It’s another hot weather panicker, please be kind.

[Em308]

Please talk me down from my extreme state of anxiety…. Yes I am one of the many who are very worried about the impending weather, we are predicted 37 Monday and 39 Tuesday. I am an insulin dependent diabetic and suffer badly with coping with the heat anyway. I also have a heart issue. I’ve been trying to think logically, it’s only 3 days, I have preparations in place (even an air con unit but the talk of power outrages is terrifying me!). But something popped into my mind this morning and it’s overwhelming me. Hot tubs are usually set to 38/40 degrees aren’t they? I have to set ours to 36/37 as I can’t sit in the higher temp, I feel faint. The air is going to be the temperature of a hot tub….wtf?? How do I cope? Please calm me down and yes getting a grip is exactly what I need to do, I know this already!

Try not to panic. It’s holiday heat without the holiday. Prepare for hi/lo (‘cos who knows which way it’ll go?!) and have plenty of hypo treatments and insulin available. Keep your insulin cool if you are in the car or going to work - as someone else said, a frio pouch if you have one but a cooler bag would also work.

It's like saying the swimming pool is contaminated by a dangerous substance but we still expect everyone to jump in!

Eh? This analogy doesn’t work at all. We have no choice but to endure the heatwave and the news has broadly been about taking necessary precautions. In fact with the Tory leadership race it only very recently started talking about it.

Turn your hot tub heating off, pop an umbrella up to create shade over it, and sit in it. A hot tub without heating is surely just a large paddling pool. I doubt you'll overheat if you plop yourself in the hot tub with a bottle of water and some ice lollies.

Loads of great suggestions on this thread. First off, let me say - you are NOT being unreasonable. With your health conditions, it would be really weird if you were blasé about the whole thing. Fear is an emotional response and it is valid. But, that doesn’t mean that it is remotely likely that you are in any actual danger. You just need to manage the fear so it doesn’t impact on your life.

It’s like, I’m not scared of flying. However, whenever I’m in a plane that’s taking off, I do have a few moments of doubt and anxiety. Technically, the plane could crash - it’s just not likely. So I accept that I’m afraid in that moment and sit with it until it passes. My other choice is to completely freak out and disembark the plane which is cuckoo bananas.

It’s the same with this. Technically, there’s a chance that something could happen next week in the hot weather but it’s not likely. Take sensible precautions (keeping curtains shut, light clothing, drink plenty of water, A/C on in the hotter parts of the day, stay inside and downstairs etc) and make sure you have someone who knows you are concerned that you can Whatsapp straight away if you are feeling wobbly to talk you through it.

Fear isn’t a nice emotion to have to sit with but it’s the fear itself that will cause the most problems for you - it will make everything seem worse. Breathe, sit with it until it fades a little and make sure you have plenty of things to distract you if it doesn’t. You’ll be fine. hugs

Forecasts seem to be really varying between different organisations though at least they are here, the Met Office prediction is way below the BBC Weather prediction. I’m betting news outlets are picking the higher temperature forecasts to report.

Stop watching & listening to the news, because the media loves a bit of unnecessary hysteria.

I’m diabetic and have no choice to go to work in a hot warehouse. Getting a bit fed up of these moaning folk that can sit inside, go in their hot tubes, beach and so on. Plenty folk have no choice to go into work. What about nurses in hot wards, care home staff, bakery workers? Now these are the people I really feel sorry for!

This! some news outlets give us the facts we need, but mostly their headlines are to whip us up in to a frenzy, goodness knows why that is their remit but it is 100% - just terrible

@Em308

I'm so sorry that you're worried and panicking. I've been on a couple of threads this week saying what a load of histrionic nonsense, and people are nuts, and I was harsh, but I never stopped to think people ARE actually worried. And for that I am sorry. It just seems that on this forum and a couple of others - Facebook especially - people seem to just go completely crazy bonkers when the media puts any kind of "warning" about anything, and it does get irksome, but yes I get that people ARE genuinely worried and I blame the BLOODY media..

As I think the second or third poster said, the media have not helped by getting everybody whipped up into a frenzy. The top news story for 5 or 6 nights has been the heatwave we're about to get, with the headline DANGER TO LIFE emblazoned in red! I mean really we're not going to have temperatures much higher than we've had them quite a few times over the last decade or so. It's been up in the mid to high 30s a few times and yet the media seems to be making a massive massive deal of this for some reason. Why? because Europe having it really bad at the moment?

Europe have had really bad heat LOADS of times before, and Spain have had up to 46-47 before and they've had fires - forest fires moorland fires whatever - and then it's been between 32 and 36/37 over here. To be quite honest I don't think we're going to get to 40, and if we do it'll probably be for one day and it'll just be in a small part of the country.

The map that I put in this picture I've attached, illustrates just how ridiculous and histrionic and OTT the media are being Just a few years ago, the temperature was mid 30s and the map on the left was shown... THIS week, the temperatures are the same, and they have put up the pic on the right, making it look like the country is going to set on fire. The temperatures are virtually the SAME. Ludicrous!

As has been said just have a spray bottle with cold water in and spray yourself with it, drink plenty of cold water, sit in front of a fan indoors, or sit outside in the shade, pop a cold wet flannel on your forehead, maybe get some ice pops or ice creams, and don't go out unless it's a total emergency. Also, apply yourself with sunscreen for the occasions when you might accidentally pop into the sunshine. And above all stop worrying and stop panicking - it's really not going to be as bad as the media are making out.

To be honest I'm quite disgusted with them for the histrionic absolute bloody circus they are creating with this heatwave. Creating that photo where the map on the right looks like the country is going to be on fire is bloody ridiculous.

Look after yourself.

Lots of people holiday abroad.We went to Cyprus in 42 c ! I plan on staying in with the fan on .Another tip is simply to run a cool bath or shower mid day .Drink plenty , usual food /meds .Maybe pop on here again for a chat ? The media are going berserk as usual .Just rest and relax

Exactly!! Working in a care home with zilch AC tomorrow and Tuesday…absolutely bloody dreading it TBH !! And some of the carers are not particularly fit with various medical conditions!

Thank you so much to you all for your kind and helpful words and advice, and for not ridiculing me. Some of these ideas I’ve already implemented, others I will do today - preplanning meals and clothing is something I hadn’t thought of either. We decided not to put the hot tub up this year due to electricity costs, but the paddling pool is ready to fill! Water temp and air temp not being comparable is a very good point, I hadn’t thought logically about this, so thank you for pointing that out.
I am very lucky that I am not having to work at the moment (the environment I was in would be terrible to work in so I’m grateful for small mercies!) so I will be able to do the minimum for a couple of days, life can go on hold.
Regarding my anxiety, I’ve suffered many years and am usually able to keep on top of it but have had a really bad 18 months with a particular family situation so I think I’m on heightened alert most of the time at the moment. My go to help for anxiety is guided mindful meditations but I’ve been struggling to keep my mind focused whilst doing them the last couple of days, I will stick with them though as I know they help.
Once again, thank you to you all, I do feel a little calmer and sending love to all those others feeling like this too.

Use an umbrella to keep you in shade as you walk and wait. You’ll see Japanese women doing this in London on sunny days - it’s a great idea and really works. I have a light coloured parasol I use just for this.

Stay indoors during the day, prebook the Cinema for early evening Monday and Tuesday. We’re going to see Thor tomorrow and The Railway Children on Tuesday.

Undeniably newsworthy. However when reporters choose emotive and dramatic language, it is no longer "just" reporting, it is designed to elicit a reaction.

For example "brits set to scorch" "blistering heat" "sizzling temperatures" etc etc

Thankfully being in air temperature of 37-39 is very different from being in a hot tub of a similar temperature. There is much much less heat transfer through air than there is through water. It won't feel the same.

Try and make sure that your fridge is full, so that it all stays cold more easily. Keep yourself really well hydrated. If you have space in a freezer, wet some tea towels, flannels etc and freeze them separately, so you can keep cooler. Is there anywhere air conditioned, like a cinema that you can go to for a while?
Hang in there, in three days time you'll be through this.

😘

Ohmydayssilleople
you really have my sympathy. Hope you get through the day ok.

Yep this. ^ And that histrionic map!

As another pp said, just keep in mind that it won't be at the hottest temperatures for the whole time. I think Monday late afternoon is when it's predicted to rise to those temps. Then nighttime will be a bit cooler again. Then you only have Tuesday to get through, and Tuesday night will cool down a lot in preparation for Wednesday's much cooler weather.

just because outside in the sun it’s that hot doesn’t mean it will reach that hot inside in the shade

Just to clarify, predicted temperatures are not based on the temp in the sun - that will be massively hotter. Hence the advice to stay indoors.

@SleeplessInEngland like with Covid the media have a duty as part of their licenses to report government health warnings including over the heat.

The met office was the one that issued a red weather warning. Sorry, but that’s newsworthy.

For example "brits set to scorch" "blistering heat" "sizzling temperatures" etc etc

Within the bounds of crappy tabloid idioms I don’t think any of those phrases are unduly alarmist.

Yes, that’s newsworthy. But I am a journalist and I know what I was trained to do when writing a news story and that is to pick the most dramatic, interesting, sensational aspect of a story to lead with. And that would be picking out the highest temperature that is predicted, and focusing on dangers. That is what reporters do.