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.

Are you overweight by any chance OP? I lost 15kg and it has made the hot weather noticeably more bearable.

I hugely recommend getting AC fitted, even if only in your bedroom so you have somewhere to escape. It cost us £1400 and is worth every penny, I think it’s going to become as necessary as heating.

Nope. I was born in winter and I hate winter.

I have. It goes both ways on MN.

Some people can’t stand the cold and some can’t stand the heat. A thread usually happens when the weather drops or goes up significantly in a day or predicted to vs happening gradually.

From what I’ve seen on different platforms from people who have visited from hotter countries, many have found the hot weather here more uncomfortable than in their own countries.

If you have longish hair, twist it at the nape and hold a few ice cubes close to your head, then pull your hair up and pin securely. Your head will be cold, icy water will drip down your neck and it will be glorious.

I was born in November and hate winter. The kind of winter we get in Yorkshire is flat, grey and damp days with extremely low light levels. This kind of weather makes me feel very low and unmotivated.

If we got bright, crisp days then I wouldn't hate it, but they are as rare as hen's teeth here.

We don't really get the extremes of heat that people in London and other large cities get. Also, my office and my car have aircon so on the rare occasion we get very hot weather I don't have the issues that people using the tube to get to hot offices get.

The high temps will be here to Tuesday. Then be 22/23c. First week in June - 18c and rain.

I don’t like the heat, I don’t really perspire I also have dry ear wax. It’s a known genetic issue amongst many people of East Asian origin. I’m half Chinese but inherited this. It means I’m prone to getting hot.

I was also raised to see being tanned as a very lower class thing, this is cultural, who wants to look like a field worker? So it’s big sun hat for me, I also have a light coloured umbrella that I have used as a parasol.

My best tip in very hot weather is to get in the shower with a very light summer dress on. I have kept two very old and tired linen summer dresses for this. I get in the shower in the dress and just let it dry out over a couple of hours. Also put a big dish of ice cubes in front of fans so it cools the air. If at work or just not possible to walk about dripping wet get very cold water and put on your pulse points, keep a small wash cloth and put on the back of your neck. I just sleep downstairs if it’s very hot.

One thing I am not missing in this hot weather is wearing the supermarket uniform of polyester. They clung to us

I’ve recently been diagnosed with autism and adhd, and the feeling of being overwhelmed by the sun and the heat all my life is apparently a sensory overload thing. I had zero idea all this time. There were loads of other sensory difficulties that were highlighted as well, things I knew I had never liked but hadn’t realised were an actual sensory issue because I’d normalised having to get on with it for 42 years

I couldn’t stand that! Can you move somewhere cooler? Only 19-20C here in Edinburgh.

I'm in NZ and we do get lots of bright, crisp winter days but I still would much rather have a sunny summer day. We have had more than our share of dull days in recent years and I hate them - I also feel low and unmotivated.

Not that poster but I also struggle with intense sunshine. I use sun hats with a brim which do help a bit. I do also wear sunglasses when it gets really bright and this does help. I should get some prescription ones though. My glasses prescription isn't very strong so I don't need it as such, but it's still probably best if I do wear my glasses. (Don't worry, I don't drive!) But the other thing aside from the brightness of intense sunshine that I find difficult is the radiant type heat, I start to feel like I'm being cooked from the inside out. This is not something I remember being aware of in the UK so it might be different there or maybe the humidity just overwhelmed any other unpleasant feelings. I don't live in an especially sunny country (South Germany) but it is definitely warmer and sunnier here in the spring and summer than the UK. Spring here is how I remember summers being in the UK and in summer it is usually over 25 degrees and sometimes over 30 for a week or so at a time, which I find difficult.

However we came back to the UK a few years ago during summer and it was 25 degrees which here, I would find pleasantly warm as long as I am dressed for it - floaty dress, shorts, etc. In the UK I was finding it oppressively hot and the humidity was absolutely killer. It just made me feel really slow and sluggish and like I was moving through treacle. I was also pregnant which didn't help. But it was very different to how the heat feels here.

One positive of having warmer summer temps is that most buildings here are built to insulate equally well against heat and cold - big thick concrete or stone exterior walls are the norm, solid shutters or "Rolladen" (metal roller blinds) to keep out the sun at its hottest, and every house is designed in such a way that you can open windows on each side of the building in order to get a stiff breeze through the house, which is the way they protect their buildings from damp-induced mould. So this can help a lot, although on the hottest days I have learnt never to open a window when the sun is up - only do the breeze chasing overnight to cool things down.

This is a good tip BTW to keep your house cooler if you have the right arrangement of windows. The other thing to look up if you struggle with heat and your house is not well set up to stay cool is Australian customs of how to use fans effectively to move hot air out and move cooler air around a house, because a generation ago most Australian homes did not have air con, it obviously gets hot there, and apparently fan skills are things that they all learned growing up - I saw a very informative post on Reddit by an Australian who had moved to the UK and despaired at the way British people use fans There are probably other cultures which also know how to use fans in this way because air con is quite a modern/developed country thing.

@BertieBotts I have magnetic "clip on" sunglasses that attach to my glasses. They are a game changer for me, especially when driving or going in and out of shady places.

Something like this

Me!

I live in an old Victorian house and there are a couple of cooler rooms so that helps. I then pray for it to be over!

Hate that can’t walk the dog in the day etc. we like to do a shorter morning walk before work and long evening one- but in the heat this can be 10pm.

Of course you need an aircon unit. It’s a weird British peculiarity to struggle in the heat without them. There are studies and subsequent articles about the fact that hot and humid countries like Singapore would never have been as productive if it wasn’t for the invention of air con!

Poor you. This sounds miserable.

I would definitely mention the heart rate thing to the GP.

www.vox.com/2015/3/23/8278085/singapore-lee-kuan-yew-air-conditioning

25 is our preferred max and as we are NE Scotland it doesn't go much above that very often.

Feel sorry for people down south when seeing temps of 34-38..just no.

While I enjoy heat I don't think I would like that either, especially in a south facing flat in London with no outside space.

dh wants to go to the beach but unless there is a sea breeze i hate it and we have a dog so we are scuppered

Me too, hate it but you can't say it IRL.

The Wheel
THROUGH winter-time we call on spring,
And through the spring on summer call,
And when abounding hedges ring
Declare that winter's best of all;
And after that there s nothing good
Because the spring-time has not come —
Nor know that what disturbs our blood
Is but its longing for the tomb.

WB Yeats

Maybe some of us can't afford an air-con unit (I am on carers allowance) and maybe some of us moan because we genuinely feel quite unwell in this horrid humid heat.

We bought the house because it was within our budget and near my parents as I help care for my mum. Maybe in MN world there are people with funds to pick and choose their lifestyle accordingly to their exact needs and wants- meanwhile some of us live in the real world.

Just because YOU don't feel the heat doesn't mean that others don't or can't suffer like me, you do understand that concept don't you? That we are all different and experience things differently in life. The fact that one of my questions in my OP was 'Is it normal to feel so unwell during the summer months?' has received many replies from people saying they feel the same has actually put my mind at ease.