How to rest in: a tropical night, equatorial night or a 'hellish' one?
Let's differentiate: tropical night, equatorial night, and infernal night.
In 2022, Barcelona registered 132 nights with at least twenty degrees 2023 will follow the same evolution. Taking in account this reality we give you guidelines to rest as well as possible when the temperature at night is extremely high.
There are three categories of hot nights based on the threshold of heat they exceed:
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Tropical nights: where the temperature does not drop below twenty degrees.
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Equatorial nights: where the thermometer does not go below twenty-five degrees.
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Infernal nights: where the mercury never drops below thirty degrees.
Understanding even further:
a) How does heat affect the quality of sleep?
During the night, heat has neurological consequences that decrease our performance in all areas of life the next day. Heat disrupts the REM sleep phase when the brain consolidates memories and learns from the day.
b) What are the main effects of heat on the human body?
Some effects of stuffiness during rest are:
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Decreased ability to regulate temperature and sweat, which causes awakenings.
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Feeling suffocated.
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Anxiety and palpitations in some people.
Eight effective tips for achieving higher-quality sleep:
a) Prepare the room where you will sleep with awareness: Ensure good ventilation throughout the day and use curtains to protect against the sun if it impacts in the afternoon. Want more tips? Click this link where we provide fifteen.
The most recommended is to have our home thermally well-insulated. Then, our comfort will be greater. A more ambitious but expensive solution is bioclimatic construction.
b) Avoid intense physical exercise in the afternoon - referring to cardio or weightlifting - but swimming is an option. However, remember to drink water every 25 meters as swimming also causes significant dehydration.
c) Skillful swimming has rewards:
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Reducing body friction with water.
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Being able to breathe every two strokes.
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Causing fewer unproductive muscle contractions, thus increasing movement efficiency.
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Staying away from high heart rates.
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Reaching high speeds without straining the body.
d) Eat light meals with low caloric value. If you consume many calories, your blood will warm up the body even more, leading to a thermal "slap." This happens because digestion generates heat to extract nutrients. Cold soups, vegetables, or many fruits are the right choices. Remember to hydrate with water and fruit or tomato juices, avoiding alcohol, coffee, or isotonic drinks.
e) Take a warm shower before sleep. Why not a cold one since it's summer and it's scorching? Even though heat is the threat, opting for its opposite can keep you too awake.
f) Opt for cross-ventilation and fans instead of air conditioning. Air conditioning may seem like the best solution against heat. However, if we leave it on all night, it will dry out our throats and disturb us.
In contrast, natural cross-ventilation by opening doors and windows and using a fan are a much better combination for our health and economy (air conditioning consumes 90% more than a fan).
g) Wear thin, breathable, comfortable pajamas, preferably made of natural fabrics.
h) Use lightweight and breathable sheets, such as cotton or silk, as we wrote in 2019. If you choose to sleep on the terrace during the nap, use awnings to protect yourself from the sun.
i) To endure 40 degrees without air conditioning, moisten and freeze a cloth. If you have two, you can always have one cold on your head, while the other should be in the freezing process.
Epilogue: Beyond the night, can we learn from other regions that experience much hotter temperatures than the Mediterranean basin?
Certainly! Let's see how they cope with heat outside of Europe - in order from west to east:
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Mayan culture or the combination of water's freshness with the softness of local fabric: In Central America, people sleep in damp hammocks with crossed legs, refreshing their bodies with a kind of straw water bottle next to them, which also emits coolness. Additionally, people wrap themselves in fabric to protect against insect bites.
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Sahara Desert or the power of logic: Faced with the scorching sun, it is necessary to wear a lot of clothing - not to remove it - to protect against the sun and its burns. The clothing should be loose to allow air currents between the body and the fabric. Additionally, Sahrawis apply a basic principle: we all feel heat due to the temperature difference between our bodies and the outside. Therefore, if we raise our internal temperature, we will notice less contrast, that is, less heat. Nothing better than a hot tea.
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Dakar region or indifference to what is normal: Dakar does not exceed 40 degrees, but the heat is intense. John Paul explains it with the innocence of a nine-year-old child: "When it's very hot, nothing changes at school (...) they simply tell us to go to the playground." Marie Angelique concludes: "In Africa, we play more in the shade of trees." And it is the strength of the attitude with which we approach things.
- India or the power of white pigment on roofs: With 50 degrees, no attitude will suffice! However, the application of white paint on roofs by a local NGO has made life more bearable by reducing the impact of sun rays with the color.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-internacional-59062969
- Australia or the obsession to stop the impact of the sun: The country of the 10 deserts could not be left out of the list.
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If possible, hang tarps or shade cloth from the eaves to prevent the sun from hitting the walls. If you have a tiled roof, climb onto the roof early in the morning and remove a couple of tiles at the highest part of the roof and others lower down near the edges. This will ventilate the space in the roof.
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Use cooling scarf
- Outside, always apply sunscreen and wear a hat. With the suggestions from this article and those from another one from 2021, titled "how to carry out our daily activities when high temperatures are recorded," we have completed a manual on how to withstand the heat during the 24 hours.