#heatwave tips

As the weather (hopefully) warms up and we begin to head into summer, it is a good time to take a little extra care of ourselves. Here in the UK the weather can be a little unpredictable, ranging from “apocalyptic” storms to blistering heat.

A large part of what makes this weather so dramatic is that we have houses that are primarily designed to keep out the rain, rather than the heat (or on some occasions snow) – so anything outside of a very narrow comfort band and the whole system tends to fall over.

I have always struggled with the heat, even before I became disabled. I’d often catch a touch of the sun on archaeological digs with the university many years back. Nowadays, as I am far less mobile (and can no longer do digs), you would think that I would struggle less.

After all, I am inside most of the time – so in theory, it should be cooler, right? Unfortunately, that doesn’t stop the sun from turning my room into an oven (see: houses designed to keep out rain, not heat).

Frankly, there are days when I genuinely wonder if I could rent out my room as a sauna …but I digress.

So today, I wanted to share a few practical summer self-care ideas that have helped me learn to manage the hot weather as a spoonie.

Self-care ideas:

Keep hydrated. It is very important to stay hydrated in hotter weather (although within reason). Heat exhaustion can happen even in gloomy countries like the UK, and some meds – like Amitriptyline in my case – can make it worse. My big tip is to keep water close by and take regular sips.

Keep cool. Heat exhaustion is nothing to laugh at – it can be very serious indeed if you don’t take steps to treat it. Try and stay as cool as you can, maybe moving to cooler rooms in the house. As heat rises, when I can (which is never a certain thing) like to escape to the lounge in the mornings which is both downstairs and west facing, making it absolutely freezing most of the day (perfect for heatwaves). Wet shirts and cold compresses can also help you cool down – if it is safe for you to use them. Many mini-USB fans are also surprisingly powerful for their size (so long as you don’t drop and break them…which can happen – I have previous for killing three mini fans that way).

Avoid sunburn. Firstly, because it can lead to skin cancer. But secondly because if you burn yourself badly enough, you can end up with blisters. I learnt this the hard way many years ago on a dig, ending up with blisters on my ears. Once was enough and now, I always wear my official “silly hat” which has a nice wide brim all the way around (even though I can't get out much and not without support nowadays). This protects my ears (although I also slather on the sunblock just in case).

Remember – sometimes chronic illnesses and pain conditions can flare with excessive heat. This is the hardest one on the list for me. With my CRPS, there is not much I can do but wait it out. If you also fall into this category, please be gentle with yourself. Your body needs extra kindness and support in this weather. PS – if you live with CRPS, my CRPS guidebook and tracker can help you learn to better manage your condition, finding what works for you and how you can best help yourself.

But how about you? What are your go-to self-care tips for the summer? Share your tips below – I’d love to hear your ideas!

If you're someone who donates to food pantries or makes care packages for the homeless, consider* adding these electrolyte powders to your donation. Hydration with plain water just isn't enough in a heatwave, and these can be mixed in a water bottle fairly easily.

- You can cook your eyeballs Well you can burn them anyway. It sucks a lot. Limit your time outside even if you're a champ in the heat because the pain can last for a couple days after the burn. Sunglasses help the UV but hot air burns you too.

- Hot beans = cold beans stick those microwavable beanbags in the freezer. They don't stay cold for long but if you have a few you can rotate them. REALLY nice for putting on your head or burned eyeballs and a must-have for sleeping

- Your house is the worst in the evening Heat comes into the house and turns it into an oven later in the day, so while you may laugh at the sun during the peak temperature of the day, it's just plotting its revenge.

- Cover up windows in the morning You've heard this a million times before and it seems like so much work but trust me, this is THE biggest factor in keeping your house cool. For windows that don't have curtains, put cardboard up. Block the light, it's not your friend. Open windows again when the temperature outside is cooler/the same as inside.

- Identify the coolest room in your house and clean it You'll be spending a lot of time there

- Keep doors closed and lights out so you have cold places to retreat to

- You can just Leave If there's somewhere with cooler temperatures within driving distance, you can just go there during the worst times (like the evening)

- Stuff is gonna rot The garbage, dirty dishes, the dishwasher, bread, and just plain old good fruit will get really nasty REALLY fast. Stay on top of it, fridge food you normally leave out.

- Pets can overheat too Seems obvious but I get it. You have a lot on your mind in a heatwave. Remember that dogs, cats, bunnies, rodents, reptiles, birds, arthropods, and even fish can all overheat. Look up how to keep your specific pet cool so you can do it safely.

Your dog doesn't have shoes They can burn their feet on a walk, so hold your bare hand or feet to the ground periodically.

Don't water plants when it's hot You can boil their roots and kill them. Also you're probably not allowed if there's rationing happening. Water in the early morning or late evening.

- Bucket pool Dip your legs or arms into a bucket of hose water. Swish them around, play with it. It's actually really nice.

- It's free hot water leave a bucket (covered and filled to the top) out in the sun and bam. Hot water in the evening. What you do with it is up to you.

- Get extra deodorant You'll thank me later

- Do all your laundry before the heatwave hits you don't want to run out of shirts to soak with sweat

- It's going to get hotter than the forecast says, sorry

- Hydrate even if you hate water Get milk, juice, gatorade, I don't care. Soda is probably bad but liquid is liquid. I find coconut water to be the quenchiest

- Run ice cubes under water to jam them through the bottleneck

- Selfcare and hydrate throughout the day not just when you feel miserable. It helps later on.

Some hot weather tips, especially if you don't have air conditioning:

INDOORS

At night, open up all your windows as soon as the temp outside falls below indoor temps. Cross-breezes are your friend! Set an alarm for dawn so you can close all the windows again before the sun rises. Close your blinds.

Try to do any oven or stove-top cooking now, before the heat really takes hold. Freeze your meals and microwave as needed. Or sticking to eating cold cereal and sandwiches the next couple days isn't the end of the world!

Fill a large container with ice and place it in front of your fan. As the ice melts and evaporates the cooler air will be circulated around the room. (If you're handy and have the tools, search swamp cooler diy for a more intensive and proper set up.)

If there's a room that you know is going to be a problem (ex: RIP my east facing bedroom) then first remove animals and houseplants to a cooler location and then close that shit up! Slumber party in whichever room is going to be liveable.

COMMUNITY

Carry water with you if you go out. If you have extra bottled water and can share, offer it to your homeless neighbors, especially.

Check in frequently with friends and family. The heat is particularly dangerous to the elderly- look up the closest cooling stations near them in case they have need.

Leave out a bowl of ice water for passing pets and wildlife. You can also make pollinator hydration stations by filling a bowl with rocks and then adding water up to just barely the same level. This way insects drink without falling in and drowning.

PETS

Concrete and asphalt temps get much much higher than air temps. Like approximately 50° hotter. If you can't comfortably hold your hand to a surface for 7 full seconds, it's too hot for your pet to walk on. Try to stick to early am and after nightfall walks.

If your pet gets overheated, pour lukewarm over them and place them in front of a fan. Wet down their nose, paw pads, and ear flaps and place cool (not cold) towels on key points: back of the neck, under the armpits, and between the back legs. Monitor their breathing and gum color and as always, take them to your vet in case of emergencies.

Pupsicles are a fun hot weather treat. Just freeze dog friendly fruit/veg in bone broth or water.

Ok, heat tips from 115 degree fieldwork/New Jersey weather weirdness, not sure if it helps, but hey, what the heck, can’t hurt!: 

Gatorade (or similar drinks) is a lifesaver, especially if you aren’t acclimated to high heat. Get a bunch of those ridiculously sized bottles that you wonder who in their right mind would buy, and sip it throughout the day, even if you think you don’t need it. You need fluids and electrolytes, which you will be loosing! 

 Close any blinds or cover windows with towels. Block off greenhouses and/or sunrooms as if they were filled with hordes or raging zombies.

Any zoo housing temperate or Arctic species has AC, same with most museums that house large amounts of organic/volatile material. Most public libraries are also temp controlled.

 As enjoyable as it is, don’t stick your head in the fridge for prolonged periods of time. In the end, it will make the fridge run harder, emitting more heat.

 Regardless of gender, I personally give you permission to not wear a shirt (who’s going to notice if your blinds are closed anyway?).

Nausea and dizziness are VERY BAD, especially together! Do whatever you can to get cooled down if you experience either or (especially) both. This is a sign of heat exhaustion, DO NO IGNORE IT.

Our old boy Shakespeare knew what he was saying when he said “For now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring.” People tend to be more emotional, and possibly violent  than normal in temperature extremes, that may include yourself. I nearly had a breakdown in a Trader Joe’s recently . Be forewarned that everyone might be a little more on-edge during heatwave events. Don’t Judge yourself by the heat tolerance of others! if you’ve ever had a fish tank, and acclimated fish to temperature in their plastic baggies, you know how important acclimation to temperature difference is. 

You, in this situation, are a goldfish dumped right into an unsuitably warm aquarium the dark hand of an uncaring universe, of course you are going to be stunned by the heat.

other people that live in hotter climates might be better acclimated, don’t compare yourself to them.

-drink plenty of water

-eat something salty, you lose a lot of salt when you sweat

-keep your windows, curtains and blinds closed when it’s warmer outside than inside

-eat plenty of fruit

-don’t take super cold showers or baths, it tells your body to warm itself up!

-put a bucket of ice in front of your fan for a homemade ac

I entirely forgot that it was that time of year again, where people in cold areas like the UK struggle with the heat :(

I grew up in central Arizona, where right now airports are literally closed because planes cannot take off in this heat (120°f... that’s 49°c.), so I recall a few tips for staying cool despite having moved several states north to escape the heat.

This is going to be a long post but I might not cover everything, especially since my experience is dry heat, so please feel free to add on. I’m also going to try to mention tips I’ve seen in other posts... but correct me if I’m wrong! Everything here is from the heart, but make sure you do your own research too. I’m not an expert in health or weather.

These can even help with people on vacation to warm places, or as a reminder and added tips to people that live somewhere warm. Pass it on!

Try to get someplace cold. I know I keep seeing people say “our buildings aren’t even built for this/we have no AC’s” so I realize that can’t always be an option... But even in central AZ I know people that don’t have air conditioning, so they go to movies and malls. Even if it’s just to sit in the food court. also consider places like water parks and public pools, if they are available to you. Even if you’re just in a multi-level building, get to the bottom floor. heat rises. Try as much as you can to stay out of the sun.

Try to make your current area cool. I imagine this time of year fans might be more expensive and difficult to find. maybe order one online? But sitting in front of a box fan is grand. Air flow is your friend. Try setting up more than one fan in your house, to get air to circulate.  Hand fans are cute, and anything can be made into one (folders, mouse-pads, books, bills, plates), but they can get tiring to use. I’ve seen homemade AC units with Styrofoam coolers, a fan, and ice. Look up some videos on them, it might not do a lot and won’t cool a whole building but one near where you have to work can be nice.

Dress appropriately. I know this might seem like “well, duh” but try to only wear light clothing... that’s light fabric AND light colors. Dark attracts light... you’ll soak up more sun wearing black than white.

Then I know some people go “it’s hot, I should wear less” WRONG. From my experience I know it might help and may be your only option if your long sleeves are all sweaters but I personally would not. If you have light clothes that cover you, wear them! It keeps the sun OFF and that’s very good. Things that flow and allow air to pass through, nothing tight.  You might want to put off binding, if you can. Furthermore, clothes can get soaked. This might sound terrible (and if it’s all sweat it can kinda feel terrible) but as soon as a breeze hits it’s heaven.  For some people, like my mother, who can’t or don’t sweat that much I’d say it’s actually necessary. Especially if you’re in a dry heat... I don’t know much about how wet heats work but keeping your shirt sleeves damp in AZ is a good plan. If you find it’s not working for you, then please disregard this. Just make sure you try to keep the sun off your arms and legs.

If you have long, thick hair you might want to keep it up. I’d say braid it, and wet it to keep you cool. Then use some sort of towel or light scarf on the back of your neck that’s damp, to keep you cool and keep the sun off. If you keep your hair down like I do, keep it damp underneath.

Wear light shoes, without socks. I believe you lose a lot of heat from your feet? Don’t keep it trapped. Sandals and ballet flats, those types of things. Kick them off if you need to and can.

Wear a light sunhat, if you can. On me, it just makes my scalp and I feel miserable, but it’s a good way to keep the sun off your face and neck.

Bring an umbrella! a parasol is your own personal shade to carry around.  I would use one walking to school in AZ. If it’s too windy I recon this won’t work for you, but I love them.

WEAR SUNBLOCK. Everywhere that is exposed. Your toes, your face, your neck, your ears, your hands. it’s all important! You think it might be dumb to sunblock the back of your knees, but the worst sunburn I ever got from a beach was there! In fact, you know what, Sunblock is ALWAYS important. Even or especially if it’s cloudy or snowy . . . the sun bounces off of snow, clouds, sand, and water to make things even worse for us. So just wear it, okay? The sun ages you. You get wrinkles, you get spots, you get cancer. Some people... like my husband... cannot wear sunscreen. He literally can’t.. when the chemicals react with the sun it give him hives. But there is a difference you need to learn between sunSCREEN and sunBLOCK.  Sunblock is a physical barrier instead of a chemical one, and is better for sensitive skin.  make sure to read labels and re-apply as necessary. If you absolutely cannot wear any for whatever reason, try to stay covered and out of the sun.

Drink and eat cool stuff! One of my favorite things to do is recycle an old water bottle by filling it halfway with water and having it freeze overnight. Then fill the rest with cool water before you go somewhere with it!  Drinking it is nice, but so is sticking it on the back of your neck or the middle of your back. Consider getting a sleeve for it... since it’ll probably “sweat” with condensation and make any surface you put it on wet.

Camelbaks are something new that I’ve been exposed to... my husband wore one in AZ when we met and he biked ten miles everyday for high school. They’re a water pack that you wear on your back, and you’ve got a straw that you can reach to drink out of! I don’t know if they are expensive, but I’d consider getting one to fill with ice water. It’ll keep your back cool, and you’ll have ice water on hand!

Drink lots of cool drinks... water is good but when you’re sweating a lot you are loosing a lot of things like salt and even vitamins I think. My dad, when he worked construction one summer in AZ, got sick almost everyday until he starting drinking stuff like Gatorade instead.  Sports drinks are MADE for people who sweat. Use them.  I drink lemonade a lot, usually watered down a bit to make it easier on my taste buds and to make it go further.

Sun tea is a fun project, I’d definitely look into it. but make sure you do it in a super clean jar, use distilled water, and nothing funky grows in it! if you start to see stuff floating in it toss it and clean the jar with vinegar and stuff.

Juice is a fun thing to freeze, sometimes if there’s enough sugar in it the liquid won’t freeze properly (because SCIENCE) and end up a fun sort of slush to drink and eat. But don’t freeze soda! It blows up if you forget about it in there.

If you’ve got the freezer space, consider making popsicles! they’d be cheaper and healthier than buying some. If you don’t have molds, fill an ice tray with juice and fruit, cover it with aluminum foil, then stab toothpicks into them. the foil will hold them in place until it freezes. If you don’t want to make popsicles, you can instead use these ice cubes as normal ice cubes! in water to make it flavored, or in juice so it doesn’t get watered down. You can also toss them into a blender to make a slushie!!

Freeze ALL THE FRUIT. All of them. Got a melon? take a melon-baller to it and then freeze those delicious little orbs as a snack for later. Blueberries, brambleberries, and grapes are also WONDERFUL little snacks that you can freeze. Just separate a few into a ziplock bag, and toss them in the freezer. If you take too much out of the freezer in at a time, they might start to defrost as your eating them and turn mushy. Strawberries end up kind of hard as a snack to just munch, they’re too big and they do NOT defrost well, but you could dice them first or just use them whole in slushies and smoothies. Look up some recipes! The greens are edible, but bitter so cut them off before freezing if you don’t want them.

For the love of god, please don’t bake anything if you can help it. The oven is off-limits during the summer in my mother’s home for a good reason. Even at night it sucks.

Like mentioned mealier... you lose a lot of salt in sweat. Don’t feel bad about chowing down on a bag of potato chips. Just make sure you don’t dehydrate yourself eating snacks like that... it’s a dumb cycle that I fall into easily.

Don’t over-exhort yourself. I know summer is supposed to be this fun thing of running around and doing things, but please know your limits. Take safety precautions, and use the buddy system. Being active warms you up, but everyone’s hot water is different! Running the same distance at the same pace can be hard for some, but easy for others. Look after your friends and make sure you know how to cool them down, how to notice if they’re suffering, and have a plan to get somewhere to get help.  Too many people die because of poor preparation for the heat.

If you get sunburned, DO NOT PUT ICE ON IT OH MY GOD I HATE THOSE ARTICLES. It’s bad. try to get some soothing gel USED FOR THAT PURPOSE, like pure aloe.  If you use some other sort of gel with something like alcohol in it, you’re gonna have a bad time. Maybe run water over it, not too cold though! Don’t shock your skin and nerves even more. Don’t pick at your skin if it peels,. keep the sun off of it by wearing LOOSE clothes. I imagine you’d treat it like a new tattoo... don’t scrub it in the shower and just let water run over it without directly hitting it.

Cold showers and baths might sound hideous to some people, but they’re the only showers I would take in AZ summer. Not freezing, certainly not the coldest setting, but definitely cooler than your body temp to bring it down. And getting clean is something you’ll really want, trust me... I’ve personally only seen it on babies and shar pei in their little fat rolls but heat rash is a thing. Keep yourself clean.

Get a few of those gel cold packs that you put in the freezer, if you’re going out with a cooler stick them in there! They’ll keep your drinks cold and if you need to you can put them on the back of your neck.

If it’s a dry heat, again cause that’s what I’m used to, stay damp. That’s what sweat was invented for, to keep you cool. Get a spray bottle with ice water in it to mist yourself with. You won’t win any beauty pageants but you’ll live.

If you can, sleep with a light blanket. In AZ I slept with an unzipped sleeping bag, because that weird silky material stays cool... and now I’ve got a light quilt like that and it’s the only one I use. If you need the weight of your heavy blanket as a comfort, keep a cool drink nearby, make sure that you wash it if it gets all sweaty and gross, and maybe try laying with a cool pack. I’ve fallen asleep holding a frozen water bottle, no shame.