There is a wonderful little heat wave going on right now in Memphis. It’s hot.
Yesterday I worked from home as I was trying to get over a cold and wanted to do laundry while I worked. I went about enjoying the flexibility of my job working from home until around 10 am when I noticed I felt hot. Too hot.
Normally my apartment is quite cool, and even a 74 degree setting will make me reach for a blanket. It’s amazing and I love how efficient the air conditioning is in the space.
When I started to feel warm I knew something was wrong. I waited a while and realized the temperature kept going up, so I informed my landlord that something was wrong.
After getting the runaround from the AC guy it turned out no one was coming to fix the air that day. I left my apartment when it hit 86 degrees and I was sweating inside. I went to Jason’s house for cool relief… and then their air conditioning promptly stopped working.
When I finally returned that night, defeated and out of options for a cool sleeping spot, it was 90 degrees inside on our downstairs level.
I tried going upstairs to my bedroom and I lasted five minutes. The heat was unbearable even with fans and I wouldn’t get any sleep there. Instead Juju and I slept downstairs with fans on and ice nearby. When it gets that hot you have to make changes to stay cool!
How to Stay Cool During Hot Weather
Here’s a list of things you can do to stay cool in this situation, aka things I’ve been doing to stay cool.
- Get out the fans. All the fans. Borrow some fans from others. Turn fans on high.
- Turn on all fans
- Stand in front of the freezer with the door open.
- Put ice in a bowl or bucket in front of the fan.
- Take a cold, cold shower. Then sit in front of the fan.
- Drink lots of water with ice in it. Lots of ice.
- Go sit in the car with the air conditioning on for a minute.
- Go out to eat because it’s too hot to cook and restaurants have air.
- Go to the gym to workout because they have fans and air conditioning.
- Take off all your clothes and enjoy naked time since your roommate is gone.
- Give your dog water with ice because your baby is hot too!
- Start planning a snowboarding trip and think about snow and winter.
If you want a more official list of ways to stay cool during a heatwave, the CDC has a great list:
- Stay in air-conditioned buildings as much as possible. Contact your local health department or locate an air-conditioned shelter in your area. Air-conditioning is the number one protective factor against heat-related illness and death. If a home is not air-conditioned, people can reduce their risk for heat-related illness by spending time in public facilities that are air-conditioned, and using air conditioning in vehicles.
- Do not rely on a fan as your primary cooling device during an extreme heat event.
- Drink more water than usual and don’t wait until you’re thirsty to drink.
- Check on a friend or neighbor and have someone do the same for you.
- Don’t use the stove or oven to cook—it will make you and your house hotter.
- Stay in an air-conditioned indoor location as much as possible.
- Drink plenty of fluids even if you don’t feel thirsty.
- Schedule outdoor activities carefully.
- Wear loose, lightweight, light-colored clothing and sunscreen.
- Pace yourself.
- Take cool showers or baths to cool down.
- Check on a friend or neighbor and have someone do the same for you.
- Never leave children or pets in cars.
- Check the local news for health and safety updates.
Those are a lot of the things I tried yesterday to stay cool while I was incredibly hot! Getting overheated is a serious problem and can lead to heatstroke and even death unfortunately. It’s something you should take seriously!
That was the most I’ve sweated in a 24 hour period possibly ever. If I still weighed myself daily I probably would have been amazed by that weight loss thanks to losing so much water!
The air is supposed to be fixed and working by the time I get home today, so fingers crossed these things don’t have to be done again any time soon!