People from the "hotter" regions, how do you deal with the heat?

moreeni@lemm.ee to Asklemmy@lemmy.ml – 281 points –

I am from Eastern Europe and this is the hottest summer on my memory. For at least 3 consecutive years the heat is breaking all records.

This stuff is unbearable, I can't even play video games on my laptop, because it warms up very fast and the keyboard becomes uncomfortable for me to use.

So, could you please share any useful tips on how do you survive the summer?

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Indian here, so experienced with hot climate.

  • Wear loose cotton clothes (long-sleeved if stepping out in the hot sun)
  • Keep yourself hydrated.
  • Avoid soft/ aerated drinks/ soda & coffee as they'll dehydrate you. Stick to cool water, ice chips, fresh lemonade made with water, fresh fruit juices, melons, spinach-cucumber-onion-tomato salads, yoghurt,
  • Eat light.
  • Stick to well-ventilated rooms with good air-circulation (fans help)
  • Cold water showers to cool down
  • Sweating is good. It'll cool you down. This is also why Indians eat spicy food and drink hot tea even in hottest summer. Get sweaty then take a quick cold-water rinse.
  • If you have to step outside in the hot sun, umbrella, hats, caps etc are your friends.
  • Wet towel on the back of the neck for a quick cool down.

ETA: When it gets so hot that we lose our appetite, then our go-to meal is to mix up cooled cooked rice with unsweetened yoghurt and a pinch of salt. its variously called yoghurt rice/ curd rice/ thayir saadam / dahi bhaath / dahi chaawal . This is an easy to make & easy to diges meal that is guaranteed to cool a person down.

thayir = dahi = curd = yoghurt
saada = bhaath = chaawal = cooked rice

Good luck.

I'd make one exception: cotton wants to hold water. Evaporative cooling needs water to evaporate. There are synthetic materials that will hold much less water, so they'll weigh less from sweat and evaporate more quickly, providing a tiny bit more cooling. Plus many have protection from the sun reducing the amount of sunscreen that has to be worn.

There are a line of shirts known as "fishing shirts" that are made to be big, and they have vents to encourage air to circulate inside them. They work great.

its hot, water will evaporate no matter what the cotton wants. the longer the fabric stays wet, the longer the wearer will be cool.

Why cotton instead of linen? At least in Spain, linen is more popular as summer clothing, and definitively feels fresher.

Cost. Cotton is less expensive than linen, easier to maintain, and more widely available. Banana fiber is also quite cool but is not widely available.