It's lovely and sunny today and many of us will be getting hot and bothered - make sure you stay hydrated and keep you and your family cool
Feeling a little hot under the collar today? You’re not the only one!
When the weather’s good, we Brits hate to complain (after all, we so rarely get to see that bright blob in the sky!) but being so sun deprived for most of the year also means we’re less equipped to deal with the heat when the sun does decide to show its face.
It’s okay during the precious holidays when we can relax in the hot weather with a pool nearby to cool down, but when the sun is scorching back home and we still have our daily routines to go about – running around in the boiling heat isn’t fun!
But on those rare occasions when the sun does come out, we’re stuck left feeling like we’re locked in a greenhouse. It can be hard to get anything done when it’s too hot to move.
However, hope is not lost. We’ve come up with some simple, easy and downright genius ways to cool down quickly. From freezing fruit to making your own air-con, here are the some of best ways to keep cool when the weather’s warm.
Phew!
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1. Try something herbal
Herbal remedies can work wonders – especially when it comes to keeping you cool. Some herbs have handy cooling properties when eaten or used on the skin.
Mint, dandelion leaf, raspberry leaf, hibiscus and chamomile are some of the best known cooling herbs to use. Look out for lotions or foods with these ingredients for when it’s really hot.
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2. Eat spicy foods
Eat hot food. It might sound that the last thing you’d want to do on a hot day, but bear with us.
When it’s hot outside, eating chillies, curries, or anything makes your mouth feel like it’s on fire can actually cool you down. Hot food stimulates the heat receptors in your mouth, which causes you to sweat, and cooling your body.
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3. Change the direction of you ceiling fan
That ceiling fan in your living room could actually be doing more harm than good. Make sure it’s rotating anti-clockwise to get the best effect.
If it runs clockwise, the fan actually pushes the warm air down – and you don’t want that when your house already feels like 100 degrees.
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4. Make your own air conditioning
When your air con always breaks at the worst possible moment (which it always seems to do), this handy trick will save the day.
Fill a bowl with ice and put in front of an electric fan. By positioning the bowl at an angle, the fan will whip the cold air off the ice and blast it around the room. Crisis averted.
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5. Drink, drink, drink
When the temperature soars, you’ll be sweating far more than usual, even if you’re not actually dripping with it. So make sure you drink lots of water. Avoid caffeinated drinks as these make you go to the loo more, and therefore won’t help you keep hydrated.
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6. Put your moisturiser in the fridge
Try putting your moisturiser and any other lotions you use in the fridge. When you put them on they’ll be lovely and cool and with have a soothing effect on your skin.
However, if you’re suffering from prickly heat (or heat rash), don’t apply lotions with any scent – as this can irritate the skin more.
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7. Don’t fan yourself with your hands
If you’ve got a fan like this one then by all means, fan away! But don’t resort to flapping your hands to try and cool yourself down – the energy it takes to move your arms in that way will make you hotter – so instead, try to stay still! Electric fans are the best option as they require zero effort from you.
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8. Frozen fruit
Cool down while you snack on something healthy by freezing your favourite fruit! Much healthier than reaching for an ice cream but with the same cooling effect – yum!