To tell people NOT to take cool showers if they want to stay cool in the heat

[bumblingbovine49]

I don't much mind the heat generally myself but so many people are discussing the best ways to keep cool and I see advice to take cool showers all the time

I've posted this advice before but I think it is worth repeating. If you want to feel cool in a hot environment in a way that lasts longer, take warm ( or even hot if you can bear it) showers and baths

This is advice I was give by family who live in a climate that is constantly much hotter then ours and who don't have air con . I. have found their advice effective and always take a hot shower before bed on hot nights. When I get out of the hot shower, my bedroom seems to feel cool even if it in fact very warm in there and I don't start sweating again right away like I do after a cool shower.

I was pleased to see that this advice is backed by science

theconversation.com/health-check-do-cold-showers-cool-you-down-71004

Just though it may be worth a try if you are finding it too hot to sleep in the next few days

Yeah... NO thanks! I'll be having my lovely hot baths in winter. Ya know, especially seeing as how I don't live in the North Pole!!!

I should add that this is what I mean by cool. Lukewarm is cool by shower standards - I'd never be having a lukewarm shower in anything less than about 28c

I know that a stone cold bath just drives your blood into your core and so doesn't cool you, in the same way that it's not recommended to immediately have a hot bath when you've been out wild swimming. Cool drinks (and ice lollies) when you are hot and hot drinks when you are cold are a safer way of changing your temperature. Lukewarm showers at this time of year and warm showers in the winter are then fine.

I came across a recommendation on a menopause thread to help keep cool in bed - put a dog cooling mat between your sheet and mattress so I bought a large one in Aldi this week and it's lovely and cool for a few hours so I can fall asleep in comfort.

It does warm up a little after a few hours but no warmer than the bed would be but if you get up for the loo it's cooled back down again by the time you get back into bed.

Yes - we were also taught this by a local family when living in a very hot country.

i also have lukewarm baths or showers not stone cold its quite nice wouldnt do the hot thing though

I live in a hot country. Cool showers are what everyone has to keep cool

What you should do is have a tepid shower and don’t dry yourself.
Like tepid sponging for a fever.
I live in a hot country, I jump in the pool and then lie in the shade without drying myself.

Dr Karl Kennedy was on the BBC news and said in Australia they drink hot sweet black tea in the lambing sheds when it's really hot and he would know

Hmm, yeah this is probably about right. ^ I have a shower that goes from cold to very hot (not scald your skin hot, but hot!) So there are 12 settings 1 to 12 (1 being the coldest, 12 being the hottest obvs.)

I will have it on 6 usually, or 8/9 in winter when it's really cold. In summer (when it's hot like now,) I have it on 2 or 3, so cool-ish but not actually cold. More like tepid/slightly cool. Lovely. 😊

You do you, op. I’m good sitting in my lukewarm bath ta.

I can confirm that it worked for me once when I had heatstroke and felt nauseous and had a thumping headache. Sitting in cold water didn't feel right at all, but I felt fine in a thermal pool in the shade. Half an hour later, headache and nausea disappeared, I got out and the warm air felt so cool.

I don't know if OP is right or wrong but I do know it's annoying when people come on and tell you what to do.

This is genius

I'm 61. If I want a cool shower I'll bloody well have a cool shower 🙄.

This is the mat from Aldi, still in the box.

It has other effects though - the heat causes peripheral vasodilation - more blood flow to the skin means it functions as a more efficient radiator removing heat.

Spraying mist / water removes heat energy as it evaporated, but needs good airflow, breathable fabrics.

Lukewarm or is better. I live in a climate which can be extremely hot in summer & jumping from 40 degree heat to a freezing cold shower is not a pleasant thought at all.

Although it's currently in single digits degrees here and admit I just had a too hot shower & now rugged up like I'm navigating Antarctica.

Yes I’ve heard this. And I try to have hot tea in really hot weather too.

I think you missed the sarcasm in @GabriellaMontez@GabriellaMontez's post.

LOL this. ^ As if people on here are going to NOT do something because some random nobody on mumsnet says so!!! 😂

whatever you think/believe, your OP borders on preachy/dictatorial.

So hot water makes blood flow to the skin increase=heat loss. Cold water makes blood flow to the skin decrease=heat retention.
Cold showers feel better because you feel the temperature of your skin, but your body will feel better internally with a hot shower.
Although it also says that our body does a fantastic job of maintaining internal body temperature anyway so I don't see why we really need to worry about that when it's our external body temperature that makes us feel uncomfortable and our body doesn't need help with internal temp anyway.

Well I live in a hot climate and I take cool showers. Also jump into the pool regularly, particularly at night to bring my core body temperature down before bed which works a treat but I do understand most UK houses don't have a pool!

That doesn’t work for me, science or not.