What Can You Do to Stay Cool in Hot Weather?
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"Drink a couple of cups of water a few hours before you head out for exercise. Bring a water bottle with you and drink about ten big gulps from your water bottle every 15 minutes or so."
Be careful about this! Staying hydrated is important, but people shouldn't drink this much just to drink. Drink as you're thirsty. Drink every fifteen minutes perhaps, but not ten big gulps. Add electrolytes to the water! Well-hydrated people have still died from hyponatremia.
Thankfully for meat lovers it doesn't have to be a choice only between no cook salads or overheating the house to cook meals for the family these days. We have freezers in which to store 3 months worth of meat and poultry which was cooked and prepared ahead in cooler spring time months. We have modern small appliances like crock pots, electric pressure cookers, smokeless indoor electric grills, electric skillets, toaster ovens, etc. which do not heat the house up as badly as the kitchen stove does and/or that are so small and portable they can be easily moved and set up in another location, even outdoors, as long as there is pan outlet to plug them in. We can also grill, BBQ, or smoke outdoors ... no electricity even required. We have electric pressure canning pots to safely home can our own foods ahead with which to stock the pantry during the cooler seasons including meats that aren't recommended for water bath canning. We can even use freezers to freeze and store multiple large tubs or gallon jugs of water to place behind box fans then switch the jugs or tubs out as needed, but far less often because much longer lasting than a bowl of small ice cubes. Those bowls of melted ice then get dumped and refilled, wasting precious water, but with tubs or jugs they just go right back into the freezer over and over. Can also cool down with frozen fruits and grapes, homemade pops, no churn ice cream, and nice cream, ice cream cakes and pies. Freeze lemonade, tea, juices, etc. into ice cubes for ice cold drinks without having drinks become overly watery and weak as the cubes melt.
OH, and those gallon jugs of frozen water will help keep things in the freezer cold longer too if there is a power outage ... no racing to the store to buy bags of ice and trying to beat the rush before all sold out.
Extreme heat above 90? That's the entirety of May-September pretty much in the South. This article is very skewed regionally. If you're a seasoned Southerner, my rule is don't exercise outside past 100 degrees temperature (which is at least 110 heat index) for more than 15 minutes in the sun if there's little or no shade. Even very fit people accustomed to it can get weak in that. And go before 8 am or after 6 pm or on an overcast day if you're doing 30 minutes or more. Or, of course, if there's ample shade like live oaks, I find I can walk an hour no matter how hot it is if I pour some water on the crown of my head under my hat before I go. Just be careful and mind what you're used to regionally and personally.
Here in Arizona we like it hot. We've already had three days in a row of 118. It keeps the coastal people away.
there were so many great ideas!
Regarding 'sipping cold water throughout the day', it's actually more beneficial to sip unchilled water, as the body must work to warm up cold water, which increases body temperature and essentially negates the purpose of drinking the water.
So, although it may not appeal to our modern-day spoiled preferences, unrefrigerated water is the best option for our bodies :^D
You forgot to mention popsicles!
Oh, I am not apologizing or sorry for anything I said. I lived here for 30 years and sweltered year after year. I did all the stuff suggested. Sitting in front of two fans with my feet in a bucket of water! I was 50 years old and sleeping on a thing on the basement floor, like a dog! I couldn't bear it any more. I told my husband, "I am too old for this.....stuff. I want central air conditioning. If you not call the company, I am leaving you and will live elsewhere until fall" . I got it, and we BOTH could not be happier. Should have done it years ago. Someday I will probably die here, but I won't have to die with heat exhaustion, too.
Sally, I agree with Andy Fox when he said you need to chill out! I'm WELL past 20 & MAYBE I don't do cannonballs or swing on a rope swing much any more (but then again maybe I do), but I still love swimming in a nice clean river or creek. It's not only relaxing & cooling but also takes me back to a much different time when both I & the world were younger. My own personal experience has also taught me that living in a huge city isn't very conducive to creek/river swimming & not everyone is as fortunate as I am to live in a rural state with clean water for swimming or boating. Also, even though I own an A/C unit, I rarely use it unless the temps get into the 90s & then it's to help remove the humidity more than anything else. And, lastly, my husband was a Texan & they are definitely "meat & potatoes" type of guys there! He at first questioned the switch to "salad night" atleast once or twice a week during Summer heat but he adjusted & it didn't kill either of us. In fact, it's actually part of a healthy lifestyle & helps start the process of shedding extra unnecessary pounds. You should atleast try some of the article's suggestions...after all, what have you got to lose except having to suffer less & perhaps feeling more energized like you perhaps used to when younger & thinner. Otherwise, all I can say is Heaven help you & yours if the power grid ever does go down in your neighborhood! I for one practice most of the steps outlined in the article simply because I HATE handing my hard earned money over to the greedy, overpriced utility company!!
I really learned a lot here. As I child in New Jersey, no one really had air conditioning and didn't notice much. It's good to have A/C now but it is also good to know how to deal without it if you have a power outage or some problem. Very interesting. Thank you.
