It’s 37 °C (98,6 °F) outside and me and my north european genes are not coping.
As a Midwestern American, some tips!
1. Drink plenty of water. If you’re thirsty, you’re already dehydrated.
2. If you can get you hands on a spray bottle, fill it with cold water and spritz yourself regularly.
3. Wet washcloths, freeze them, and then put them on the back of your neck and chest to help cool off.
4. Cold showers.
5. If you can get a cheap box fan, they will help!
6. How to make a swamp cooler; fill a bucket with ice, set a fan behind it to blow the ice air around.
Stay safe over there!
7. If you don’t wanna take a really cold shower, even a lukewarm shower will help cool you off afterward because of the water evaporating from your skin!
8. In addition to putting cold stuff on the back of your neck, another good spot to put something cold to cool your body effectively is your crotch. If no one’s gonna be looking at you, get a water bottle full of ice and hold it between your thighs near your crotch for a while.
9. Just like when you’re icing an injury, be careful with ice packs/towels/water bottles–don’t put anything icy against your bare skin, and do fifteen minutes on and fifteen minutes off. Take care not to fall asleep with an ice pack on you!
Your armpits are another good place for cold packs. These spots all have major arteries not far below the skin, so you can cool the blood flowing through them before it’s transported throughout the rest of the body.
Also if you’re out in the sun you may actually want to cover up rather than leave your skin exposed. Sunburn is a huge risk (even if you have darker skin btw!!! Melanin can only do so much!) and even with sunscreen every inch of exposed skin is absorbing heat from the sun. Wear light-colored clothing (which reflects heat rather than absorbing it) that is breathable and loose-fitting to allow air to circulate to aid evaporation of sweat from your skin (which is how it cools you).
Water is your top priority, but sweating also can deplete your salt reserves (literally your body excretes water through your pores by pumping out salt ions which draw water out with them. Science!). You MUST have adequate electrolytes, particularly sodium, potassium, and chloride, which are required for your brain cells to work, among other things. Gatorade and Powerade are full of sugar but the electrolytes in them sure don’t hurt anything (but drink plain water as well if you can).
You can also eat fruits and vegetables with high water content. Grapes can be frozen for a cold treat that’s a little healthier than popsicles. Although, shit, if it takes popsicles and ice cream to keep you cool then fucking go for it, I’m not your mom.
I learned this trick from Mary Poppins at Disneyworld:
Take an icy bottle of water and put it in the inside of your elbow. Hold it there for a few minutes. You’ll cool off instantly.
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DarkestElemental616 