Heatwave hacks

[Bluewavescrashing]

1. Dampen a cotton sheet in cold water and lie it on top of you when you go to bed

1. Open the loft hatch so hot air goes up into the loft space

3 refuse to do any physical work or actually move from the padding pool

Any others to add?

Go and do a grocery shop in Waitrose, their air con is great!

Buy air con.

Wet your PJs and put them in the fridge for a couple of hours before bed.

Open the windows in the early morning to let cold air in then close windows and curtains / blinds to keep it cook.

Agree with having a hot drink, and sip room temp water.

Your body is concerned with keeping your 'core' at the same temp at 37 degrees. Your core is lungs, heart, stomach, brain etc. To cool the core your blood vessels stretch a bit and more blood is circulated near the surface. You sweat, as the sweat evaporates this cools your skin which means the blood near the surface can cool.

If you have a cold drink your core immediately notes decrease in temp and reverses the cooling process.

Obviously there are various physiological processes but that's the basic idea.

The opposite happens with cold, which is why mountaineers lose the odd finger.

@Destroyedpeople because this is what happens in heat to me. Amazingly we aren't all the same. And it's head to toe, even on the palms of my hands despite a massive dose of antihistamines. The itching is unbearable

Air conditioning unit - does anyone have one? Is it worth it? I sleep in loft conversion so it’s like an oven here. Husband doesn’t want to “waste” money on ac unit as he says we only have hot weather for like 5/6 weeks a year!

A small electric fan on you at night. Because it's small it's quieter so doesn't interfere with sleep. Place it on a chair on some fabric as that damps down vibration noise. A sheet obviously.

Windows open all day but curtains closed.

Dab face with cold water and don't dry it as the air instantly cools it.

Socks in the freezer. Nice cool feet!

Very obvious, but truly works...a Japanese fan from eBay. Gorgeous cool air especially is you damp the skin first.

I freeze hot water bottles for the kids, a damp flannel frozen for bedtime, same with water bottle.

@MillicentMartha

Keep windows and curtains closed on the sunny side of the house. If it’s hotter outside than inside keep that hot air out! Open windows at dusk to get a through draft.

Yes! Every house around us has all their windows open, especially bedrooms. We keep our bedroom windows and curtains closed during the day, and then open them when the temperature drops. That's what people in hot countries do. Thick wooden shutters would be even better. Our bedroom, which has large windows, is perfect overnight.

Also I've just bought DC a misting fan, apparently it'ss brilliant for keeping you cool.

@Destroyedpeople

Why is everyone so dramatic. ...good grief it's not that hot. ...the way that you lot are going on about gel packs and ice cubes and wet t shirts is quite funny...

It was 30° in my bedroom at midnight last night, with 77% humidity.

My poor northern blood just can't cope with that. I had heat stroke a few years ago and since then I've been extremely heat intolerant.

So bugger off with the smug attitude.

When you go to bed wet a t shirt round the torso and lie with the fan on. I find that’s the only thing that works to cool me down and it really does work.

Our bedroom already had a ceiling fan when we moved in. I thought it was a bit tacky but we never got round to removing it. I have to say, it is fantastic in the hot weather. I would highly recommend, and am sure you can get better looking ones than ours! They will be out of stock now I expect, but worth getting when you can in readiness for another bout of hot weather.

We live in the Middle East, and sometimes I work in environments with no AC. We keep cool by pointing fans toward windows on higher stories to effectively blow hot air out and keep things circulating. You can also set up fans to create cross winds.

If you don’t have fans, keep sheets in a plastic bag in the freezer or even an icebox for 30 minutes before bed, it’ll keep you cool until you fall asleep. If you can, move your bed to the ground floor (the difficulty of which will soon convince any husband that AC is a good investment). Put sheets over windows or open areas and spray with icy water every 15 minutes. The direction of air flow will also be cold. Turn on any exhausts eg bathroom, extractor fan, as they will suck up hot air. Electrolyte drinks will help you feel better in the warmth, which is how you can acclimatise.

@Verity35

I hear this argument all the time! I have a portable air con in my bedroom and it has been, if not a life saver, definitely a sanity saver! Would he say the same if you said "lets not put on the heating this winter, we only have 5 or 6 really cold weeks after all".

I don't know why people have this attitude that it's perfectly acceptable and expected to heat your home but not to cool it. A good portable air con will last you years. They're cheap to run. Only downside is that they are noisy. Wet sheets and ice packs are better than nothing but the only thing that can really cool down a room is air con.

Roll up a damp towel in the freezer, at bedtime put it at the end of the bed (over a dry towel to protect bedding!) and rest your feet/legs on it.

We also put ice cubes in our humidifier. Keeps light off in the evening. Cool shower before bed.

Move to a barn with downstairs bedrooms and 2ft thick stone walls. We all have normal Pjs and duvets on and I even still have a hot water bottle (accept I am weird though 😁)

@Destroyedpeople Some people, like me and MANY others, have a severe heat intolerance Just because^ it doesn't feel that hot to you^, does not mean it isn't making others ill/killing elderly & vulnerable people and generally causing suffering to those whose bodies can not regulate temperature

Laugh away!