To think there must be something wrong with me because I absolutely can not tolerate the UK heatwaves - anyone else?

[Saywhatnowhey]

I am 53 and in perimenopause so that is not helping at all but I have always been like this.

As soon as summer hits and these heatwaves come out of nowhere I feel dreadful. I have never been able to tolerate either cold or hot weather at all, even when I was younger. As a child I preferred winter over summer so I could cover and layer up.

Where I live in the UK it is often the most hot and humid weather during the summer months and it makes me feel so physically unwell. I have some existing health issues but none that are related to temperature intolerance so no idea why I get like this. It's only 9.30am and I have already had to sit down with my neck fan on. Just hanging out a few loads of washing and tidying up the kitchen has left my heart racing, my stomach churning (I do have IBS which gets worse in the summer) and I feel so nauseous (I always feel so sick in the heat). Other than pace and fan myself there doesn't seem to be a lot I can do to dampen down the ill feeling I get.

No one else I know is like this, everyone adores this heat and really looks forward to it, some saying the hotter the better but I just want to lay on my bed and lay with the fan on all day, I feel so lightheaded and weird.

I have mentioned this numerous times to my GP but my blood levels return ok so they don't have any suggestions.

Is it normal to feel so unwell during the summer months? Does anyone else get this?

I freeze during the winter, like to the bone frozen but I would rather take that over the summer because at least I can carry my trusty hot water bottle around with me and layer up. The sticky, humid UK summers make me want to rip my skin off. It really annoys me because I love warmth and sunshine - I could happily reside in September and October for the rest of my days, I am at my most comfortable in Autumn.

The humidity in the uk makes the heat unbearable for me. Countries with lower humidity are much more bearable at higher temperatures.

Our houses just aren’t built for hot weather. Hot countries have lovely air conditioning and our houses are designed to be keeping heat in for the winter.
I have friends from South Africa who have moved here and said they struggle with the heat here. 28 degrees here is a different kind of heat than 28 degrees in South Africa. Not really sure why.
I do not enjoy the heat either. Especially as I’m very pale and burn so easily so I can’t really ‘enjoy’ being outside. The night is the worst - cannot stand being hot when trying to sleep!

I detest the hot weather and avoid going out as much as possible.

I honestly don't understand how anyone can enjoy the UK heat.

I prefer the temperature to be in single digits but I can cope up as far as maybe 21° but more than that I turn into a right old grump.

Roll on October is my summer mantra.

You need an AC. I bought one of those that you just put in a room and you stick the hose out the window (and you can buy adaptors for the windows from.amazon to cover the area around it so it's sealed).

Genuinely, life changer. Sure it won't cool down a whole house but I have a 2 bed apartment and it actually does the job. Even just having a cool living room is bliss.

I'm not British originally and my family lives in Spain. I HATE British heatwaves. It's not just our houses, just nothing is built for heat. I'd take 35 Celsius in Spain than 28 Celsius in London.

I feel for you, I was heavily pregnant in a heatwave years ago and I remember crying every day as I was melting.

I'm hot all the time anyway (menopause) so I dread the hot weather. I usually end up having at least 3 cool showers a day, last one just before bed as sleeping in the heat is a nightmare. I also wrap ice packs in a teatowel and have them in bed with me and a fan in the bedroom! I will be mostly staying indoors for the weekend with the blinds drawn 😩

I can so relate OP - I’ve never been a summer person. As a teen I didn’t see the point of sun bathing - I’d burn and it’s boring soooo boring! Always done UK holidays - if I had a pound for every time someone said ‘you can go to Spain for that price’ urgh the heat and obsession with the sun.

I’ve made an effort with buying grown up summer clothes that keep me covered so I don’t burn BUT even when my skin is ok an I stay in shade (on more recent aboard holidays) I still don’t feel quite well. I am one of those people who can’t cope with heat, the feeling of being hot, sweating, itching urgh nope not for me.

I bought a house that has a partially shaded garden. I have three nice sitting areas that are always shaded. One has a garden room and it always stays cool.

When we renovated our house I spend extra money on heat reducing features on south facing extension.

I can say I am better set up for summer now in my house and during these heatwaves with fans. I have an outdoor grill to cook on during summer to avoid oven/stove heat in house and this maintains the coolness.

I am a spring/autumn person and will sit outside plenty during those months

Also get bone cold - know exactly what you mean, only a hot bath helps to ‘cook through’ to get warm again. We are fortunate and that I will have heating on as needed.

I never understand this. I know people say you are letting in hot air but you are also keeping any breeze out. And breeze can be cooling.

Now I live in the Highlands I do really miss the summers I had living in the south of England. You get actual hot summers down south and without the wind we have here. However when it’s just hot for days with no let up even at night time it is quite oppressive! If I lived down south I would definitely be investing in aircon in the house.

We don’t have the same heat as say Majorca. We have higher humidity. So it quickly becomes more uncomfortable.

This gets raised on MN every single time the weather gets a bit warm, and loads of people including myself agree.

I am currently battened down in a pitch black house with all curtains and blinds closed.

Same. Nothing to do with menopause, I hate warm weather, always have. Part of it stems from my mother always insisting “what are you doing sitting in on such a lovely day” I hate being outside just to be outside. Temperatures much above 25 degrees are awful for me. I have to slather my pale skin with suncream, wear a hat, stay in the shade. Let me get my 15 minute vitamin D top up then leave me alone!

Do yourself a favour and have air-conditioning installed in your house. It’s perfect and you can even use it as a heat in the winter

Breeze may be temporarily cooling but letting the room heat up is worse.

Are you drinking enough and are you getting enough salt to replace what you are sweating out? I feel sick in the heat if I'm still on 'winter intake' of water. Upping my hydration and eating a salty packet of crisps usually helps.

I hate it too, especially at night. I'd rather be at -10 than +25.
I'm dreading the next week.
I have an AC in my front room/office, but I can't sleep with it on as the clunk disturbs me. So it will be fans, cooling towels and a knackered menopausal me until it cools down again.

I keep windows and curtains closed in the day and open them at night

I agree. I’ve tried both, and having curtains closed to stop the light getting in but windows open to allow a through breeze is far more effective. Even if the air is warm, it’s better than it’s moving.

I’m weird in that I can easily handle it when I’m abroad but can’t deal with it here in the UK. My DH said it’s because we have a different type of humidity. When in southern Italy a couple of years ago it was 34 degrees every day and we were walking all of the time- 30-35k steps a day. I was absolutely fine and loved it. Here it gets to 20 degrees and I’m cursing.

I'm in the East of the country and there have been several summers now that I've found absolutely brutal, I don't do heat and it can be significantly worse here than many areas. Also think any ability I had to feel the cold disappeared at menopause and never returned! I'm dreading this year because I don't think the newly acquired heart condition they are still trying to treat effectively will help matters.

Sympathy to all feeling the same.

I am like you but with this caveat: I think it is about lifestyle

i love hot weather if I can lounge in the shade, dip into the sea or pool, and snooze during the hottest part of the da

i Hate hot weather if I have to do the shopping, clean the house and then go to work in our hot office that has no airco, then drive home sitting in a hot traffic jam, come home sweaty and tired and then need to do the cooking

hot weather is only nice if you are at leisure imo

Some great suggestions here. We moved to Edinburgh a few years ago and one of the bonuses we hadn’t thought of is that we avoid the really hot weather down south. Plus it’s Edinburgh!

It's about respite I think. In the UK in a heatwave there are very few places you can escape the heat in. Almost no buildings are built to minimize solar gain, we are not able to live as much outside because our weather is too changeable and unpredictable and yes very little air conditioning.

In the winter, heating is abundant - every bus, train, shop and office you go into has heating and actually the problem is getting your outdoor gear off in time to avoid overheating. In the summer, aircon is rare so the feeling of heat being inescapable is much worse.

I bought a portable air con unit a few years ago after many years of trying every single super duper fan. It has truly made a difference because I know there's an escape if I can't stand it any more. It's a noisy fecker which gives me a stiff neck from the draft so I use it sparingly (solar panels mean the electricity it runs on isn't a concern). I still find my house gets noticeably dirtier and untidier because I go into shutdown mode during heat.

When the aircon isn't on I rely on window shading with thermal blinds and that makes a huge difference

It really is not the heat but the humidity In my experience. I find dry heat much easier to tolerate.

I would never close the curtains because the sunlight is brilliant for me but that's obvious as I have SAD

People talking about an Aircon unit.

Don't forget the important part of it is the conditioning - it really helps with the humidity, nothing else helps.

The problem part of it is the noise.

After years of living in new builds - admittedly with tiny heating bills - last year I finally saw a report which acknowledged, in Europe at least, more air-conditioning is going to be needed for the sake of people's health. There's no reason why flats like this shouldn't be built with some kind of air system for heating and cooling. You'd get far more use out of the cooling.

I'm also not hugely convinced by the thermal bricks. I can see they keep My heating bills low. But it's very weird in summer when you realise you are slowly being cooked. You literally are being cooked. It's not your imagination. The bricks have absorbed all the heat from the Sun and they are throwing it back at you.

And they are throwing it back at your air-conditioner unit.... I don't know when building regulations are going to see sense about this.

It's been several years now that I've had to run an air-conditioning unit several days from May to October. When I go outside, the difference in temperature is extraordinary. They have literally built heat boxes up and down the country. - edit - I mean it's always much cooler outside than it is in the flat. So I go out thinking it's boiling and it actually isn't! It's just the way the build is.

@Saywhatnowhey I always need to have that vent every year!

Actually, posters who are really struggling with the heat in houses, do you know how your houses have been built? If it's post 2000 there's a chance that you've got some of this going on.

We also get posters every year arguing that it's not possible to build for our climate - but somehow, New York manages to have proper heated buildings in winter and proper cold buildings in summer. I worked over there for a bit and was put up in company flats. It is possible!

All that said, it looks like today is a very nice day where I am. So I'm going to go out and enjoy it. Here it's Sunday and Monday that looks like too much. But it depends which forecast you look at? And no one knows who is right!