The Ultimate Summer Survival Guide: Survive the heat
Part two: Coming from a woman with Reverse Seasonal Affective Disorder, summer tips for everything, cooling down, fun things, depression tips, etc.
I am happy to have you back for part two of my summer series. If you haven’t read part one since you are new here, you can do so.
In today’s post, we talk about the heat, and I also throw in some of my tips in case you are dealing with sickness because of this. Since I do, I get a headache so easily it’s insane. I stay away from the sun since I get a headache, sunstroke, and burn very easily, as mentioned in another post.
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1. Sickness tips for the heat
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor; I just give tips that help me. Since I have been dealing with the following things for years, which is well known by my doctor, I know what I am doing when it comes to my body. Please, listen to your body if you feel like you should go to the doctor, even with a ‘minor’ thing, that is the right thing to do. Especially if you have these things for a longer time and/or for the first time.
Headache
As a migraine girl, I am a pro at dealing with headaches, but for this, we will focus on heat-related headaches. I am working on a post for headache tips to share with you all.
1. Don’t sit in the sun (too long)
As mentioned above, I stay out of the sun as if it’s the plague, since for me it is. But if you can stomach the sun, don’t stay in it for too long, or protect your head. Trust me, it is really important to do this since we can all agree that headaches aren’t fun.
2. Hydration
An obvious one for a headache, no matter the type! You can sip water the entire time, but also add electrolytes to your water or use drinks for this, like sports drinks. With that, just make sure they aren’t sugary drinks and are really healthy for you.
Don’t drink iced coffee (Hard one for me) and sugary drinks, really focus on water and electrolytes.
3. Preventing: When the headache starts
When you notice the first symptom, no matter how small an ache, get out of the sun and cool down in a cooler room or the shade.
Cool down your body with cool clothes, an ice pack in a towel around your neck, wrists, or forehead. Or take a colder shower to lower your core temperature.
Focusing on hydration and cooling down helps with a heat-related headache. I always do everything so it doesn’t trigger a migraine for me.
Dizziness
If there is one thing I hate is dizziness; in 2024, I was dizzy for three weeks straight. I woke up dizzy, and I went to sleep dizzy. It wasn’t really going away, no matter what I did. Not even my doctor knew where it came from. Multiple factors could have made it happen. So, I became good at finding things that work.
1. Ginger is your best friend
Fun fact: I absolutely dislike ginger. I couldn’t stomach this, and I am still not a fan ot it. But it works wonders with dizziness. It helps with lots of things, and dizziness is one of them.
I am not saying you drink one ginger tea, and you never get dizzy, yet when I was so fed up with the dizziness that I was desperate and drank my first ginger tea, it cleared up a bit when I had it.
There are also other ginger things you can do, like eat it in your food, or have some candy to take with you. I drank tea since even when it was hot, I am much more of a tea person than a ginger candy one.
2. Don’t stop moving
That is a mistake I made at first, thinking resting and lying down would help.
No.
It actually made it worse. If you're in a horrible one, of course, sit down or lie down. But when you have it, even going to the doctor, eventually, it’s making it worse when you just lie down.
Gentle movements and help might be the best. Because of my absolutely horrible depression phase, I didn’t want to get up anyway, and I felt dizzy. No chance.
But if you move gently, where you can also hold yourself, it really helps since I have circulatory problems, mostly in summer anyway, sitting or lying down all the time isn’t good.
Make sure to move your head gently too; rapid movements, especially there, can make it worse.
3. Elevate your feet
In an acute one, obviously, lie down and elevate your feet above your heart so blood flow can improve. That is the first treatment you should do if you feel dizzy or if someone else feels like this.
4. Hydration & Electrolytes
As well as with headaches, this goes the same for dizziness; always stay hydrated with the same drinks as with a headache. Plus, add ginger tea here, you can sip on while you combine this.
5. Cool down
Heat-related dizziness means to cool down as well. You can use the same tips I already mentioned, and the ones that come after this in this part of the series.
Later, I will speak about a kit you can use here as well, plus add some ginger that can help with the dizziness. I explain how we do one with cooling things, and add the ones you have problems with.
6. Stay out of the sun
That goes hand in hand with the fifth one: stay out of the sun if you feel dizzy, as that can make it worse. Just stay in a shaded place or inside a cool room.
7. Blood sugar
Always check your blood sugar. Sometimes it is this: whenever I feel dizzy, I sometimes eat a piece of chocolate or candy, and it could help, but only if it’s blood sugar related, and my doctor mentioned to try it out first.
So whenever I am dizzy, that is the first thing: eat something sweet or sometimes drink a glass of soda, which I rarely drink. Sometimes I drink a glass of Sprite, maybe once or twice a month.
For me, that even helps with a headache, but only sometimes and when it’s a small one.
8. Awareness
If it stays for a longer time, you need to see the doctor if it’s not getting better. Especially with high temperature, rapid heartbeat, confusion, and loss of consciousness.
It’s always better to get it checked than be sorry. I just had normal dizziness without the other symptoms mentioned above and went to get it checked.
After three weeks, I finally got it under control with everything I mentioned above.
Heat exhaustion & Heat stroke
Disclaimer: I get Heat exhaustion often. I know my body, in and out, after working on this. I know when my body heads to a heat stroke since I experienced that often in the past. Still, I am not a doctor and only write the things helping me, all in talks with my doctor, years of dealing with heat exhaustion. I will explain, but not give ’tips’ for a heat stroke, except: Hospital.
Let me explain the brief difference between these two: in heat exhaustion, your body overheats and struggles to regulate its temperature, which is also mostly caused by dehydration. A heat stroke is a life-threatening medical emergency. There is nothing you should do except call your emergency number. It is when your body’s cooling system basically fails, and your core temperature flares up.
Some symptoms:
High body temperature is often above 40 degrees Celsius.
Hot, red, or dry skin (Flushed skin)
Lack of sweating even in the heat
Confusion, slurred speech, behaviour changes
Rabbit breathing and a racing pulse
Seizures or loss of consciousness
Nausea and vomiting
Headache
Never sleep if you have active heatstroke signs. Again, with this, please go to the hospital. I won’t say more.
I just focus on the heat exhaustion, that is something I can give you some tips that helped me when I had mine. But maybe if you experience this for the first time, go to your doctor.
1. Move to a cool area
What you need to focus on is getting your core temperature back down, so the first step is out of the heat and into a cool area, definitely not near the sun in this moment.
2. Clothing
Lose tight clothing, or change into something comfortable. You would want as few clothes on as you can, while the ones you are wearing are loose and comfortable. No tight clothing or excessive ones.
3. Leg elevated
Again, elevate your legs and lie down while you also monitor your symptoms.
4. Hydration
Keep hydrated while drinking slow sips of water or a sports drink. Take slow and small sips, not drinking a lot of water over a short period of time.
5. Cooling down
Focus again on cooling your skin, with a damp cloth or ice pack in a towel: Neck, armpits, and wrist. Sometimes I like to have a damp towel on my arms and legs, which always helps me too.
And use the ones down below, I will write about.
6. Important thing to keep in mind
Don’t use fever reducers, as they can be dangerous. Always talk to your doctor or emergency line about this. It’s something my doctor stressed not to do.
7. Sleep with someone there
Sleep helps recovery, but make sure you have someone in the room to watch over you and see if your symptoms get worse to wake you.
Have the perfect sleep temperature that will help you sleep and not overheat.
And wear loose and breathable sleepwear when you sleep, which will help with the heat in general.
Heat exhaustion can escalate to heat stroke, so keep watching and call your emergency number immediately when heat stroke symptoms appear.
They are rough to deal with & I know the signs, but to prevent them since I am prone to them for some reason, I always stay out of the sun, cool down when I notice the slight overheating, and try to make it before it will explode into a full heat exhaustion.
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If my writing brings you a little calm in your day, you can support me with a small coffee☕️
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2. Cooling tips
I gathered my tips to survive the heat. I had a trial and error, finding things that are helping with the temperature that is hot. And for everyone who doesn’t have air conditioning. So, since this part is long, I already go into them before taking too long.
1. Fan
My fan, my parents got me a few years ago, is my best friend in the summer; we are inseparable. I sleep with it on, I sit with it on, I have it on all the time. Now I have an apartment and not just a room, but my fan will still be my best friend.
2. Water spray bottle
Something I like to have with me is these travel-sized spray bottles, and I fill them with water, which is a lovely thing when you use a travel-sized fan in combination with it.
I like to just freshen up with it, spray it on my face to cool it down, when I am on my way. It fits in every bag, and you can use it whenever you want.
3. Your home routine
Let me explain what I mean by this: knowing your home is important, so you can play around with it to help you with the heat.
For example, when I lived with my parents, my room was a big room that looked out to the garden, it had one little heater, and the problem: It was either cold or too hot. Having a normal temperature was hard to achieve. Even in the winter, I had my tip to make it better. But either you freeze in that room, or you feel like you are in a sauna.
After years in this room, I got the right fit with the heater that is old and always broken. And just the last one and a half years, I got the hang of it in the summer. Because the entire day the sun shone onto it. So, steal my routine.
Keep your blinds down. Keep your window closed in the afternoon. And open windows at night.
I only had my blinds up a bit in the morning. Around 12 pm, the sun was already too much, so the blinds were down and the fan was on. Then, around 8 pm, I put the window on the side where I always had the blinds down open, and kept it open in the night.
That routine helped me, now I need to know different things since my apartment doesn’t have blinds, it's on the last floor, and the sun shines on it. It’s a sauna in there; you can barely breathe even though the fan isn’t helping.
Guess who is getting an air conditioner for next summer? 🙋🏻♀️
4. Ice
Honestly? In any way. Summer is the time of ice cream, which cools you from the inside, but I also have a lot of other tips with ice.
Take normal Ice cubes to use on your skin to cool down, or do an ice bath for your face. It’s good for your skin, reducing puffyness and it has the effect that it cools you down. If you are brave or can stand it, you can take an ice bath (I don’t know if you have to check this with your doctor, so let me put that disclaimer here).
I have an Ice roller I love to use; it’s the same as normal ice, but it’s designed for it. I love it. And my mom’s cat too, I always cleaned it, but used it on him after I was done too, he loved the cooling effect it had for him. He didn’t even want me to stop. I cleaned it, disinfect it, and put it back.
Also, a bowl of ice cubes is good in front of the fan; it helps cool down a bit more. That is something you can try out too.
5. Hot water bottle
You might read it and be like ‘Lena, what? That doesn’t make sense!’
And I get it, it does make sense with a tip I found out last summer that changed it. You take your hot water bottle, I have one that is even for that as well, and put cold water in it. You can use it like this, or you can put it in the freezer or fridge. It cools you down.
Just make sure when you take it out of the freezer, wrap it in a towel, since this is safer and better than using it directly. After some time, when it feels comfortable for you, you can put the towel away.
This is a game-changer.
6. Cloths
As a girl with mirgraines this is a tip I use for headaches all the time, but I use a wet washcloth. I always have this even when I don’t have a headache. You can put it on your forehead, the back of your neck, under your arms, or anywhere that cools you down.
Plus, I use it to wet my arms and legs sometimes, too. It’s a cooling effect that is lovely. I have been using it for years.
7. Cooling kit
That is something I live by: if it’s small enough, you can have it in your bag or just at home, too. It’s something I take with me, and you can put in what helps you. I use this as an example of what to have in your bag when you leave the house.
A mini fan.
Your mini spray bottle of water
A washcloth, so you can always wet it and have it on the go with you
Cooling mist or spray
Wipes
These will help you. You can make a kit, or just use one thing out of them to take with you. It’s a life change, especially when you struggle with the heat.
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These were all the tips I could think of that helped me to deal with the heat and what comes with it. Something I always do is only go out in the morning or evening, mostly the evening, to be honest. It is up to you, with the summer issues, making a good use of the evening works the best for me.
Thank you for reading the second part of this series. I love that I decided to ignore the imposter syndrome and decided to write it.
xx
Lena
