Please please tell me you get used to the heat

[BertieBotts]

I can't sleep, I barely feel like eating, which makes me almost faint when I have to go outside. I'm so easily irritated and I can't think. I can't go out without accumulating huge sweat patches across my chest and my hair dripping, which makes me feel smelly and gross, and that's just walking around - I need to use public transport for work! It's only around 35 degrees outside but it's 32+ indoors as well.

I don't know if I can live/work like this for the whole summer! Please tell me it's possible to get used to it. Nobody else seems to have such problems

[ohhhhpieceofcandy]

How long have you been there? I find it takes me about 3 weeks to adjust to heat but I'm sure everyone's different. Make sure you're drinking plenty of water - helps with the fug!

[BertieBotts]

We've been here since September so this is really the first experience of summer. It's been hot since Friday night.

I'm trying to drink! :) The water from the taps is lukewarm - yuck. Been sticking bottles in the freezer.

[Fillybuster]

You'll get used to it with time, and develop better coping strategies. Honest :) Although you may never become as blase about it as the natives - you'll just slowly adjust. Be warned: there will still be bad days.

Start with the coping strategies: keep small bottles of water in the freezer, for example, so you can take one with you whenever you go out. Always wear a lightweight (straw) hat with a good size brim: the shade makes a difference and you lose a fair amount of water through your head (apparently). Invest in a really good anti-perspirant deoderant. Work out which bras & dresses/tops rub you the least. Take a cold shower more than once a day if you can. Take a change of clothes (or top) to change into when you get to work. Stay hydrated: you will need to drink so much more water than you think. Invest in some loose cotton trousers, skirts, dresses. Don't try to wear linen - the crease factor makes it pointless.

And give yourself time - these things don't happen overnight.

Good luck :)

[BertieBotts]

Thank you :)

[CrystalDeCanter]

Have you not got any air-con in your house? How about fans? If you spray yourself with water and sit under a fan it cools you down nicely. Can you put a fan in your bedroom? Not being able to sleep due to the heat is horrendous.

Frozen water is great, as are quartered frozen oranges. Don't try to do too much, seek out cool places, pools, anywhere with air con.

Where are you?

[beijaflor]

There's a good reason that local people move more slowly in hot climates - it's a good policy to slow right down. You do kind of get used to feeling hot and sticky. You won't stop sweating and this will continue to be a problem. I invested in a few DriFit shirts and that did help somewhat as they dry out much faster.

I've noticed that in most hot climates I've lived in, people tend to drink tooth-achingly sweet tea or coffee or iced fizzy drinks. I normally don't like sugary drinks, but it does help with the energy-sapping heat, so if you're feeling overcome, try whatever the local sugary solution is!

[WishItWasSnowingNow]

I hate the heat, as does my youngest (who was born in a heatwave), my eldest is cool as a cucumber, so not sure you do get used to it, I think some people just cope better than others.

We have it about 35 degrees at the moment too, and really muggy (which I know isn't that hot in the scheme of things, but about 10 degrees hotter than I am comfortable with), and I avoid going outside if I don't have to. I made the mistake in the past of opening windows when it was hot, now I know to shut the blinds on the sunny side of the house, and keep the windows shut too, as it's so much hotter outside, the hot air just comes in if you open windows. But it's pretty miserable groping round a dark house. If I keep the bedrooms in darkness all day, they aren't too hot for sleeping at night, then I open them about 6am and let some fresh air in, close it all up again a couple of hours later.

I just eat a lot of chilled fruit when it's hot, and drink a lot. We have a big jug of water in the fridge, and the freezer is stacked with ice cube trays and ice lolly moulds.

[Fillybuster]

I also meant to say - I'm not a big shopper, but the local shopping mall, or even supermarket if it has air con, is your friend. DH and I occasionally went to the cinema just because it would be cool....

Back in the UK now, and although it is lovely and sunny today (about 22C and I wish I wasnt working...) and I don't miss the stupidly hot days (anything over 35 is unnecessary), I do really miss the regularity of blue sky and sunshine, the late night open-air coffee culture and the sandy beach and swimmable sea that was less than 5 mins walk from our front door.

[elQuintoConyo]

Give yourself double the time to do anything.

Buy a fan - Spanish lady-style fan coquettish

Cool water, not cold as it is too shocking for the system.

Little spray bottle of water is great for arms, back of neck.

How long is your hair? I bobbed mine when I moved somewhere hot as it was just killng me.

Whereabouts are you? We are near Barcelona and humidity can leave you feeling like you're walking around wearing a wet duvet [bleurgh]

[Mutley77]

Lots of good advice - it took me six to eight months to aclimatise and after fifteen months I find 23 degrees cold!! When I left the UK it was 2 degrees, I have never felt that temperature since....

I do think if you can keep cool in your own home / at night it will help you cope better.

[BertieBotts]

I'm in Germany.

We don't have air con and we live on the top floor of a house which is built into apartments, so it's REALLY hot because we're right under the roof. We have one fan, but when it's too hot it just blows warm air around.

Looking for a portable air con at the moment but struggling to find one which will cope with the area of our living room/kitchen, which is all one space. It's ludicrous because even that combined is smaller than most living rooms I've been in, but then their A/C must be built in?

We have to have the shutters closed most of the day. It's cooler in than out but it's just hit 32 in here again. Joy!

Luckily there is an awesome open air pool five minutes' walk away and you can get a summer pass which gets you unlimited entry, so I think we'll be making use of that, but it's not so much the leisure time which is an issue. I'm sort of okay if I can sit here and read or MN or jump in and out of the shower, or go out and sit under a tree or something but it's when you have to do all the normal things - housework and school runs and work.

[castlesintheair]

The locals in Indonesia say "pelan pelan" for a reason. It is hot: slow down! Not just in how fast you walk, in everything, just take it easy. It takes a while to adjust. Wear loose cotton. Buy some fans and drinks lots of water. Keep bottles in the fridge. If you have the space, get a drinks fridge.

[BertieBotts]

My hair is really short. Like 2-3 inches short. It's really really thick though.

[BertieBotts]

It's not too humid at all, thankfully, in fact when we moved in September I found the dryness hard to adjust to and DH ran a little humidifier in the house. (I don't know why he bought that, I think he thought it was an air conditioner)

[Cerisier]

I am in Singapore and it is a similar temp here and very humid. I have got used to it but I reckon it took about a year to acclimatise. I have two showers a day and have permanently damp skin, but it feels ok. I changed shampoos and hairstyles until I found combinations that worked for the weather. Hats can make your head and hair sweaty so it is popular here to use umbrellas as parasols.

[goodasitgets]

Magicool spray is fab if you can get it

[naturalbaby]

Hi BertieBotts, I'm sweltering indoors too and have hardly left the house. We only brought one fan over from UK and I've noticed all the other apartments have their shutters closed all day. I like to have as much daylight as possible but we have voile's/thin curtains to keep the direct sun out which seems to help a bit. I keep opening the doors/windows for a breeze but there isn't any!
Have you had any thunderstorms?

[BertieBotts]

Oh hello! :) You just moved recently didn't you? We're due some thunderstorms this evening - keeping fingers crossed!

You do need to keep the shutters down when it's really hot. Good rule of thumb is this - when the outside temperature is higher than the inside temperature, you want to cut off all contact with the outside which means no windows open, shutters all the way down. This is most important on the side of the house which gets direct sun but for the hottest part of the day it's worth doing all the windows, unless you can feel a breeze coming through them (even then you want to close shutters halfway to block the strongest bit of sun if you need to).

As soon as the outside temperature is the same or lower than the inside temperature, run (okay slowly walk ) around the house in glee flinging open all of the windows and shutters as far as they will go (well, again, you may need to half close shutters to keep direct sun out) and then sit staring at your thermometer as it slowly drops 0.1 degree at a time.

Other things are not using anything which generates heat, especially things with fans like computers/game consoles, unless necessary, and turning them right off when done. Fans are pointless if it's too hot, unless you can get them to blow something cool, or if you keep taking cold showers, the fan will be nice on wet skin.

And just spending as much time as possible outside, to compensate for lack of daylight. (it also feels cooler being hot outside than inside for some reason).

[butterfliesinmytummy]

I find summer in the UK much harder to bear than the 40C heat in Texas or 95% humidity in Singapore because the houses are built to retain heat (like Germany I imagine). At least in hot climates, life is centred around keeping cool, houses are not insulated, people are prepared for it and air con is pretty standard.

Having said that, -2C in Texas is no fun at all, no insulation in our house and single glazing - brrr!

[BertieBotts]

I live in a hot part of Germany, which rarely gets snow and is milder usually than the rest, so you would think the houses would be built to keep cool! But no :(

[Lifestooshorttosleep]

We've been keeping the blinds down all day and pretty much camped out in the basement, which is significantly cooler than the rest of the house. Keeping the sun out really helps, though it's kind of depressing not to enjoy the sunlight!

[Mutley77]

Oh and I keep my hair long as it's v thick too and I can't bear it round my face at all so I tie it back permanently in summer!

[bebespain]

Hello

Just wanted to say that I feel your pain...in Spain

It was already 27 degrees when I left for the school run at 8.30am

I have no tips really...my problem is that rather than getting used to the heat I seem to tolerate it less and less each year. I think it is down to age. But yes. I can relate to the feeling easily irritated, the not sleeping at night (argh) and sweat patches etc, etc and it makes me feel even worse when nobody else around me seems to be bothered

Oh what I´d give to be feeling cold right now

[TheWordFactory]

DH tells me it's 44 where he is today and he almost fainted waiting for a taxi. Horrible!

[whostolemycamel]

You will acclimatize. Just be warned, DC will quicker. It's 47 degrees here and I'm sitting in a car which didn't have a long enough journey cgol down waiting for DD to put her cardigan on.before we walk the non-shaded route to school