How to stay cool in the heat.

Aromatherapy

Mental health and wellbeing

Physical health and wellbeing

For those of us in the UK we are experiencing a heat wave. Many of us are feeling fractious, not sleeping well and tired. So if we need a little bit of help what can we do?

To work out what we can do we first need to understand what is happening to us. When it is hot, sleeping is difficult and restlessness means we don’t get the amount of sleep we are used to, or we don’t experience the full cycles of sleep we are used to. For the body and mind to wake feeling fully refreshed we need those full sleep cycles suitable for us. If we don’t receive that over a period of time, we become sleep deprived and show signs of stress upon our body. We become short tempered, crave sugar, experience headaches, sore eyes, memory loss, body aches and tiredness.

Lets add in the heat. When the surrounding temperature is above our normal comfortable level and our body temperature starts to rise our heart rate starts to increase. When this happens, our body thinks we are entering into a fight or flight scenario and prepares accordingly. Adrenaline and Cortisol starts to be produced in the body, hormones that help us sleep are reduced and hormones that help us with more energy/aggression increase, sugar levels become unstable. We become ready to fight or run away.

Together we become fractious, tired and restless.

So what can we do to help us return to calmness?

1. If you are at home find the coolest room in the house throughout the day. As the sun moves around different rooms will heat up and cool down. Keep the curtains closed or pulled to. If there is a breeze open windows and use a method of cross ventilation and use a fan.
2. Wear loose, natural fibre based clothing to allow air to circulate around your skin and let your body’s cooling mechanism to be effective.
3. Take a cool shower or bath. This cools your body temperature and allows your heart rate to come down slightly.
4. Be aware of your sugar intake and sugar levels. Our diet affects us more than we realise.
5. Follow the air conditioning. If you can find a venue to work or spend time that has air conditioning do so.
6. Spend some time calming your body and your mind. This can be done though mindfulness, meditation or even go for a massage or complementary therapy
7. Essential oils can help. The ones I favour are Peppermint, Sweet Orange, Sandalwood, Eucalyptus, Lavender and Palmarosa. For a list of recipes take a look here.

Create your own method and tools for staying cool and remember to slow down, if possible, adopt a lifestyle that allows for a break during the heat of the day.