@Home: Tips To Beat The Heat At Home!
By ABIGAIL GOODIN
#Heatwave Alert! We all know that the summer heat can be a bit overwhelming! So here are some tips to help you stay cool even without an air conditioner!
Invest in blinds or thick curtains.
According to Family Handyman, 30 percent of excess heat enters your house through your windows, so blocking your windows can lower the indoor temperature by about 20 degrees. Blackout curtains help to insulate rooms and naturally block out sunlight. Neutral toned blinds or curtains with plastic backings can even reduce the internal temperature by 33 per cent! Now that’s quick cooling!
Keep your room doors open during the day!
This simple tactic will allow the air to flow naturally through your home during the day. Closing room doors prevents the flow of cool air from entering rooms, especially at night, when the air is cooler.
Enhance your fan with this cooling hack.
We all know that feeling we get when we feel like our fan is only circulating hot air. Fill a big bowl with ice or ice packs and position it in front of a standing fan at an angle that allows air to blow off of the ice and onto you. This cool hack causes the wind to become extra chilled and allows you to have ‘cool breeze’.
Heat proof your bed.
We know that waking up in the middle of the night feeling sweaty and clammy is very uncomfortable and it can ruin a good night’s rest. There are a few ways to help counter the heat while you sleep. Place a bottle of water in the freezer and place it at the foot of your bed before you go to sleep this may help to cool you down. Also, you can invest in a cooling pillow or put an ice pack on the bed next to you, but not too close so you get wet when it melts.
Pay attention to your sheets.
Your sheets can play a role in how hot you feel during the night. Not only does changing your sheets regularly help to make your room fresher and cooler but also, cotton sheets are the coolest material to use for bedding during the summer. Buckwheat pillows are designed so as to not trap your body heat like traditional pillows since they have airspace in the hulls of buckwheat.
Change the rotation of your fan.
Something we may not know is that ceiling fans sometimes need to be rotated in the opposite direction after a while. Setting your fan to spin counterclockwise in the summer, at a higher speed, will allow for a much cooler breeze.
Keep yourself cool inside and out.
Try sipping on iced drinks, not drinking them quickly, as this helps to cool the body gradually and for longer. You can also apply cold cloths or cool packs to your neck and wrists and wear light coloured clothing, preferably cotton.
Phew! #PlaceHotB. But with these tips, you can keep cool! What do you do to stay cool at home?
