In this blog you will:
Learn how useful the humble Cucumber is for keeping you cool.
Discover ways to keep your water interesting, to help you stay Hydrated.
If you suffer from hot flushes, or disturbed sleep, there are tips for you too.
How to check for dehydration and heat exhaustion.
A one-stop-shop for your Cooling Top tips.
Eat it, Drink it or even wear it! An amazing fruit. Yes it's a fruit, who knew? Read on for more.
Not just for Salads!
🥒 Add them to your water, summer mocktails and smoothies for a cooling alternative.
🥒 Use it alongside a homemade hummus dip or with almond nut butter for a healthy, sleep-aiding evening snack. See my sleep and morning routine blog posts for more sleep tips.
🥒 Use slices of cucumber on your eyes for some soothing relief. They can aid eye puffiness for some too. Works for me. If you want to try it during your next Facial Reflexology, Zone Face Lift or Acupressure facial just let me know because I always have some on standby for anyone who wants some.
🥒 Did you know that Cucumbers are 96% water and are naturally cooler on the inside than the outside air temperature?
So when you have run out of ice cubes, don't forget the humble cucumber.
I'm too hot, what to do?
Drink Plenty, stay out of direct sunlight, limit your movement. Read on for more Top tips.
I've given lots of advice over the years about how to stay cool, whether that's because like today it is a tad warm or perhaps you are suffering from hot flushes and would like some additional support with those. Check out my post on how Facial Reflexology may be just the help you need, to start exploring what Menopause means for you.
Cooling Top Tips
Consolidated into one place for you, so you can easily refer back to them, whenever you need a helpful reminder or two on how to keep yourself cool, when all around you may well be losing theirs. Please do pass this on to anyone you think it will help.
1. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate
Drink plenty of water.
Eat water rich foods like cucumber, melon, fruit and veg.
Don't forget if you have a garden, you can create shade and leave water out for the wild life and your pets too.
Add ice into your drinks. Have sorbet, icecream and lollies if available.
Freeze water bottles half way up and top up with water so you have cool water available to you all day long.
Keep water near you so you don't have to move too much to go and get it.
If you love a hot drink that's fine as long as you are getting that water in somehow. Some people still find them cooling.
2. Run your wrists under cold running water
Next time you wash your hands, hold your wrists under the tap for at least 20 seconds. Catch the water in the sink to use afterwards if you are worried about wasting water but you would be amazed how cooling doing this can be. It cools your blood, that is then circulated around your body, helping you to feel cooler all over and internally too.
3. Pop your feet in cool water
Take a foot soak or paddle in your kids paddling pool. Just as cooling your wrists down really helps, so does cooling your feet or any other pulse point on your body as well.
4. Take a cold shower or bath
Leave your hair wet to dry naturally too and allow yourself to drip dry, so that you become your very own air conditioning unit for a while. Putting a cool compress on the back of your neck. Allowing children to play with the hose pipe while watering the plants or run in and out of a sprinkler can be great fun.
5. Stay out of direct sunlight
If you can stay out of direct sunlight, if out and about then seek shade.
Use an umbrella or parasol, hat or hankie if there are no other options available.
Having a facecloth handly to wet the back of your neck can really help keep you cool.
Wear sunscreen
Wear loose fitting natural fibre clothes to keep you cool. Covering yourself in loose material is cooler in full sun than wearing shorts and no sleeves.
6. Cooling Yogic Breath - stick your tongue out
Dogs pant when they are hot for a reason. Sticking out your tongue and inhaling air across your tongue can be very cooling. Don't worry if you can't make this shape with your tongue. It is hereditary and not everyone can do it but if you can and would like to practise doing it for yourself then check out this video
Cooling Breath / Sitali breath, the Yogic way to Cool Down.
7. Prepare and protect your sleep environment
If you are struggling to sleep in this heat at the moment and don't have a dehumidifier or air conditioning, try some of these things to aid your sleep.
👣 Keep your blinds/curtains closed during the day especially if your room is south facing
👣 Take a cool shower before you go to bed.
👣 Circulate the air in your bedroom as best you can, create a through draft, open a window, use a fan. If you have air conditioning, use it.
👣 Go to bed with wet hair to draw the heat away from your head.
👣 Only open windows after the air temperature is cooler outside than in.
👣 Hot water bottles are great for Ice water as well as hot water. Don't have one? The use an old water bottle or picnic freezer ice blocks, wrap in a teatowel and use that instead. Popping them on your pillow and the points of your body that will touch the bed really helps
👣 May seem obvious but if you don't sleep as well without covers, switch your duvet for a lower tog rating or just use a duvet cover with nothing in it. Waft your covers, fling them off altogether if necessary
👣 Stay well hydrated and keep some water to sip overnight so that if you wake, you don't have to get up for a drink. Put it in a thermos cup so it stays lovely and cold. If you don't have one you can use a wine cooler sleeve or thermal bag.
👣 Heat rises so if it is really hot and you sleep better downstairs where it may be several degrees cooler, then do that.
8. Cooling Visualisation
When overheated, it's lovely to be able to visualise something cold and imagine holding it, put myself there, breath deeply and slowly and see where that takes me. On a winter holiday or playing with children in the snow.
Message me if you would like me to help guide you through one during a mindful reflexology session or to listen to one.
9. Try Reflexology
Reflexology can have a noticeable cooling effect for some people. When we relax our heart rates naturally slow. Drifting into rest and repair impacts all our bodily processes. Our breathing rate slows and if fully reclined with your feet up this also has an effect. I always offer a blanket to clients for this very reason but on hot days like today, we can take full advantage of this phenomenon.
Why not join me in my North facing cool Create Breathing Room for a Taster Treatment and experience it for yourself.
10. Mint and Menthol
Mint and Menthol have a cooling, heat-wicking, sometimes tingling property to them that we can take full advantage of in shampoos and shower gels. Sucking on mint can feel cooling, adding mint leaves to your water. Mint-flavoured ice cream always seems cooler to me than fudge or caramel but perhaps that is just me.
11. Fans, Spritz and Sprays
Any Air flow that can create is great! Make a cross flow in your home if you can. Open a window at opposite ends of your house to cause a deliberate draft can really help but if the temperature inside is cooler than outside and there is a minimal breeze, then you are better off leaving them shut as long as you can. Carry heat away from you with a fan. Create an artificial breeze. Sit a bowl of ice in front of a fan to make the air even cooler but avoid doing this if really humid as it will only make the air even thicker with water. As long as nowhere near the electrics, depending on the type of fan you have, a damp tea towel in front of a fan can have a similar cooling effect as a bowl of ice if you have no ice handy or spare. Sprays can give immediate relief but tend to be short lived. Spritz bottles can also really help. The evaporation of the tiny droplets of water they leave on your skin can be really refreshing.
12. Keep Calm
Easier said than done but if you are with a lot of other people who are all hot and bothered, anger can surface, you can get irritable drivers on the road and people not willing to cue. Be kind to call centre staff and those around you. Believing everyone is doing their best, and taking a moment to pause before reacting can all help with keeping your cool.
Useful References
I will leave you with some additional useful reference sites. Please take care of yourself and watch out for each other, young children, vulnerable, elderly, pets and wildlife.
Check the NHS websites for signs of dehydration and heat exhaustion to look out for