Now+ drink a lot, not stressing: this is how you cool off while working on hot days

Drink a lot, not stressing: this is how you cool off while working on hot days

It is hot and the temperature in the office, workshop or store can rise quickly. With these tips, you can keep a cool head when it’s hot.

If you are so hot that your clothes stick to your body and you feel like you can’t say a sensible word, it can be very uncomfortable. Especially if your (home) office is located in a hot attic or does not have air conditioning.

It starts with the clothes you wear. “Thin, airy clothes,” advises Maria Hopman, professor of physiology at Radboudumc. Fabrics such as linen and cotton are a good option, because they not only absorb sweat, but also feel airy and fresh.

It is more difficult to concentrate with a heated head. Before you can cool down, you must first lower your body temperature. “Your head is kept at temperature by your body itself,” says Wouter van Marken Lichtenbelt, thermophysiologist at the University of Maastricht. So if you cool down your body, you will automatically get less heated cheeks.

According to him, a small fan is a good option if you work in a warm office. “The thermal comfort increases significantly with that.” Hopman suggests a fan with water spray. “This allows the moisture (sweat) on your skin to evaporate faster, which extracts heat from your body.”

You cool down by sweating

Sweating is the evaporation of moisture on the skin, she continues. “That also cools you down. But such a fan blows more air along your skin. That means you can also directly release heat to the air.”

Drinking cool drinks can also help. “But an ice-cold drink has the opposite effect,” says Van Marken Lichtenbelt. “Then you cool your palate and the parts of the brain above it. Your body experiences cooling and you sweat less. But that only makes your body even warmer. It is important to drink well, but preferably not too cold.”

Hopman also emphasizes the importance of drinking enough. She thinks it may be good to alternate cold drinks with hot drinks. Drinking a warm drink when you are already hot may sound contradictory, but it can actually help. “If you drink tea, for example, your blood vessels will widen. This allows the heat to be better dissipated through the skin and you will also cool down.”

Relaxing is best

If you are still hot, Hopman suggests holding your hands or feet under the cold tap. Because a lot of blood flows to your hands and feet, they cool down faster and that affects the rest of your body. “In the office, you can most easily hold your hands under a cold tap. But if you work at home, I recommend putting your feet in an ice bath.”

“Ultimately, it is best to relax and not get upset,” says Hopman. “By stressing about how hot it is, you only get hotter. Because stress costs energy. As a result, you tense your muscles and produce more heat.”

For those who are still too hot: that is not so strange at all. With these volatile weeks, it is difficult to get used to the heat. “If you sit in the air conditioning all day and don’t go outside in the evening, it will take longer before you can better tolerate the heat. So try to go outside every now and then to seek out the heat.

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