Don’t lose your cool on the Dolphin Coast – 7 tricks to beat the heat

Long time residents of the Dolphin Coast may be used to the heat, but for some of us this is the first summer we’re spending in Ballito – and it’s been a hot one!

With this in mind, here are a few handy tips for keeping your cool when the heat is on.

• Stay hydrated. This one may seem obvious, but drinking water is the first step towards coping with the heat and it can also help prevent heat stroke.

• Stick with cotton. Silk sheets may impress your mother-in-law but they won’t help you get a good night’s sleep. Cotton sheets and clothing are more breathable so they will keep you cooler. A handy trick to try out is putting your sheets in the freezer in a plastic bag for an hour or two before you go to bed – they won’t stay cool all night but they’ll help you drift off in sweat-free comfort.

• Use your fans. Sometimes it seems like your fans are just blowing hot air around, but there’s more than one way to use them. Box fans pointed out of a window will help blow hot air out of a room and adjusting your ceiling fans so the blades turn counter-clockwise will make them pull the hot air up and away from you, instead of just twirling it around.

• Ice, ice baby. If you need to cool down fast, ice packs or cold compresses to your pulse points (wrists, neck, elbows, groin, ankles, and behind the knees) will chill you out quickly. Putting some ice in a pan in front of a fan will also work like a DIY air conditioner by picking up cold water from the ice’s surface as it melts, creating a cooling mist.

• Let it all hang out. Cool down a room by hanging a wet or damp sheet in front of an open window – the breeze blowing through will help bring down the temperature.

• Get your grain on. Things like rice and buckwheat are good for more than just a meal, buckwheat pillows don’t absorb as much heat as cotton or down and filling a sock with rice and sticking it in the freezer for a while will give you a handy little foot cooler for bedtime.

• Hit the lights. It may seem like a small thing – but lights and electronics all cause heat, and when you think about all the appliances, lamps, computers, cellphones and more in the average house it makes sense that keeping as many things off as possible will keep their heat from adding to the outside temperature. This is also a good way to sleep easier knowing you’re causing less harm to the environment.

So stay cool out there Dolphin Coasters – the hottest part of the year is coming to an end and cooler climes are just around the corner.

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