortable, and I can’t even get to that point if I’m anywhere outside my own home because running around naked in public is sadly not socially acceptable. So when temps reach 35 outdoors I just feel like dying as even indoors tends to heat up to >30 if the temps stay for a few days.
Yeah unfortunately as cultures get air conditioners, they can take more heat as a society, but individually most people don’t ever truly be hot adapted. Then you get a place where people run from their ACd job to their ACd carto their ACd grocery store and finally get to heir ACd house.
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