To my northern neighbours suffering from the current heat wave.
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To my northern neighbours suffering from the current heat wave.
I lived in approx 38C with 90% humidity for 20 years, and I have a few pieces of advice.
1. Don't do anything fast that you can do slow.
2. Umbrellas aren't just for rain. They work for sun, too.
3. Sweat is your friend. Drink lots of liquid, eat and drink things that trigger sweating.4. Cold showers and baths trigger your body to warm up. Room temp showers work best - and don't bother drying off.
@Remittancegirl I have also lived in this kind of climate for 20 years. Singapore, close to and often at 100% humidity and temperatures around 32 degrees. It's at the equator, so the temperature and humidity is about the same all over the year.
I can only agree with the recommendations.
As someone who regularly go on high intensity mountain bike rides in this kind of weather, make sure you stay hydrated with added salts. Sweating will remove the salts, and if you replace it with plain water you'll feel pretty bad after a while. Also, when exercising it's possible to lost hydration faster than your body can absorb it, so you need to take breaks.
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To my northern neighbours suffering from the current heat wave.
I lived in approx 38C with 90% humidity for 20 years, and I have a few pieces of advice.
1. Don't do anything fast that you can do slow.
2. Umbrellas aren't just for rain. They work for sun, too.
3. Sweat is your friend. Drink lots of liquid, eat and drink things that trigger sweating.4. Cold showers and baths trigger your body to warm up. Room temp showers work best - and don't bother drying off.
@Remittancegirl I have a hard time sweating and I'm interested in sweat-triggering foods!
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@vriesk
Yes, absolutely. They help evaporate sweat, even if just a little, even if they're not cooling you down directly.I notice that fans really stop helping at about 40. But it never got that hot in Vietnam where I was. But when I was in Cordoba, which is very dry heat, I noticed that fans started to feel like a hair-dryer on hot at 40C. If anything, it made it feel worse.
@Remittancegirl @vriesk @svenscholz
Fans still help at 40+ if you're wet, the problem is you dry off fast enough that things get right back to hair dryer. I think at a certain temperature, with the fan on you can't sweat fast enough to keep it cooling you down.
It's like hand dryers in bathrooms. The air in them is hot but they still feel cold until your hands dry off.
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@Remittancegirl I have a hard time sweating and I'm interested in sweat-triggering foods!
@peluchecero @Remittancegirl Hot curries do it for me. Interestingly, food with just chilli in (like Mexican foods) don't nearly so much, although they are often just as spicy as hot curry; so it must be some other spice which triggers the sweating.
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To my northern neighbours suffering from the current heat wave.
I lived in approx 38C with 90% humidity for 20 years, and I have a few pieces of advice.
1. Don't do anything fast that you can do slow.
2. Umbrellas aren't just for rain. They work for sun, too.
3. Sweat is your friend. Drink lots of liquid, eat and drink things that trigger sweating.4. Cold showers and baths trigger your body to warm up. Room temp showers work best - and don't bother drying off.
@Remittancegirl I'm from Portugal, we also get a few toasty days over here. I'll also leave a tip. A small cotton wet towel around the back of the neck helps keep your head cool.
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@noodlemaz I agree with you. The places where the temps are soaring are just not prepared or built for them.
Also, especially elderly people need acclimatisation to live with heat. The radical change to the body is really hard on fragile bodies.
Regarding the showers. Believe me, I know the lure of an ice cold shower. It seems like it's going to make you feel good, and it does for a short time, but the body's re-heat response kicks in and you feel worse than before you got in the shower
I'd also want to remind people that bodies adapt, but in their own time (48h or more, normally, IMO, longer if you don't "shock" them hard, see next toots).
Going up to 40°C where winters are cold and in the Summer the ordinary max daily temperature is in the low 20°C is tough.
If, however, one has weeks hovering between 26 and 35°C and then T goes up to 40, then (most) bodies are prepared and will cope a LOT better.
1/n -
I'd also want to remind people that bodies adapt, but in their own time (48h or more, normally, IMO, longer if you don't "shock" them hard, see next toots).
Going up to 40°C where winters are cold and in the Summer the ordinary max daily temperature is in the low 20°C is tough.
If, however, one has weeks hovering between 26 and 35°C and then T goes up to 40, then (most) bodies are prepared and will cope a LOT better.
1/nAs an Italian in the UK, I deliberately make efforts to get my body-adaptations going, when the season changes. And it works. 1st few times the T drops below 18C in Autumn feel awful, and come December it's the norm and I don't mind.
It's harder with extreme heat, as I can't make it happen regularly and on command, but I find that ability/disposition to sweat does respond to "training".
2/n
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@peluchecero @Remittancegirl Hot curries do it for me. Interestingly, food with just chilli in (like Mexican foods) don't nearly so much, although they are often just as spicy as hot curry; so it must be some other spice which triggers the sweating.
@simon_brooke @Remittancegirl So hot + warm spices? I am not too fond of curries and I cannot make a stew on this heatwave, but I can make Lebanese or Moroccan food (shakshuka has chillies garlic and cumin)
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As an Italian in the UK, I deliberately make efforts to get my body-adaptations going, when the season changes. And it works. 1st few times the T drops below 18C in Autumn feel awful, and come December it's the norm and I don't mind.
It's harder with extreme heat, as I can't make it happen regularly and on command, but I find that ability/disposition to sweat does respond to "training".
2/n
I had a mild heatstroke once hiking on a holiday, got around 30-35°C, steep uphill walk, unshaded slope, on the day after arriving from the UK.
At some point I realised *I was not sweating* (!!!), not at all, despite drinking plenty. Turned right back when I noticed, but was a little bit too late. I never thought this was possible.Now I cycle at least once a week, which keeps my ability to sweat ready for use (phew).
3/n
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I had a mild heatstroke once hiking on a holiday, got around 30-35°C, steep uphill walk, unshaded slope, on the day after arriving from the UK.
At some point I realised *I was not sweating* (!!!), not at all, despite drinking plenty. Turned right back when I noticed, but was a little bit too late. I never thought this was possible.Now I cycle at least once a week, which keeps my ability to sweat ready for use (phew).
3/n
But, when I visit family in Italy, my first steep cycling climb fails (2 years in a row). Body gives up and says "no more". Then the day after (with legs that should be already tired) it's fine. Only explanation I have is that the 1st failure acts as a strong signal: body needs to adapt to the heat - right now.
I might be wrong, but it's the only explanation I have, and fits with the observations of how long it takes for bodies to adapt to the heat.
4/n -
But, when I visit family in Italy, my first steep cycling climb fails (2 years in a row). Body gives up and says "no more". Then the day after (with legs that should be already tired) it's fine. Only explanation I have is that the 1st failure acts as a strong signal: body needs to adapt to the heat - right now.
I might be wrong, but it's the only explanation I have, and fits with the observations of how long it takes for bodies to adapt to the heat.
4/nAnyway, +1 (and then some) for the excellent advice.
Go SLOW (really!). Take ambient-temperature showers, or even warm, but NOT cold!
Hot drinks work, actually (also make you adsorb the water faster).
5/5 -
To my northern neighbours suffering from the current heat wave.
I lived in approx 38C with 90% humidity for 20 years, and I have a few pieces of advice.
1. Don't do anything fast that you can do slow.
2. Umbrellas aren't just for rain. They work for sun, too.
3. Sweat is your friend. Drink lots of liquid, eat and drink things that trigger sweating.4. Cold showers and baths trigger your body to warm up. Room temp showers work best - and don't bother drying off.
@Remittancegirl finally someone with good advice. The amount of "drink ice cold things and take cold showers" advices I've seen these last days.... I learned as a kid to drink lukewarm things and take warm, not cold showers (which could turn into a shock for an overheated body anyway), because lowering your core temperature with cold things gets your body to throw on the heating no matter the outside temperatures.
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To my northern neighbours suffering from the current heat wave.
I lived in approx 38C with 90% humidity for 20 years, and I have a few pieces of advice.
1. Don't do anything fast that you can do slow.
2. Umbrellas aren't just for rain. They work for sun, too.
3. Sweat is your friend. Drink lots of liquid, eat and drink things that trigger sweating.4. Cold showers and baths trigger your body to warm up. Room temp showers work best - and don't bother drying off.
@Remittancegirl heat and hot food correlate? I though it was just to keep it save
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Anyway, +1 (and then some) for the excellent advice.
Go SLOW (really!). Take ambient-temperature showers, or even warm, but NOT cold!
Hot drinks work, actually (also make you adsorb the water faster).
5/5@GraziosiSergio @Remittancegirl @noodlemaz I have always insisted on 'hot weather, hot drinks', but then tea is almost continuously brewed/poured/drunk in copious quantities all year-round in my house.
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@ebel All I can say is that the whole of Southeast Asia eats spicy stuff and curries, and I think there is method to this madness. It makes you sweat. Same with drinking hot chai and hot tea - which seems just so nuts in the heat.
As to salt... I didn't mention it, but it's important if you're sweating.
@Remittancegirl @ebel which is why, presumably, curries also have at least a modicum of salt in them.
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@VerenaRupp @Remittancegirl I was told this only works up to a given air humidity.
In those cases Putting a bottle of frozen water in a bowl in front of a fan seems to work better and also dehumidifies the air (again, hearsay, still need to try that)…
@dec_hl @VerenaRupp @Remittancegirl Ah, but remember that making things frozen also heats up the air around the fridge or ice maker, so can be counterproductive, and water from a tap should work as well, as it evaporates, the remainder gets colder.
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@GraziosiSergio @Remittancegirl @noodlemaz I have always insisted on 'hot weather, hot drinks', but then tea is almost continuously brewed/poured/drunk in copious quantities all year-round in my house.
@UkeleleEric @GraziosiSergio @Remittancegirl I don't subscribe to that one, hot drinks make me feel like I'm having a hot flush in this weather. No thx
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To my northern neighbours suffering from the current heat wave.
I lived in approx 38C with 90% humidity for 20 years, and I have a few pieces of advice.
1. Don't do anything fast that you can do slow.
2. Umbrellas aren't just for rain. They work for sun, too.
3. Sweat is your friend. Drink lots of liquid, eat and drink things that trigger sweating.4. Cold showers and baths trigger your body to warm up. Room temp showers work best - and don't bother drying off.
@Remittancegirl
I'm not in an extremely humid or hot place, but I like to freeze some water in a water bottle and put it on the floor for my cats to cuddle while I'm at work. They sit next to it like a little AC unit that radiates cold
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@suearcher Apparently she will, sadly.
Umbrellas really do help if you have to spend much time in direct sun.
@Remittancegirl @suearcher those who are not exposed to other European languages may not realise that an umbrella can be a parapluie *or* a parasol
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@Remittancegirl No, I absolutely don't think you're lying or anything like that. 38C dry-bulb is definitely happening in many places, also the humid ones.
Also, your hot-weather advice is very sound and good.
Just that during the peak-temperature hours, the relative humidity is likely even lower than 80% even during the wettests months, as 38C with even 80% is 34.8C, still on the edge of survival for humans. Vietnam is not listed to ever get above 34C in this list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet-bulb_temperature#Heat_waves_with_high_humidity
@vriesk
FFS dude, no.@Remittancegirl
Sorry you got "akshually"d on your lived experience, good grief.
