Keep Cool During Heat Wave and Power Outage Crisis

Prepare ahead of time for power outages during the summer's hottest days. Freeze gallons of water in big blocks of ice if you have a large freezer. Refilling plastic gallon water bottles with tap water and freezing them works. It also works to fill sturdy gallon size zip lock type freezer bags with water and freeze them flat. Smaller bottles such as liter coke bottles or quart size freezer bags if you have only a small freezer unit with your refrigerator. The larger the blocks of ice you have the longer they will take to melt when you need them so go for gallon size containers if you have the freezer space. These blocks of ice can be used to cool a fragile person by placing on a thick towel in a shallow pan and fanning the air with a hand held fan over the ice and over the persons head and neck area. They can also be used by wrapping them in a pillow case and placing them around the head, in the armpit area, and in the groin area. Be extremely cautious not to allow the ice to contact the skin. Place several layers of material between the skin and ice to prevent frostbite and check every few minutes to make sure you are not freezing the tissue.

Our dependence on electrically powered air conditioning has put us in real danger when the temperature soars and the electric grid gets overloaded. It is possible to keep cool during a heat wave, even when the power outage that is predicted becomes a reality. I know that in the United States around 4,000 people die from extremes of heat every year. In August of 2003 a heat wave that scorched Europe killed 35,000 people. There are several factors that contribute to the numbers of heat related deaths. One very important factor is the high concentration of paved streets and buildings in our cities that create local environments that absorb more heat than country settings. How do you keep cool when the country swimming hole is not available and the city pool is shut down because of electric blackouts? How do you keep a cool environment when the nearest tree is so far away you cannot access its shade?

Use an environment altering system of blocking the sun from your windows. Best solutions are to cover the window with aluminum foil and cover inside that with a thick layer of newspaper or hang a blanket to prevent the heat from getting into your apartment or house. Remember that inside deep caves or deep in a subbasement, the temperature will maintain at a pretty steady temperature if it is not altered by outside sources of heating or cooling. So make your house, or at least a part of your house, into an insulated cave. Try to prevent heating from occurring during the day and if the air outside cools off at night, let it in to cool down any accumulated heat, then close things back up before the sun comes up.

The body produces heat when we work, get stressed, or eat high calorie foods. Generally when we produce heat we transfer it to the environment through dilated capillaries in the skin by radiation and convection. Radiation works when the air is cooler than we are by transferring the heat directly to the cooler air. Convection works when air movement over the skin moves heat away from the skin. Both of these natural methods fail when the air temperature soars above 95 degrees F. Sweating is another way the body cools itself and this works because the evaporation of the sweat has a refrigerant effect. When the humidity rises sweat does not evaporate and so it too becomes ineffective.
Drink plenty of fluids, you may need as much as two liters every hour if you are working hard and sweating it all out. Replace a part of your fluids with electrolyte balanced sport drinks and part with plain water. Avoid drinks with sugar or caffeine because these ingredients increase metabolism and generate body heat. Avoid high carbohydrate foods and stick with fresh fruits and vegetables with a minimum of protein.

Avoid using cosmetics, face or body creams, or antiperspirants. Yes, yes I know, this is getting very serious, but remember that you need to let your body cool itself and sweating is the most effective way it can do that. If you are concerned about body odor just take those cool showers more often, or you can sponge your underarms and inner thighs frequently with tepid water and leave them damp to increase evaporation.

One way I have found to keep cool is to fill the bathtub with cool water and just relax there with a good book. Children and the elderly, who are generally more susceptible to thermal extremes, can take frequent cool dips or showers. Let the little ones bathe in their tee shirts and then run around the house in wet tee shirts. (Keep the kids in out of the sun, it's easier to stay cool than it is to cool off once you are dangerously hot.) Dip your favorite head scarf in cool water and wrap it around your head wet. Keep it damp and, if you need extra cooling, tuck an ice cube or two into it. For elderly parents or neighbors, loose cotton boxer shorts and loose tee shirts that allow air circulation are the fashion statement of the day. Cool foot baths and cool packs over large veins in the groin, under the arms and on the neck help also. Sometimes all it takes to keep a person comfortable is a cool wet washcloth on the top of the head and a friendly hand to gently wave a fan over it.

You get the picture. In an old fashioned heat wave with an old fashioned lack of electrical appliances you need the good old standbys; water and air movement. If the humidity is high, add ice to the water because evaporation is not as effective.