tips for staying cool in a heatwave

Everyone loves the sunshine, but even the most ardent sun worshippers will agree that a heatwave can be pretty miserable. If you’re tired of tossing and turning all night long and desperate for a good night’s sleep, try our essential heatwave beating tips to help you keep your cool:

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Try these tips on how to cool down. For the times you find yourself struggling with the intense heat and humidity, avoid overheating with these solutions.

1. Chill your pillow

If you’re lucky enough to own a big freezer, to sleep comfortably on a sweltering night bag your sheets and chill in your freezer during the day. Choose thin cotton sheets that don’t retain heat, rather than a duvet.

2. Make a cool compress

Useful during the day and the night, freeze a damp flannel or tea towel and use it as a cold compress on your neck and forehead.

3. Try cooling bedding

Invest in specialist bedding such as buckwheat or water-filled pillows which can help transfer heat away from the body.

4. Invest in a desk fan

If opening your windows isn’t an option, then it’s worth investing in a small fan to cool you down at night. Desk fans also come with an unexpected sleep boosting trick. The white noise of a fan whirring away is actually proven to help sleep.

5. Chill your toes

Cold damp towels can provide some temporary relief for a few hours when wrapped around the feet, but it’s best to avoid this if your room is not well ventilated or suffers with damp.

6. Leave your hat on

Shading your face from the sun with a hat will make you feel cooler on a scorching day. Opt for wider brimmed styles and avoid black, which absorbs heat.

Loose woven straw hats are cool because they allow airflow around the scalp or invest in a cotton safari hat, which won’t disintegrate in a downpour.

7. Pull down the blinds

Keep your curtains and blinds closed during the day to stop the sun coming in, but open windows on the shady side of the house. This will stop the heat coming in and reduce the temperature of your room. But once the sun sets and the temperature drops, open them back up for a slightly cooler breeze.

8. Try a cooling face mask

Cucumber is cooling and contains nutrients to keep your skin radiant and hydrated. Making your own natural cucumber face pack is easy. Try this:

• Mash one peeled cucumber in a bowl with a teaspoon of sugar.
• Add a spoon of yoghurt to rehydrate dry skin.
• Chill in the fridge.
• Apply to your face and leave on for 15 minutes before washing off with tepid water.
• As well as cooling, this mask soothes puffy skin around your eyes.

9. Snack on frozen yoghurt

Invest in a frozen yoghurt maker for creamy but healthy summertime treats. There are a number of great frozen yoghurt makers on the market, which fast-freeze yoghurt and sorbet ingredients to give you a delicious treat without the fat and calories of ice-cream. Add strawberries or raspberries for a vitamin C boost.

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heatwave

10. Avoid hot foods

Eating hot or spicy foods will leave you feeling uncomfortable and raise your body temperature even further. Opt for salads and pasta dishes that can be enjoyed cold or fire up the barbecue and spend the entire heatwave eating alfresco.

11. Make a brew

Did you know that sipping on a hot cup of tea can actually cool you down? A 2012 study carried out by researchers from the University of Ottawa looked at the effect hot drinks have on body temperature and revealed that sipping tea can indeed lower the amount of heat stored inside your body, provided the additional sweat that’s produced when you drink the hot drink gets the chance to evaporate.

12. Don’t overexercise

While it can be tempting to go for a walk or run when the weather is nice, high impact exercise outdoors is not recommended in really high temperatures. If you’re loathe to miss your daily run, exercise early in the morning before 8am to beat the heat and sidestep the midday sun.

13. Take cool showers and baths

No beach? No problem. Take regular cool showers or baths or splash yourself with cool water to cool off. Taking a cool shower before bed is a great way to bring your body temperature down before bed to make things more comfortable so you can sleep easier.

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Heatwave

14. Feel the breeze

Create a cross-breeze by opening doors as well as windows. ‘Don’t spend long periods of time sitting or working outside during the hottest time of the day,’ says Dr Jarvis. ‘Take a bottle of water when using public transport.’

15. Create a fine mist

Cool-mist garden umbrellas provide plenty of shade and a constant refreshing curtain of fine mist. Connect your garden hose to one and switch on. Built-in nozzles provide an even mist around you. The supply hose feeds water through the umbrella’s central pole.

16. Or a portable spritz!

For a portable mist to spritz on your face on the bus, at the office, or even in bed at night, pop a cooling face spray into your handbag. Spraying a fine mist of water on your face and limbs works in the same way as sweating by evaporating and cooling the body.

17. Switch to natural fibres

Wear light loose-fitting cotton skirts and tops to draw away moisture from your skin and make sure you opt for natural fibres to help you keep your cool. At night, loose fitting, well-ventilated cotton pyjamas are the best option. Avoid synthetic materials that will cling to you at night.

18. Invest in a summer duvet

Invest in a summer duvet or switch to a cotton sheet to keep you from seriously overheating during the warmer months. Breathable bedding is best, so opt for linen or bamboo, or cotton for a more affordable option.

19. Make a home-made cooler

Two small water bottles make great hand coolers. Stick them in the fridge for a few hours and drink when you need some liquid refreshment.

Another trick is to freeze packs of peas and use these as cheap cooling packs for your body.

Get cold feet by rinsing your socks in cold water, then putting them on. This will lowers your overall body temperature despite the rising mercury.

20. Invest in a home AC unit

Loathe as we are to suggest you turn to an air conditioner for comfort during these humid and sticky times, if you’re really struggling to sleep/work/relax and you’re desperate for a breath of fresh air, an AC unit is the fastest and most effective way to beat the heat. It’s not cheap, but we hear the De’Longhi Pinguino does the trick. Marginally easier on the pocket, the Argos the Challenge 5K Air Conditioning Unit is also a strong contender.

21. Make your own home AC unit

To go easier on the planet (and your pocket) make your own home AC unit by placing an electric fan in front of your desk (or bed during the night) behind a shallow container filled with ice cubes. The ice will cool the air blowing over you and help evaporate sweat when temperatures soar.

22. Switch off electrical devices

Sharing your home with multiple electrical devices can actually raise the room temperature and you’d be surprised at the heat generated by devices including TVs, laptops, and even lightbulbs. So unplug any unnecessary electrical devices and go off grid!

23. Go solo

If you find yourself tossing and turning all night long and your other half is emanating enough heat to boil a kettle, consider separate rooms for the duration of the heatwave. This applies to the daytime too, so skip your nightly sofa snuggles and avoid densely populated places such as the tube. One hot person is enough to contend with!

Last updated: 25-06-2020