Peppermint Spray, Soft Music & Tepid Bath Water
It's hot ... ridiculously hot and getting hotter. There's talk of 40 degree temperatures this coming weekend (think Celsius, folks, not Fahrenheit!). So ... what to do about it if you don't have a cool dark cave to crawl in to, a glacier-fed lake lapping at your doorstep, or AC?
Well, here are a few of my strategies:
Don't move more than is absolutely necessary!
Don't work on your accounts or try to assemble an Ikea bookshelf because stress creates more heat.
Keep a tub filled with water all day and strip off and lie in it every couple of hours.
Turn off lights wherever possible. Psychologically, if nothing else, a dim room feels cooler than a brightly lit one.
Close up the house during the day and live like a myopic mole ... shut the windows, draw the blinds and don't open anything up until the air temperature outside is cooler than the air within and then leave as much as possible open overnight to welcome the cooler night air.
Turn on a fan, or a chorus of fans ... hang sealed bags of ice in front of them for the air to push through.
Play soft music; it slows you down, so no rock 'n roll or anything too exciting.
Spray peppermint oil in the room ... just the smell of it makes one feel cooler.
Avoid moisturizers and body lotions. Our bodies are cooled by the evaporation of perspiration so you don't want anything clogging your pores that might impede this process
Drink water, lots of it ... maybe toss in a sachet of EmergenC too.
Don't turn on your cooker, dishwasher, or other heat-generating appliances if you can avoid it.
Drape a fashionable, ice-water soaked towel around your neck and run cold water over your pulse-points (wrists) every once in a while.
Think cool thoughts and remember this too shall pass and that, over time, our bodies do adapt to these excessive temperatures. Two days ago I was gasping when the indoor thermometer hit 28 degrees. Today, if I can hold it there, I'll be happy as the outdoor temps soar to at least 10 degrees higher.
A final tip: do what I'm about to do, head off to your local supermarket and spend a few minutes fondling peas in the frozen food aisle!
Photo credit: www.lifeinthedoglane.com
