This European heatwave has been going on for weeks and shows no signs of abating. It’s really wearing me down. Any tips for staying cool when you don’t have air conditioning? I’ve tried the whole shutting the windows and blinds thing they recommend but that just makes it worse. I already feel uncomfortably hot at the best of times as a side effect of my medication. So an actual heatwave on top is literal torture. It’s so bad in the UK that supermarket refrigerators have stopped working due to the heat, and the news says its going to be the longest heatwave in 50 years.

  • iByteABit [comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    11·
    2 days ago

    Haven’t tried it, but a science trick I heard was putting something reflective like tinfoil on the outside part of the windows so that no radiation is entering the house and getting trapped by the insulation. It might look funny but it sounds promising

    • JoeByeThen [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
      3·
      2 days ago

      I keep sheets of this rolled up to put in my bedroom windows in the summer, because the afternoon sun bakes the back half of the house. Not gonna do much to prevent the house from heating up with the air temp, but it makes for good sun shade.

    • Dyno [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      3·
      2 days ago

      I got one of those blackout shades that is black on the inside and reflective on the outside for my bedroom skylight - it’s made a surprisingly big difference.
      I went from waking up burning alive because my bed had reached 50-odd degrees, to being only fairly warm at around 25

    • woodenghost [comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
      4·
      2 days ago

      I did it and it works. You can use the rescue blankets from first aid boxes. Be sure to have the sliver part face outside. It makes a real difference, but if the heatwave takes long enough, the walls will heat up and the tinfoil can do nothing against that. It still keeps the sun out, which would make things even worse. Windows wide open at night help. Icepacks from the refrigerator wrapped in a towel around your neck cool without increasing humidity. Definitely avoid anything that increases humidity inside like wet clothing, wet towels etc. Frequent cold showers, but short or humidity will go up and the body will burn even more energy to get warm again if it cools down too much. Turn off any boiler.