Beat the Heat: Tips & Tricks from Around the World

Eat spicy like a Mexican

Now this might not be a tip for everyone. But if you can handle (and enjoy) spicy food, then you’re in luck!

The capsaicin in chilis tricks your brain into thinking you’re overheating, triggering your body’s cooling system. You sweat, your blood flow increases, and thus, you cool down.

Plus, capsaicin releases endorphins. So you’ll not only feel cooler but also happier — maybe that’s the secret to expats’ happiness in Mexico.

Drink tea like a Turk

Similar to spicy food, hot tea can help you cool down by inducing sweating. But this trick only works in dry climates! If the humidity is high, your sweat doesn’t evaporate well, so the tea might make you feel hotter.

For an additional cool kick, opt for mint tea — especially peppermint. While it doesn’t lower your body temperature, the menthol it contains tricks your body into registering a refreshing sensation.

Wear loose clothing like an Arab

Covering yourself in long layers of cloth might seem counterintuitive to keeping cool. But there’s a good reason why traditional clothing in the Middle East and Northern Africa favors long and loose garments like thawbs or abayas.

The science behind it is quite interesting: instead of sticking to your skin, loose clothing allows the air to circulate between it and your body to carry away some of the heat. That’s also why the trick works better in drier climates than in humid heat.

An added benefit: the long clothing provides UV protection.

Slip, slop, and slap like an Australian

Based on a well-known campaign first created in the 1980s, this slogan reminds you to:

• Slip on a shirt
• Slop on some sunscreen
• Slap on a hat

Not only will these actions reduce the risk of skin cancer — the original goal of the campaign — they’ll help you stay a little cooler. Especially when you follow the later additions of “Seek & Slide”: seek shade and slide on sunglasses.

Fan yourself like a Chinese

Handheld fans have been used for millennia across the world — some exemplars were even found in the famous Egyptian tomb of Tutankhamun.

China can also look back on a long history of fans used for both practical purposes and cultural performances, from the round silk fans called tuanshan to the pukuishan made from weaved palm leaves.

The more practical folding fan, meanwhile, was invented in Japan. All these designs have one thing in common: they’re an eco-friendly, fashionable tool to help you cool down.

Take a siesta like the Spanish

Now, midday or afternoon naps are not just a habit in Spain. In China, for instance, the so called “noon sleep” is a widespread practice at schools and workplaces.

And in fact, the Spanish are not napping as much as they used to, with just 18% saying they still take a siesta according to a 2022 study by the National Institute of Statistics.

The benefits of recharging with a power nap after lunch are nevertheless clear. Numerous studies have shown that short naps help boost your cognitive functions, improve your alertness levels, and reduce stress.

And it beats being outdoors in the heat.

Benefit from wet curtains like an Indian

This is another tip that only works in dry heat: when you have your windows open, wet your curtains. The evaporating water will cool down your rooms, making the summer heat a little more bearable. (Just be careful not to overdo it, or the humidity might become a problem.)

This tip is based on a common practice in the northern regions of India, where curtains made out of grass roots (khus) are kept damp as a traditional and natural cooling method.

Go to the cinema like an American

Believe it or not, air conditioning has played a major role in the history of cinema. Following its introduction in US movie theaters in the 1920s, summer turned from the slow season to prime movie-time.

So much so that “advertising air” was a legit marketing technique: cool air wafting out of the opened front door was meant to entice people passing by to pop in for a cinema visit.

So why not pick a film, grab some popcorn, and enjoy 2 hours of air conditioning this summer?