Whether you can’t afford air conditioning or are trying to cut costs by not using your air conditioning, here are some effective ways to keep yourself cool during these long, and hot, summer months:
Take a cold shower or bath with Peppermint Soap
This is a no brainer. Taking a cold shower helps lower your core temperature and peppermint soap activates brain receptors that convey whether something you’re eating or feeling is cold.
Stay hydrated
If you’re feeling hot, the first step you take to cool yourself down should be drinking water, and lots of it. The temperature of the water doesn’t matter since your body will heat it, but a cold glass of water always feels good.If your body is suffering from the heat and needs to cool itself, it can’t perform the function without enough moisture so get drinking.
Use cold washrags on your wrists and necks
Place a cold washrag on your wrists or drape it around your neck to cool your body. These pulse points are areas where blood vessels are close to the skin, so you’ll cool down more quickly. If you’ve invested in hot water bottles to stay warm in winter, they can also be filled with icy cold water to keep you cool in the summer!
If the weather in your area is cooler during the mornings and evenings, open the windows during those times to facilitate a cross-flow ventilation system. The outdoors can pull the hot air from your home, leaving a cooler temperature or bringing in the breeze. Just be sure to close windows as the sun comes out, then open them when the weather is cool again.
Close your curtains and blinds
If you have windows that face the sun’s direction in the morning through afternoon, close the curtains or blinds over them to keep the sun from coming directly into the house and heating up the inside.You could also install blackout curtains to insulate the room and reduce temperature increases that would happen during the day.
Sleep on Cotton Linen
Cotton is one of the most breathable materials, so cotton sheets or blankets could help keep you cool through the night. The lower the thread count of the cotton, the more breathable it is because higher thread counts have more weaving per square inch.
Close the doors of unused rooms
If no one’s using a room, close it off to keep the cool air in only occupied areas of the house.
Use the exhaust fan in your kitchen and/or bathroom
Flip the switch for the exhaust fan in your kitchen to pull hot air that rises after you cook or in your bathroom to draw out steam after you shower.
Install energy-efficient light bulbs
Incandescent light bulbs generate a higher temperature than LED light bulbs do. Change out current lightbulbs for energy saving ones and reap cooling benefits in the long run.
Cook in the morning
Oven heat can spread throughout your house. Keep the heat centralized in one area, such as a slow cooker.
Enjoy frozen treats
Eating an ice pop or ice cream to cool down may help for a moment. But don’t go overboard on the sugar if you’re overheated or at risk of being overheated. Sugar would run your metabolism up and you’d start feeling internally hot so the cool treat might be good, but the extra sugar might not.
When possible, stay indoors and stay hydrated to keep yourself and everyone around you as cool as a cucumber!
