Stay Cool This Summer
the heat. The heat can cause sunburn, dehydration, and even heatstroke. Heatstroke is usually caused by working- or even, playing- in the heat without drinking enough water to keep your body properly hydrated. So, the trick is to stay cool this summer, no matter how high the mercury rises.
Use these helpful tips to stay cool and healthy this summer:
1. Dress Lighter
Many types of summer clothing are made with nylon, polyester, or Spandex. These materials are durable, and they resist wrinkles so they always look good. The problem with these materials is that they don’t allow your body to “breathe.” Nylon, polyester, and Spandex hold your body heat in, causing you to sweat more. Cotton clothing, on the other hand, is light. Air circulates through it. Choose clothing made of cotton, and you’re sure to stay cool this summer.
2. Choose Light Colors
Dark colors like red, black, navy, and purple tend to absorb the heat of the sun. It’s fine to wear dark colored clothing in the fall or winter time, but not in the summer. In the summer months, you need to choose light colored clothing. Wearing colors such as white, khaki, light blue, pink, tan, and lavender will help you stay cool this summer.
3. Keep the Heat Out
If you close your blinds, curtains, and drapes in the daytime to keep the heat of the sun out, your house will stay much cooler. When you want to “let the fresh air in”, do it at night when it’s cooler out.
4. Stay Hydrated
According to medical experts, human beings are supposed to drink six to eight glasses of water every day. This amount of water consumption should keep our bodies properly hydrated. In the summer time, when the heat dehydrates our bodies quicker, we need to drink even more water.
To stay cool this summer, avoid drinking soda pop, coffee, and alcoholic beverages when it’s hot outside. These beverages actually tend to DEHYDRATE you instead of HYDRATING your body.
5. Head Downstairs
The basement is always the coolest section of your house. Take advantage of the cool and spend as much time as possible down there. If your basement isn’t finished, you can lay down a room-size rug, put in a table and chairs, and add some floor lamps to brighten the area up. Then, you and your family can spend time together in your basement and stay cool this summer.
6. Avoid Heavy Oils and Lotions
To protect their skin from the sweltering summer sun, most people use sunblocks and tanning lotions to protect their skin from harmful Ultraviolet (UV) rays. These types of protection are fine. But avoid using other products such as baby oil and “heavy” lotions. These products actually close the pores in your skin. The result? Your body can’t cool down by sweating, and you can easily become overheated. Instead, to stay cool this summer, use “light” products to moisturize, soften, and smooth your skin.
7. Tie One On!
A sure-fire way to stay cool this summer, is to wear a bandanna around your head. Before you put it on at first, dunk the bandanna in cool water. Wring it out so it’s not sloppy wet, then tie it around your head. Periodically re-cool the bandanna by dipping/wringing it out again.
8. Wear a Cooling Vest
A cooling vest is an item you can wear to stay cool this summer. Wearing a vest may sound hot, but it’s really not. Because this type of vest is first soaked in cool water before it’s worn. If you work outside in the sweltering summer sun, you might want to log onto the Internet and check out sites like www.coolsport.net. This site sells all kinds of products to help you stay cool this summer.
9. Cook Out, Eat Out
Instead of heating up your house by cooking inside, why not grill out instead? If you’re tired of American barbecue foods, why not have a Korean Barbecue instead? Or, pack your family up in the car and head to your favorite restaurant instead of cooking at home.
Also, try to use your oven at night- never in the daytime- to stay cool this summer. If you have to bake a birthday cake, for example, do it at night when it’s cooler. You can open up your house to allow the heat from your oven to escape too.
10. Reduce the Heat
When they’re in use, incandescent light bulbs put off a lot of heat. To stay cool this summer, you may consider replacing your regular light bulbs with cool fluorescent bulbs.
