My three unusual tricks will keep you cool in a heat wave – a cup of tea or coffee prepared the right way can help
SOME hot tips and techniques will help keep you cool – literally.
Having a warm beverage might just bring down your body temperature, according to a home pro.
Nancy Emery, a bathroom expert at the UK-based Drench, has shared some unconventional tips that work to battle the brutal summer heat.
To stay as cool as possible, she suggests sipping a hot drink.
“You may think that hot drinks can’t possibly cool you down, but consuming tea or hot water will raise your core body temperature, which makes you sweat more,” she said.
“As sweat evaporates, your body cools down,” she continued.
“More sweat means more cooling, which compensates for the small amount of heat contained in a hot drink relative to the entire body.”
You’ll also want to make sure you’re staying safe while sipping away.
Remaining hydrated by drinking plenty of water alongside your warm beverage will help to replace lost fluids.
Emery shared how the extra sweat produced from drinking your hot tea or coffee needs to “evaporate” for you to reap the cooling benefits.
And the more evaporation, the more effective the method becomes.
Another top tip for battling a heatwave is taking a hot bath.
Forget everything you thought you knew about fighting higher temperatures.
“There’s a common misconception that taking a cold bath will help cool you down,” she said.
“This is actually counterproductive as when our body is submerged in extremely cold conditions, it tries to regulate our core temperature. This means you could end up feeling hotter than you did before.”
She shared how a hot bath takes our body temperature down by “stimulating our body’s thermoregulatory system.”
“This increases the circulation of blood throughout our body and results in the removal of body heat and therefore a decreased body temperature,” she said.
How a hot drink cools you down
The nerves in our tongue and mouth have molecules known as receptors which receive signals from the outside nerve, according to NPR.
The TRPV1 receptor especially responds to heat. Upon consuming something hot, the receptors receive the heat signal which is communicated to the brain, in turn making us sweat, and activating our “cooling mechanism.”
A hot drink might add heat to the body, but the amount you increase your sweating by more than compensates for the added heat from the hot fluid, according to Smithsonian Magazine.
A larger amount of sweat results in more overall cooling.
Drinking a hot beverage results in a lower amount of heat stored in your body which is beneficial when your sweat successfully evaporates, according to a study reported by McGill University.
She pinpoints yet another unconventional tip – regularly cooling your pressure points.
“Pressure points have a lot to do with how your body regulates temperature,” she said.
Her technique works any time of the day or night.
“If you’re finding yourself feeling warm while you’re at work or when you’re trying to sleep at night, cool your wrists down under the tap,” she said.
For faster results, simply leave your wrists under the cold water for about a minute while rubbing water on the back of your neck.