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Hot and bothered in Thailand. What can help me cool off?


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8 hours ago, Wilsonandson said:

A proper Thai massage. Near me there are many places to get a massage. My favorite is on a boat. I live up in Rangsit and you can get a massage on a canal boat. It costs 200 baht for one hour and don't worry if you have smelly feet or if your fat, etc. You can keep all your clothes on. Including your socks.

I feel so good after a massage. I walk home floating, not a care in the world. I want to try meditation next. Does anyone know where I can learn about that in English?

 

www.dhamma.org

Best thing you can do for yourself.

 

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14 hours ago, Sprigger said:

Dive in one of thousands of condo pools that never get the sun,. You know the ones they can’t  give away, due to Thailand’s piss poor architects. For 9 months of the year they freeze your nuts off.☃️❄️

I consider that a selling point..........you want sun, go to the beach.

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22 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

Do people worry about "acclimatizing" in the middle of a European winter ? You usually adjust your environment to cope with the weather, heated house, car, workplace, shopping mall.

For some reason it doesn't seem to be the case in a hot climate, you need to somehow get used to it. Back in Australia I heated my environment for 2-3 months through winter and the cost was part of the cost of living. I do the same for cooling my environment during the hottest 2-3 months in Thailand. 

The same logic about being hotter when you step outside doesn't seem to apply when its heating and you will be colder when you step outside. 

  Let me put it this way.  Before I flew to southeast Asia the first time, I studied the subject.  One of my sources was the CDC...Center for Disease Control in Atlanta.  When I got to Thailand, I spent the first three weeks suffering in the heat, soaked in sweat, using only fan, wearing a hat, loose airy clothing, drinking lots of water.  After about three weeks I was fine. my sweating slowed down to normal.  Not soaked in sweat anymore.

     (If I had excercise for an hour or two each day....not just walking.... I would have acclimatized even faster..  in maybe only two weeks.)

              After about three weeks,  I could still feel the heat, but no longer suffering with it.  Nothing like personal experience.  The next four months in Thailand felt comfortable to me. I was there during the hottest part of the year and was able to enjoy myself without suffering.   

     Last year, spending several months in Cambodia, I did the same...  and never ran the air con in my apartment..  Fan only...  and was able to adjust to the heat just fine.    I'm 66 years old. (Older age is supposed to have a bit harder time acclimatizing to heat, but I get used to it just fine over about three weeks.)

    From the CDC Yellow Book:

   Heat Acclimatization

"Heat acclimatization is a process of physiologic adaptation to a hot environment that occurs in both residents and visitors. The result of acclimatization is increased sweating with less salt content, and decreased energy expenditure with lower rise in body temperature for a given workload. Only partial adaptation occurs by passive exposure to heat. Full acclimatization, especially cardiovascular response, requires 1–2 hours of exercise in the heat each day. Most acclimatization changes occur within 10 days, provided a suitable amount of daily exercise. After this time, only increased physical fitness will result in further exercise tolerance. Decay of acclimatization occurs within days to weeks if there is no heat exposure."

Edited by Catoni
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23 hours ago, Justfine said:

Aircon room

Aircon car

Aircon in buildings

Ice cold drink

 

He can spoil himself rotten

  yep.... and he'll complain constantly about the horrible heat and soak his clothes in sweat every time he steps outside.    Not for me. 

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22 hours ago, CGW said:

By acclimatising I take it you mean get used to sweating? as this is the main tool the human body has to keep cool.

When it gets hot - high 30's plus high humidity your body is struggling to keep cool so if other issues arise your not going to be able to deal with them in the same way as you would when your "cool"! Further if your sleeping in a hot room your body is not getting the quality rest it needs to clean up and regenerate, its more focused on the cooling process! :shock1:

Personally I will stick with AC, far more comfortable and less stressful on my delicate body :smile:

      Do you actually live in southeast Asia?   Ever see all the Thai people or Kymer people soaked in sweat?  No... they're used to the climate. You see the tourists coming out of their airconditioned hotels get soaked in sweat. 

    When I get there on my trips, as I begin acclimatizing, I spend the first approx. three weeks suffering with the heat and sweating heavily... my clothes wet....until I get used to the heat.  I will use only fans in my room.

    I leave the A/C off. I avoid A/C.

      And then I'm fine after that, no more suffering with the heat.   So I'm convinced I'm doing it the right way.. 

 

  Once I'm used to the tropical heat, I actually find airconditioning to feel quite uncomfortable.

     

From the CDC Yellow Book:   (Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A.) 

   Heat Acclimatization

"Heat acclimatization is a process of physiologic adaptation to a hot environment that occurs in both residents and visitors. The result of acclimatization is increased sweating with less salt content, and decreased energy expenditure with lower rise in body temperature for a given workload. Only partial adaptation occurs by passive exposure to heat. Full acclimatization, especially cardiovascular response, requires 1–2 hours of exercise in the heat each day. Most acclimatization changes occur within 10 days, provided a suitable amount of daily exercise. After this time, only increased physical fitness will result in further exercise tolerance. Decay of acclimatization occurs within days to weeks if there is no heat exposure."

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However Catoni, one's body must still get hot, & this heat has to be dissipated some way.

 

I don't sweat nearly as much, indeed hardly at all, compared to when I first came here.

 

My wife can often have cool skin - but never sweats.

 

The manual workers here, as you say, aren't drenched in sweat.

 

It's as if, they don't actually get hot...

 

This suggests to me, that there's another mechanism involved.

 

Any ideas?

 

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1 hour ago, faraday said:

However Catoni, one's body must still get hot, & this heat has to be dissipated some way.

 

I don't sweat nearly as much, indeed hardly at all, compared to when I first came here.

 

My wife can often have cool skin - but never sweats.

 

The manual workers here, as you say, aren't drenched in sweat.

 

It's as if, they don't actually get hot...

 

This suggests to me, that there's another mechanism involved.

 

Any ideas?

 

      I'm not an expert... I go by the CDC and other medical institutions familiar with the tropics.  But I suspect that when we arrive in a tropical climate, the reason we at first sweat like crazy and suffer with the heat, is because... physiologically our bodies are used to a more temperate cooler climate.  Common sense... right ? 

    But our bodies have an amazing ability (passed down through genetics) to adapt to tropical heat, if we just give them the chance and don't stop the adaptation with artificial Air Con. 

     I also would guess that we don't actually stop sweating all together. Our initial heavy sweating with soaked clothes eventually slows down....  my guess is to the point that we are still sweating to cool our body... but at a rate that equals the evaporation rate.... thus staying a lot drier.  

        The brain actually keeps our body the same interal temperature in cold and heat..  The part of the brain that does this is called the Hypothalamus.  The Hypothalamus performs many functions... one of which is to act as the bodies thermostat. 

    Having proven to myself through my own experience that it works for me.... I will never go back to having Air-con turned on wherever I live .

Edited by Catoni
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1 hour ago, Catoni said:

      Do you actually live in southeast Asia?

      And then I'm fine after that, no more suffering with the heat. 

 

I have lived and worked in SEA for the past forty years, over 30 years in Thailand, I don't have acclimatisation periods! If you are working here you will always be exposed to AC at some point (most of my work is outside in the heat, in shipyards - which believe me get "warm" with all the steel that is present) offices will always be AC, so avoiding AC is not a option.

If you are comfortable with the way you deal with the heat - great, I much prefer to use AC.

Edited by CGW
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