Taking a dip in a pool is an easy way to cool off.
Summer on the U.S. East Coast means long, hot and humid days where it feels like nothing you do is enough to help you stay cool. Temperatures soar above 100 degrees in some locations, such as Washington, D.C., and New York City. Many older homes were built without air conditioning, which just exacerbates the situation. But there are alternative methods for staying cool, even if you do not have a working air conditioning system.
Instructions
1. Take an old T-shirt, soak it in cold water in your sink, wring it out and then either wrap it around your neck or wear it. If you plan on wearing the wet T-shirt, you are going to want to avoid using one that is white because it will be see-through once it gets wet.
2. Fill your bathtub with cool water. It doesn't have to be freezing cold or so cold that it is uncomfortable to sit inside the bathtub. Start by filling the tub with lukewarm water or water that is mildly cool and see how your body reacts to being submerged at that temperature. After your body acclimates to the water, drain some out and refill the tub with water that is a little bit cooler. You can keep doing this for as long as you want; you will remain sufficiently cool for quite some time after you get out of the tub.
3. Spread out three or four towels on your floor and place your fan on top of them. Place a blocks of ice in front of the fan. Adjust the setting on your fan so that it blows in one direction rather than oscillating. Sit in front of the fan in the direction it is blowing. The air blowing across the ice creates a cooling effect and acts as a makeshift air conditioner. Depending on how hot it is inside your home, you may need to change the block of ice frequently. You can also do this at night, aiming the fan to blow across the ice and toward your bed.
4. Cook spicy foods--anything based with curry, jerk or other varieties of hot spices, hot peppers and hot sauce will suffice. Though eating food that is hot to taste may sound like a bad idea for staying cool, this is what people eat in regions of the world where hot weather is the norm, such as Jamaica. Spicy foods stimulate heat receptors in your mouth, which in turn causes perspiration, and when you sweat, your body cools as the perspiration evaporates. Eating spicy food sounds like an odd approach to staying cool, but it works, according to an article published in Great Britain's "Daily Mail."
5. Close your windows and draw the curtains or shades to keep excess sunlight from shining through your windows. This will help keep the inside of your home cooler for most of the day, although if it is extremely hot outside, you're going to need to open the windows later in the afternoon and use your makeshift air conditioner as in Step 3.
6. Fill a bucket with cold water and soak your feet. This helps cool you off instantly, because there are two major arteries that run down the sides of your ankles; exposing them to cold water will cool you off quickly.
7. Fill a spray bottle with cold water, turn the nozzle so that it is on the mist setting and spray yourself every minute or so. The cold water on your skin will not only help to cool you off immediately, but it also will help you stay cool longer as the water evaporates--much like what happens when perspiration on your body evaporates.
8. Buy an above-ground swimming pool, fill it with cold water from your garden hose and then add about a dozen bags of ice to make the water extra cold. When it's extremely hot outside, it won't take the ice long to melt. Once nearly all of the ice is melted, hop in and have a good soak.
Tags: cold water, your body, staying cool, with cold, with cold water, cold water your, East Coast