65 ways to beat the heat: from Bedouins' experience to modern gadgets

Many people would describe their perfect vacation with three words: summer, sun, and beach. The flip side of this paradise coin is that extreme heat can ruin everything. The consequences of overheating can be fatal as the summer heat is equally ruthless to people and animals. How can you survive working or training in the sun? Let’s find out everything about cooling gadgets and learn from hundreds of years of experience of desert inhabitants, i.e., Bedouins. We’ve compiled 65 facts and expert advice to help you beat the heat.

What You Will Learn from This Guide:

11 Scientific Facts Proving the Danger of Heat and Ways to Beat it

1. Like intelligent devices, our bodies are configured in specific ways that must not be changed, or a breakdown is inevitable. Summer heat can cause our body’s temperature to rise from its average level of 97.88 °F to over 103°F, causing a heat stroke, i.e. global overheating, when our bodies signal that cooling is necessary. Such signals are extremely unpleasant and dangerous. They include dizziness, fatigue, increased heart rate, and stomach ache. This set of symptoms requires immediate professional treatment as the consequences of a heat stroke may be fatal.

2. Sweating is our body’s means of regulating our temperature. Although our society is embarrassed about wet, sweaty stains on clothes, in fact, sweating is a free personal cooling system that requires water. Lack of liquid causes a decrease in sweating. Dr. Jamison Starbuck recommends: “Drink lots of water. That means at least half your body weight in ounces of water, and more whenever you can.”

3. The Department for Health and Ageing, Government of South Australia, offers an extraordinary dehydration test. Page 7 of the extreme heat guide explains that hydration affects urine color. if your urine is dark yellow, “Drink a large bottle of water straight away!”

4. When sweating, we lose not only water but also mineral salts. Eating something salty (e.g. ham, cheese, or chips) is advisable for regaining natural balance. You should consume more natural minerals from tomatoes, celery, or vegetable juices.

5. Cover your head. It’s no wonder that a straw hat is an integral part of any summer look. Any other head covering will do as long as you remember to wear it. Wear glasses and use sunscreen (with SPF 15 or higher). Wear loose clothes and open shoes. A proper outfit will help you avoid heat exhaustion, a lighter form of heat stroke. You won’t stop sweating but will feel nauseous, fatigued, and have a stomach ache. To relieve these symptoms, rest somewhere cool.

6. Summer heat exacerbates chronic diseases, e.g., asthma attacks, as they are connected with the weather conditions. Heat intolerance is typical of endocrine diseases, menopause, and anxiety disorder. Seniors, infants, and pregnant women are at risk. If it’s hot like in a desert outside, make your home an oasis. Turn on a fan or AC, use a cooling blanket or a bed cooling system with an electric cooling comforter, and don’t leave your home until the heatwave passes. As an alternative, you can spend time in a public place as they are usually well-cooled. Plan stops in your city route and always have a water bottle handy.

7. Dr. Jamison Starbuck explains that if you feel unwell outside, find a shady place, sit there with your knees bent and head between your knees. If you have any water, pour some on your temple and neck. Drink water in small sips until you feel better.

8. Consider the peculiarities of the climate you live in. The risk of a heat stroke is higher in regions with high temperature and humidity, i.e. tropics and subtropics, read Best Dehumidifiers Compared for 2022. In a desert, where humidity only reaches 20%, you are more likely to face respiratory problems. This information will help you find a suitable cooling accessory. You may also like Best Portable Air Conditioner with Dehumidifier in the UK

9. If you have arrived in a hot climate from northern latitudes, pay attention to the locals’ daily routine and try to follow it. What do the locals wear? Do they have a siesta? Perhaps, the best thing you can do from 1 pm to 4 pm has a nap. Those who live in summer all year round know how to keep cool in summer!

10. It’s interesting to note that our body can gradually adjust to heat. After a fortnight, you will sweat less, and your heart rate will decrease because of acclimatization. Let your body get used to the heat.

11. You will take the heat easier if you cool your neck and shoulders (for instance, if you hang a wet towel on the neck). Why? The carotid artery, which carries oxygen to your brain, passes there. Kangaroos are known to lick their shoulders so that the evaporation cools their capillaries, leading to the brain. Experiments show that cooling the neck improves stamina, so the Best Cooling Vests for athletes, cyclists, MS, runners, and workers are a natural way to stay cool in the heat.

How to Survive in a Desert with Scientific Experience and Bedouins’ Life Hacks

12. Water is the key to survival in a desert. Sweating makes you lose up to two liters of water per hour, but you can drink over fifteen liters! That is why you should either have sufficient water stock or constantly move towards a water source. Survival shows, such as Discovery’s Ultimate Survival, recommend finding any existing or even former water sources around. For instance, the dried-up riverbeds grow moist grass. In case of an emergency, grass can save you from dehydration.

13. The recommendation in blogs, scientific articles, and hearsay is to protect your head and face against direct sun rays. The brain has always been the most vulnerable to heat, and it is the first organ to shut off when overheated. A light wide hat is the best option, but if it’s not available, the experts recommend coiling any cloth around your head.

14. Watch your diet. Seeker.com warns you should regulate your water consumption as drinking the entire thing at once can be fatal. Also, reduce the amount of food you are eating. The more you eat (especially sweet and salty food), the thirstier you are.

15. Don’t rush! Move slowly, as such an energy-saving mode helps you retain water. However, this is irrelevant early in the morning when the temperature is 10-20 degrees lower than during the day. Do most tasks in the morning.

16. Breathe appropriately at all times, especially in the morning. Don’t breathe through your mouth as the mucous membrane will dry, and your thirst will become unbearable.

17. It is well-known that light colors are best to wear in the heat. However, some people inhabiting deserts wear black only. The Guardian has recently mentioned this phenomenon. Even though black attracts heat, things are more complicated regarding traditional Bedouin attire. These people wear very expensive outfits entirely made of black goat fur. This natural fabric ensures perfect thermoregulation, and the pores provide thorough ventilation. At night, when the temperature drops drastically, fur will warm you up. As you can see, Bedouins’ attire is very smart!

18. In 1980, Nature magazine conducted an experiment when a brave volunteer spent thirty minutes in white and black clothes under the sun in the Negev desert. Many were surprised by the outcome as the thermal protection of the two outfits turned out to be identical. By the way, Joann Fletcher, a famous Egyptologist, has always traveled to the pyramids wearing black only and hiding under a black parasol. What conclusion can be made? Fabric is far more important than the color of your clothes. Natural fabric is better than synthetic fabric, and loose clothes are superior to tight ones.

19. What about keffiyeh? Speaking of Bedouins, we should mention their invention. Keffiyeh can look like an uncomfortable cloth wrapped around their head, but in fact, it is a very smart head covering. A woolen cord tied around your head can be found inside. Since the fabric flows rather than swifts around the head, a cooling effect is created. Winter keffiyehs are made of wool, while summer ones are made of cotton.

20. Platinum-heritage.com is a company specializing in safaris, and it describes yet another strange Bedouin ritual. It turns out that in ancient times, they would line their eyes with henna, not as make-up but to reflect the sun’s rays. This theory has not been scientifically proven, and it is unlikely that anything will surpass the effectiveness of sunglasses.

21. It’s time for paradoxes. Many southern people are known to drink hot tea on the hottest days. The researchers are convinced that there is a logic behind this. This hot drink can indeed be cool, as the Smithsonian magazine claims. “If you drink a hot drink, it does result in a lower amount of heat stored inside your body, provided the additional sweat that’s produced when you drink the hot drink can evaporate,” – claims Ollie Jay, a researcher at the University of Ottawa’s School of Human Kinetics. To put it simply, hot tea intensifies sweating, naturally cooling. This recommendation is more suitable for living in hot climates rather than for emergencies. For instance, hot tea will be harmful when exercising, so be careful!

22. Let’s examine those who have seamlessly adapted to extreme desert conditions. Animals and insects have lived there for centuries and know how to beat the heat. How? The Australian hopping mice, for instance, feeds on hard plants, roots, and seeds. It can find liquid even in such a meal. The carnivorous stripe-faced Dunnart receives water from eating desert insects. The Stenocara beetle settles in the valleys and cools and drinks from the night fog. The mascot of the desert, a camel, can lose up to 25% of its weight without harm. Its thick eyelids and fur protect it from the sun’s rays and sand storms. And indeed, the fat stored in the camels’ humps is a built-in water sponge. Perhaps, these unique bodies will inspire the scientists’ new inventions.

Some ideas can be used now. For instance, best portable evaporative coolers, misting fans, and air coolers can help create artificial fog. For your patio, you will like the Best Outdoor Misting Fan that provides a cooling mist.

23. Remember that the wind can move dunes or even stones, so you can’t rely on these landmarks. Special tricks are used to navigate. Arabs prefer to travel at night to navigate with the help of the stars. In some deserts, the shape of sand dunes can replace a compass. The Nation listed several examples when the journalists determined the direction from which the wind blew simply by looking at the sand-dune tops. However, we do not recommend traveling in the desert without a trained local guide who could find still water sources and won’t let you get lost.

How to Keep Cool on the Beach

24. You shouldn’t stay in the sun if the temperature exceeds 85 °F. Take at least a ten-minute break in the shade every hour. Tan in the morning or the evening, but never at noon.

25. Use as many cooling accessories as possible. A cooling bandana, a cooling towel, a mini air conditioner, an ice cooler, and a portable fan are all things that will come in handy at the beach. Some personal misting fans resemble water guns and can be fun to use.

26. Naturally, you’d want to relax at the beach, but alcoholic cocktails are inappropriate in the summer heat. Mixing liquor and sugar is a sure way to dehydrate your body. But if you want to relax in the evening, you may use whisky stones to chill your drinks.

27. Fruits and soft drinks are great at the beach. While a bottle made of ice is still uncommon, you can buy thermo-isolating bottle coolers. Also, reduce the consumption of fast food as products with calories (even ice cream) prevent your body from cooling.

How to Keep Cool When Camping

28. Drink, drink and drink. A hydrating backpack will be handy for campers and tourists in the summer. Its built-in drinking system (made of a reservoir and a pipe) lets you drink on the go, your hands-free. It is more portable and has better thermal protection than a flask. A neoprene case won’t let the water warm up.

29. It makes no sense to be squeamish when you are far away from civilization, especially when it comes to hydration. If you have run out of tap water, use natural water sources. Turbid still water can be cleaned with the help of a DIY filter. Dig a small hole in the sand near the water and filter the water until it becomes more apparent. You can also boil it. Scientists have long been working on gadgets that extract water from air, but such devices have not yet reached the mass market.

30. Sun, cut, and insect-protecting accessories are essential when outside. They can cool as well! Cooling Bandanas и Scarves, for instance, can cool you for 2-3 hours thanks to their polymers.

How to Stay Cool in Hot Weather While Working Outside

31. Tip #11 recommended cooling your neck and shoulders is a must for those engaged in strenuous physical work. A unique cooling vest that is activated when in contact with water can help you stay cool for 3-4 hours. Just wet it and start working.

32. How to stay calm when working in the heat? An ice cube generator will help. Dean Karnazes, an American super marathon runner recommends eating as many ice cubes as possible once the heat becomes unbearable. You can also rub them on your skin. The legendary athlete assures that this method helped him get up off the stretcher and run yet another 38 km to finish. At that time, the temperature had reached 100 °F! There are Ice Vests with ice cube compartments that you can buy online.

33. Working in the heat can lead to occupational heat stress. Not only can it cause various illnesses, but it also increases occupational injury risk. To prevent heat stress, employers should follow the recommendations provided by The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. According to them, water, a special uniform, and a break must be provided to the employees. Breaks must be regularly organized in a cool place, and employees should drink a glass of water every 15-20 minutes. An acclimatization plan should be taken into account when scheduling work.

How Do Athletes Beat the Heat?

34. We’ll start with the bad advice. Newsweek recommends that athletes be extra careful when drinking Gatorade to maintain the water-salt balance. The author doubts their ingredients and believes these are unhealthy. Such drinks are suitable for an indoor workout, but it is unknown how the chemicals would act in the heat. The journalist assures that tap or mineral water is better as it contains fewer uncertain ingredients. However, Runner`s World argues: “Sports drinks beat water because they contain electrolytes, which increase your water-absorption rate, replace the electrolytes you lose in sweat, and taste good, making it easy to drink more.” All in all, sports drinks won’t do too much harm as long as you use tried brands.

35. Which sports are most popular in the summer? Jogging, soccer, basketball, and other street sports. At that time, the weather is nice, so everyone leaves the gym. This can be a bad idea in the summer heat. To reduce risk, train in the morning or in the evening. As soccer and basketball require constant jerking and unstable load, the trainers unanimously claim that it’s best to train in the shade as long as it is not too stuffy outside. Find a pool or a gym with proper air conditioning.

36. Some athletes perform in the sun more often than others. For instance, tennis players (Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic) face the sun almost always. How do they beat the heat? It turns out that pro tennis players use wet towels to cool neck capillaries leading to the brain. We’ve already covered this product. Simple to use, cooling towels are available for all.

37. Men`s Health reminds all who love working out of the danger of lack of oxygen in the summertime. Trainers recommend limiting the number of sets and rounds, especially when it comes to bench presses or squats.

38. Frequent but shorter training is also effective. Three two-hour weekly workouts can be transformed into five hourly ones.

39. А Men`s Journal cites an expert and advises limiting the workouts in hot and humid climates. Specialists remind us that humid air reduces the effectiveness of sweat glands (which are our built-in AC).

40. Pay attention to sport hydration devices. They are lighter than travel ones and are often sold in cases. Sometimes, a small volume is a disadvantage, as the reservoir would empty too quickly. Scientists have solved this issue. Kristof Retezár has released a bottle that can be mounted on a bike and which generates water from the headwinds. This invention can generate half a liter of water per hour!

41. Jog in green areas rather than concrete, as the air in parks and gardens is fresher.

42. Wear breathable clothes to avoid overheating. Don’t save money on your sports outfit, as there are many valuable features. For instance, marathon runners use detachable sleeves to protect from UV.

43. When training, avoid taking dehydrating medicine (such as antidepressants and antihistamines).

44. Dean Karnazes, a marathon runner, recommends spraying water in his work devoted to extreme sports. A portable misting fan or a regular spray will do.

45. Listen to your body. Runner`s World also recommends that runners slow down to air temperature fluctuations. Slow 20-30 MPs for every 5 °F over 60 °F.

How to Help Infants in the Heat

46. Never leave your child in a parked car. Metal is instantly heated, and the child can suffocate.

47. It’s essential to assess your child’s well-being critically. Your kid might not even tell you that they are hot and instead complain of a stomach ache or be sluggish and indifferent. Dr. Jamison Starbuck explains that these are the symptoms of heat exhaustion, a condition caused by dehydration and long sun exposure.

48. The younger your child is, the less their body is adapted to thermal regulation. Keep your child in a ventilated room when it’s hot but make sure they are not directly exposed to a jet of cold air. Decrease the AC temperature gradually.

49. Control humidity as well as the temperature and use a special device, a hygrometer, for this purpose. Humidity should not drop below 50% for comfortable breathing. Humidifiers or humidifying fans can help you with this.

50. As we’ve already seen, water is your best friend in summer. Bathe your child in cool water and, if possible, do this as often. Even a minute of showering can bring substantial relief. Don’t use a towel to dry afterward, as wet skin will continue cooling the body.

51. Remember that nearly all cooling gadgets offer a child’s version. Your child will likely use a Disney character or a superhero fan than a regular boring device. That means the kid will always have a personal cooling gadget.

How to Keep the Room Cool and Fresh at Night

52. It’s difficult to fall asleep when it’s stuffy, so maintain a comfortable temperature at home no matter how hot it is outside. Use ACs, fans, and other gadgets to create a shelter for your family and pets.

53. We’ve already illustrated people who live in hot climates from ancient times. Their experience is also useful for housing arrangements. In Italy, for example, the windows are traditionally draped with wooden shutters. As a result, hot sun rays do not penetrate the room. If you want less hassle, hang thick curtains.

54. Don’t open the windows at night, even if it’s hot. Use a draft to keep cool.

55. Put your bed linen in the fridge and make your bed right before going to sleep. You will feel blessed as you fall asleep in a cool bed!

56. Changing the bed sheets daily is rather tiring. Smart bed gadgets exude coolness like the best cooling pillow or a cooling blanket from a trusted manufacturer is not heated by your body.

57. Manage your kitchen wisely. While you will need lots of ice, you can stop using the stove and oven so as not to escalate the heat.

58. Cut the appliance use, but not water consumption!

How to Save Your Dog from Heat

59. Just like humans, dogs are susceptible to heat stroke and can even die of heat. Almost all common breeds are at risk: some of them have thick fur (huskies, malamutes, and German shepherds), and others have flat faces (bulldogs, pugs, and spitz). Labrador retrievers and rottweilers are known to have thermoregulation issues. The time they spend outdoors during a heatwave should be minimized. For instance, domestic cats are rarely sick due to heat as they tend to stay at home.

60. An overheated dog sticks out its tongue and breathes through the mouth. This is the only way to cool, which is why closed muzzles can’t be used. Your dog might suffocate!

61. Help your dog beat the heat by wetting its fur. Place a water container in the backyard so the dog can have a cooling swim in an improvised pool.

62. Buy a cooling bandana or a cooling vest for your dog. The former is suitable for small stay-at-home dogs. Large and furry pets require a vest. Its cooling effect lasts for up to seven hours.

63. Check the water bowl often for fresh water and put ice there. Make sure the food in the bowl is not spoiled: dogs barely eat in the heat.

64. Don’t leave your dog alone in a stuffy, enclosed space. If you don’t have an AC, buy a cooling pad for your dog. Such a cooling pad is filled with a special gel that consumes the heat radiated by your pet’s body. Keep it at home or in the car. This device is also suitable for cats.

65. Let your dog play on the grass and not the pavement. Heated asphalt will burn your pet’s gentle paws.

Beat the Heat | 65 Ways to Keep Cool this Summer | Expert Advice