- How a heat wave can prove expensive for some
- Find out what happens when you have heat stroke
- Can these really be remedies for really hot weather?
Thankfully it is a bit cooler this week.
I know so many of you have really struggled with the heat and humidity we endured recently.
Under normal circumstances where I have a cold swimming pool and a cooling beer close to hand I love heat like this… albeit for my 2 weeks in the Med!
But even dragging a few combinations of my nausea inducing shirts and shorts out of the wardrobe and sitting in front of a fan did not produce any level of comfort.
My dear, and most beloved wife suffered likewise, but her approach to getting the correct attire was to batter the joint account.
“I have nothing to wear when it’s this hot,” she said when I questioned her opening parcels of new outfits.
When I pointed at about a hundred summer things she has overflowing from her wardrobe, but she just looked at me as though I was an MP filling out an expenses form.
“Ray, those dresses are three years old,” she snapped with a mixture of exasperation and homicidal tendencies.
Anyhow, we really should enjoy the hot weather when we can, but it’s also something we should prepare for, because there are dangers hidden inside the good weather…
How to look after yourself in a heat wave
I might be accused of shutting the stable door as the nag is running over the horizon but I thought I would share some thoughts about surviving a period of high temperatures.
Keep these tips handy for any future tarmac melting days…
…but I’m not sure that you would want to try out the five strangest heat survival tips I found when I was doing my research.
More on that later.
In day to day life, our bodies regulate our temperatures through sweating. But when really hot weather arrives, sweating isn’t powerful enough to keep our temperatures down.
It’s a bit like holding a hand fan to your face when you really need to switch the air conditioning on.
And when our sweating function is overworked and not effective, our blood chemistry can change. In extreme examples, this can lead to brain and kidney damage.
But it’s more likely you’ll fall prey to more common conditions like heatstroke, heat exhaustion, heat cramps, sunburn and heat rash, if you don’t protect yourself.
What is heatstroke?
Heat stroke occurs when the body becomes unable to control its temperature: the body’s temperature rises rapidly, the sweating mechanism fails and the body is unable to cool down.
Body temperature may rise to 106 degrees F (41 degrees C) or higher within 10 to 15 minutes. Heatstroke can result from overexposure to direct sunlight, with or without physical activity, or to very high indoor temperatures. It can cause death or permanent disability if emergency treatment is not given.
Yep – it’s that bad. That’s why it’s essential that you limit the amount of time you spend outdoors, and always avoid the peak heat hours of 12.00-3.00pm.
Of course you can pop out during these hours. You’re not going to shrivel up and burst into flame the moment a sun beam hits you (unless your name is Dracula and you live in Transylvania, in which case you should be reading the The Un-Dead Letter rather than this one).
But you really shouldn’t stay out in the peak hours for too long. I for one round up all the family like a pack of sheep during this time and take them in the shade for a nice long lunch. And I always drink plenty of water when it’s hot – more than I do when it’s cold.
No doubt you will have read all the usual advice on heatstroke in the health magazines and supplements. You know the kind of thing… ‘Don’t get too hot’, ‘drink water’, ‘avoid tight clothing,’ ‘don’t war thick heavy materials’, ‘never lock yourself in the car in direct sunlight for 5 hours’, ‘Don’t build a rocket and fly it toward the sun.’
All very sensible.
However, I’ve got some really interesting alternative natural remedies you probably won’t see in the mainstream press…
But I am also not sure that I would want to try them out either – what about you?
5 strange food based remedies that prevent or treat heat stroke
These are all real and supposedly well proven.. honestly!
- Roast a mango in the oven until the flesh is soft. Remove the pulp, then add a couple of teaspoons of brown sugar to the remaining flesh. Now eat a good few tablespoons of the mango whenever you feel the heat.
- Grind down some peppercorns into a powder and mix it in with coconut milk. When you’re indoors and out of the sun, smear this on your skin like a sun lotion – it helps cool your body down more rapidly.
- If you get heat stroke, chop up and onion. Wrap it in a thin cloth and press hard so the juices from the raw onion seep into the cloth. Now press this behind your ears and against the chest. This will reduce the inflammation.
- Or shallow fry the chopped onion, mix it with cumin powder, then add a little bit of sugar. Eat this before you go out into the sun as a preventative.
- Sprinkle some salt in buttermilk and then drink the mixture 3 times a day. (Add some fresh or dried mint leaves if you have some to hand). This not only wards off the summer heat, it helps relieve thirst and helps you urinate. WARNING! Unlike the other recipes I’ve just revealed, some people think this one tastes pretty awful.
Right. That’s it from me today.
I’ll let you make your own decision about those tips above… I think I’ll stick to ice cold drinks and my trusty voluminous clothing… unless Lara has already burnt them!
P.S. I have been trying to get a bit of information onto Facebook and could really do with a bit of help from any of you who have a Facebook account.
If you visit [our page here] and click to ‘like’ us, or even better share one of the stories you like with your contacts it will help build our reputation.. which I am told is a good thing by the IT folk!
https://www.facebook.com/Good-Life-Letter-373834156746607/
Thank you for helping.
