Tips from the US southwest for anyone not used to the heat, if you’d like them:
Drink a stupid amount of water and eat salty stuff, as long as you don’t have a kidney condition
If it’s a dry heat (<50% humidity) you can rapidly cool yourself with a wet washcloth or spray bottle and a fan. You’ll have to keep wetting it as it evaporates, but it works
If it’s not a dry heat or you’re too hot for the washcloth thing, squeeze a cold pack under your arms or between your legs, the blood flow there will help you drop heat faster
If you’re so hot that’s not helping, take a cool shower
At night when it cools down, turn your AC as low as it will go/as low as finances allow. Every object in your house can ‘hold on’ to the cold and help cool your house during the day, the same way a full fridge maintains temperature better than an empty one
Go to public places with AC if there are any near you (libraries and malls usually have AC here)
Being unable to cool down no matter what you do is a MEDICAL EMERGENCY and you should treat it that way! Heat exhaustion and heat stroke are serious and have lifelong consequences
If you already know all this and are still suffering, I feel you. Our turn is coming 😩
I live in the south of Portugal. In the Algarve to be more precise (lots of Americans started moving here since covid by the way). It’s hot and humid because of the proximity with the ocean. Nights don’t cool off when it’s this bad and that is the shitty part.
I can’t say that I’m not used to it. It happens every year. But I can’t say that I’ve ever gotten used to it either.
It has gotten worse over the years, though. I’m entering my middle age now and when I was a kid the temperatures here would go up to maximum of 33 °C (91,4 °F), and now we get 40 °C (104 °F) and people think “it’s just another one of those days”. My girlfriend caught 43°C (109.4 °F) in the thermometer in her car this weekend.
Anyway, I use most of your suggestions every year, and they’re all helpful to anyone who’s not used to this kind of heat.
I would say my most unusual ones is to remain covered when I go outside, not only a hat, but long sleave overshirts and pants, both so that the sun doesn’t directly hit my skin, which both dehidrates us faster and raises our core temperature as well. Then when I get to the shade or indoors, I remove the shirt and the hat and let the cooling begin. It’s essentially the same idea that people did and still do traversing deserts. They’re all wrapped up to preserve humidity and keep their bodies from heating in shade. This works much better in dry climate than humid, but still does work. It’s not the most pleasant feeling though that’s for sure.
The other one that everybody thinks I’m nuts is to never shock my temperature with too much cooling. That means no cold beverages or ice-creams. Or cold showers. Why? While they provide relief, I find that my body then doesn’t stop the craving effect, and it gets harder to sustain the periods in-between those “shock reliefs” as I call them.
But yeah, salty snacks and drinking water continuously rather than too much at once would be my top suggestions.
And keeping an eye on the elderly of our family and community too.
Tips from the US southwest for anyone not used to the heat, if you’d like them:
If you already know all this and are still suffering, I feel you. Our turn is coming 😩
Thank you for being so considerate.
I live in the south of Portugal. In the Algarve to be more precise (lots of Americans started moving here since covid by the way). It’s hot and humid because of the proximity with the ocean. Nights don’t cool off when it’s this bad and that is the shitty part.
I can’t say that I’m not used to it. It happens every year. But I can’t say that I’ve ever gotten used to it either.
It has gotten worse over the years, though. I’m entering my middle age now and when I was a kid the temperatures here would go up to maximum of 33 °C (91,4 °F), and now we get 40 °C (104 °F) and people think “it’s just another one of those days”. My girlfriend caught 43°C (109.4 °F) in the thermometer in her car this weekend.
Anyway, I use most of your suggestions every year, and they’re all helpful to anyone who’s not used to this kind of heat.
I would say my most unusual ones is to remain covered when I go outside, not only a hat, but long sleave overshirts and pants, both so that the sun doesn’t directly hit my skin, which both dehidrates us faster and raises our core temperature as well. Then when I get to the shade or indoors, I remove the shirt and the hat and let the cooling begin. It’s essentially the same idea that people did and still do traversing deserts. They’re all wrapped up to preserve humidity and keep their bodies from heating in shade. This works much better in dry climate than humid, but still does work. It’s not the most pleasant feeling though that’s for sure. The other one that everybody thinks I’m nuts is to never shock my temperature with too much cooling. That means no cold beverages or ice-creams. Or cold showers. Why? While they provide relief, I find that my body then doesn’t stop the craving effect, and it gets harder to sustain the periods in-between those “shock reliefs” as I call them.
But yeah, salty snacks and drinking water continuously rather than too much at once would be my top suggestions.
And keeping an eye on the elderly of our family and community too.
And run around the house with gap filler, plugging small holes in walls, skirting, ceilings, etc that are letting air enter and exit
Definitely. Good isolation is paramount for both harsh winters or summers.