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

Yup it’s not about feeling cool it’s about cooling your body down.

A hot shower heats your bathroom up though and I’m not making my house any warmer!

My dad fought in Africa and Burma etc in the war and he also said the thing about a hot cup of tea being the best thing to drink in a heatwave. It is interesting that no matter how hot it gets, I never say no to a cup of tea.

I love soup on a hot day ! I’ve heard that helps . Personally I love cool shower in the Summer though

No way. I love to soak in a hot bath but never ever at night because it leaves me so hot it takes me hours to cool down enough to sleep. When I first went to America in summer it was sweltering and hard to sleep at night. I used to live in a swimsuit and take three refreshing showers a day and no way would I take hot ones. I now understood why Americans are always having a shower.

I put YANBU Op

Simply for the fact that I had never heard of this before and therefore I, and others, who might not have heard can now decide whether to try it .

Would highly recommend running a face flannel under cold water, and putting it on the back of your neck. Helps cool the blood.

I have hot showers in the mornings in winter because they warm me up enough that I don't feel cold without the heating on while I get dressed... So I'll be sticking to my lovely tepid summer showers, thanks!

A hot shower works for me; I always feel cooler afterward. But not a hot bath.

One thing that works for my elderly, overheated mum is putting your feet in a bowl of cold water. Going to try this!

Run cold water over ankles and wrists - the veins are closest to the surface here and the relief is immediate and feels 'internal' iyswim because the blood travels through the body.

I always have warmer showers when I'm too hot.

DH thinks I'm nuts.

Nice to know I'm not alone.

Well my shower is stuck on one temperature so there’s no arguing with it 🤣

What works best for me is a cool shower, not drying myself and sitting, wet, in front of a fan.

A cool shower always refreshes me and makes me feel better. I’d think surely most NT competent adults will surely know how they feel after a shower? So if they take a shower that’s too cold and then feel sweaty they’ll adjust it next time.

Oh, for crying out loud! The op is not telling anyone what to do, merely offering a possible solution to anyone struggling with the heat. Readers can take it or leave it.

I don't understand why people get so aggressively defensive on here.

Yes, this is what I do in the UK as my dad was in the first Gulf War 1990 where the advice was to drink hot beverages.

I've always felt cool in summer as a result.

"Does drinking hot tea in summer really cool you down?" www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2018/0702/975770-hot-drinks-summer-heat-cool-down/

Oh, for crying out loud! The op is not telling anyone what to do, merely offering a possible solution to anyone struggling with the heat. Readers can take it or leave it.

You perhaps need to re read the title, which includes the instruction in BOLD. Not only that OP has misunderstood to advice. The recommendation is not to have cold showers. Cool showers are great.

I agree with crinkle …. It’s bad enough nanny state telling us what to do about various common sense issues, never mind a mumsnetter jumping on board 🙄

And yes, she is telling us what to do - as in her title To tell people NOT to take cool showers 🙄

Cold shower and lying on bed with the fan on has to be one of the greatest things in this heat!! Like going for swim in cold sea; I think I’d want to murder someone if I had to have hot showers!!

Be never understood how this can work. The hot tea also.

so I drink hot tea and warm up my body and then my body sweats and does what it has to do to cool down again. Does it overcompensate and cool the body down more than you’ve warmed it up? It surely can’t because the body is aiming for homeostasis. Anyway, whatever, I can’t even be bothered to look it up!

It works the other way around in winter in that a Wim Hof cold shower makes the air feel warm but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t warm up the body.

Well OP has a point although it's warm showers. During hot weather blood is sent to the skin, opening the pores and letting the sweat out. A cold shower will close the pores, so the internal core temp has no way out. Thus making your internal body temp hotter.
Hot drinks work by raising your core temp, rushing through blood to the surface faster and making you sweat more.
It's all to do with your internal core temp.

This is a really good method. At work I regularly put my wrists under the running cold tap - it really cools me down!

Do you mean neurotypical competent adults? I really hope not!

Well yes. I was meaning to exclude those who might have serious disabilities or aren’t able to understand how to shower themselves etc - I’ve worked with some people who had to have help to shower and might well have burned themselves or something. But most of us who don’t have severe disabilities and are competent in adult life should surely be able to decide what temperature of shower suits us without someone telling us?