Every Wednesday, I am going to make a tutorial on how to survive an affect of climate change. Today, it is about surviving heatwaves.
First off, what is a heatwave? According to the NOAA, it is “a period of unusually hot weather that typically lasts two or more days” and this can be an issue. The main way it is scary to us humans is that it puts us at risk for various health issues, specifically heat rash, sunburn, heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke. Here is a good infographic on signs and symptoms of these and how to treat them:
Now how do you prepare for this? First, you have to dress properly. You want to wear light colored clothing to reflect the sunlight off of you and you also want to wear long sleeve shirt and pants (unless you are in the shade, then dress in shorts and short sleeve shirt). This might sound counterintuitive, but if you wear clothing that is loose and thin, it allows air to flow on your skin, which allows your sweat to evaporate as well as cool your skin. It is also a good idea to wear a shemagh, but you could also wear a baseball cap to block sun from your face, but it is not as good as a shemagh. You should also wear sunglasses that block UV rays from your eyes to prevent yourself from getting dry eye.
Another thing you need to do is ideally stay indoors as much as possible. If you absolutely have to go outside, do it early or late in the day. Inside, make sure to have an air conditioner going to keep the house cooler, as well as keep the door shut to keep the cool air inside. You also need to stay hydrated. This is due to sweat making you lose water.
Another important thing is ice. This is not just to make water cooler, but also to help cool down your body. It is best to put cool objects on your head, neck, armpits, or feet.
Lastly, one very overlooked one is cardboard. What you can do with it is cover your windows with it. This prevents the sun from sending heat. Yes, the sun does send heat when the window is closed. You could also add heavy curtains just in case some heat still gets in.
As you can tell, there are many risks from heatwaves and it takes effort to prepare for them. Hope you enjoyed, and looking forward to making the next post.
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