🔥 5 Tips To Beat The Heat! 🔥

If you're a citizen of Karachi like me, then you DEFINITELY know why I felt the urge to write this blog. According to scientific research, Karachi is a heat island. What is a heat island, you may ask? Heat islands are surfaces that were once permeable and moist however have become impermeable and dry. These changes cause cities to become warmer than their rural environment or suburbs. This creates an "island" of higher temperatures in the landscape.

The hottest month in Karachi is May, when temperatures rise to 50 °C (122 °F). There are many other countries and cities all over the world which are extremely hot, so these tips are definitely gonna work out for people living in other countries too.

So let's start off with the mostly done tip;

1. Shower Daily

Okay, so if you're lazy like me and don't want to take showers daily, then gimme a moment to motivate you with my story.

Every day, when I came back home after a full-on crazy ride (half of it being school, half being my bumpy ride home in a van which has practically gone through hell), my mother would always tell me to take a shower before changing my clothes. Sometimes, I'd listen. I would take a quick rinse and would feel refreshed and clean the whole day. Meanwhile, sometimes laziness would take over me and I wouldn't bathe. I'd celebrate in my lazy mind, saying, "Yay! I don't have to shower today!" But, trust me; I would basically be melting the entire day. I'd feel sticky, hot, and REALLY bad!

Hence, students, make sure you shower every day, whether it's after you return home from work or school, or even if you have been at home and just completed all your chores. Medical reports have shown that showering everyday has many benefits, such as the fact that it reduces negative feelings, promotes health, changes your wakefulness levels and increases blood flows.

2. Keep Yourself Well Hydrated

In hot weathers, hydration is extremely important. Make sure to drink at least 8 glasses of water every day. It can help our bodies cool down, and prevents harmful things like fainting from happening. I have seen many students in my school faint due to dehydration.

Sometimes, you can take refreshing juices in your water bottles so that you can stay active all day.

Being a karachiite (a person living in Karachi), I know that every elder here loves drinking tea in literally EVERY season. I mean, I get that drinking warm tea in winters is the best feeling, but they drink tea in summers too, as if it doesn't make them feel hot at all. And here's the worst part, the tea obsession has started to adapt in me too, because I've been drinking tea in this burning hot weather for the past two days, and tbh, I'm loving it!

So I'm not gonna go against any of our desi uncles or aunties, but like, seriously, don't drink hot drinks. Try drinking cool drinks, like any sort of cold flavored juice or some cold drink. This will help in keeping you fresh and cool all day long.

3. Wear Light & Thin Clothes

Always make sure you have clothes for the summers ready. What I do is that every year, when the winters are about to come, I empty my wardrobe and take out all my winter clothes which were all packed up from the previous year.

Then, I set my winter clothes in the wardrobe and pack up the summer clothes. And then when summer arrives, I do the same thing again, but this time I take out the winter clothes and set up all my summer clothes.

This way, I always have my light and thin clothes in front of me in the summers, so I don't even risk wearing winter clothes in the summer. By wearing light clothes, heat won't be attracted and you obviously won't feel hot throughout the day. Same thing with wearing thick clothes, you'll feel hot and annoyed, so wear something thin.

Another tip is to apply some talcum powder in your armpits and wherever else you want to apply it. You won't get sweaty too easily.

4. Stay Indoors

In summers, always try to stay indoors.

Don't go outside for useless things. If you ever want to hang out with our friends or some family members, don’t go to a place with no shade. Try to go to malls, or even each other’s houses, but not places like open restaurants or something like that.

If you ever even have to go outdoors for something, even if it’s just for a 5-minute walk, make sure to apply sunscreen. This always helps so much! If you’re going on a picnic or to a beach, apply the sunscreen underneath your makeup, or just go for your natural beauty and apply sunblock only!

Since I have to go to school every day, I put on some sunscreen on my face, hands and arms before wearing my hijab. This way, the sun doesn’t attack me and I don’t get tan. Then, once I reach home, I wash off the sunblock with some face wash and VOILA! I’m not tan!

5. Block Heat At Home

If you’re wondering how you’re supposed to block natural heat from entering your house, it’s really simple. All you have to do is close the doors, windows and curtains in your house whenever it gets WAY TOO HOT.

Honestly speaking, having natural sunlight enter your house is actually quite beneficial. It kills all the germs and bacteria in your house, but sometimes the weather gets extremely hot and it feels like you’re melting. Only in that case, I would suggest you to block the heat from coming into your house.

By doing this, the temperature inside your house gets cooler and you don’t feel that warm.

Hence, these were my top 5 save-yourself-from-the-heat tips! Don't underestimate me when I tell you these tips, cause I'm living in an extremely hot city.

If you try out my tips, make sure to comment your experience with them. In fact, feel free to give some suggestions or ask any questions. Subscribe to this blog so that you can get notifications whenever I post something new. Take care of yourselves.

F, signing off.