With Hot/Polluted Season Coming Up ... What'S The Best Way

[orang37]

Sawasdee Khrup, TV CM Friends,

It's a conscious goal in living here, for us, to live frugally. We do have a five year old LG air-con installed in our small bedroom used as computer room and study (except when we have guests who then get to use the master bedroom). This air-con is cleaned, and "topped up" with refrigerant, every year about this time, and we had to replace the compressor about two years ago when it failed (replaced with a non-Philips generic brand). Usually take out the in-house-unit filter every month, and wash it out when it's in use. The many screened windows in this small bedroom have been insulated by us with reflective insulation bought at Home Pro (so, no natural light, unfortunately), and we also have black mesh drapery hanging over the entire front wall of this bedroom which gets direct sun filtered through a large bougainvilla.

We always sleep with fan only on.

Last year power bills got very high during the worst months when really using the air-con frequently (comfort zone for us is 26-27C).

You see these little mini-air-cons for sale in the various malls that blow air over water: in general they look cheap, and wonder if anyone has used one of these (they do consume only 7-900 watts is our impression) to good effect ? Since we are often at the computer many hours a day (surprise), or reading in the chair next to the computer, the idea of "spot cooling" ... if it would save money compared to air-con ... appeals.

Appreciate any ideas or feedback !

thanks, ~o:37;

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

When someone feels hot or cold it's because their body is trying to compensate for temperature variations away from the preferred homeostatic core temps.

One trick that always works for example if a person is out in very hot temperatures is to cool the core with very cold liquid or ice held in the hand. The capillaries of the hand and head transfer temps very efficiently because of the increased blood vessel surface area.

Try this sometime if forced to walk in very hot temperatures. Go to 7 11 etc and buy two of the coldest items and hold them in your hand as you continue in the heat. It works wonders.

Inside the house the same condition exists when a person feels hot it's because their core temperature has risen and the body wants to dissipate heat to lower core temps.

If your periodically hot then take some frozen water containers out of the freezer and hold for 20 or 30 minutes before replacing bottles for refreezing.

This is very common technique for athletic competitions and pro athletes often use a body cooler like this AvaCore model.

Ice containers can also be applied to the upper back which cools the core and has the additional benefit of lowering insulin and helping blood sugar issues. Also has been shown to increase hormone production of Testosterone etc. This is why so many competitive athletes utilize Ice baths to improve muscle repair and recovery.

Why cool the entire room or house if you just need to cool your blood?

[Rasseru]

Another 'trick', one that I use in the hot season and one that operates through the same principle as that mentioned by CobraSnakeNecktie (if I understand him correctly), is to take cold baths every couple of hours or so. I don't mean a bath with soap and so on, but baths taken Japanese style, with a shower and cleaning of the body first and then entry into and soaking in the bath, for at least ten or fifteen minutes. Just leave the water in through the day and night. I find it very effective. Cold showers feel nice, while one is taking them, but do not have anything like the effect of a cold bath, in terms of lowering one's overall - or perhaps I mean 'core' - body temperature. Anyway, in my experience, taking baths like this, and using a fan, mean I do not need to run any air-conditioning at all.

[gmac]

I find running air-con on a timer for 1-2 hours at 25 degrees at bedtime combined with a ceiling fan running all night keeps me cool enough and gives electric bills around 1500 a month living alone in a 3 Bed house. Frugal enough? It works for me.

[nikster]

I once used one of those fans that you load up with water - the water gets sucked up some capillary system (cloth usually) and then air blows over it to create a wind chill effect.

It works about as well as the air con in our 10 year old Suzuki - that is it only works if it isn't too hot outside.

Seriously, you're better of with a normal fan.

Running the air con on timer is a pretty good idea... anyway for me it doesn't matter I can sleep in the heat but the wife is Thai and so she'll run the aircon all night full blast anyway...

[Ulysses G.]

the wife is Thai and so she'll run the aircon all night full blast anyway...

I'm with her on that.

[CMX]

I'm sure we all do so, but just in case -

I never miss a second of the of dawn, prior to sunrise, out of doors. Same with evening at sunset.

When in the bedroom overnight, I find it useful to run a fan for the rest of the place to draw in night-time air. I close up at sunrise and use fans thereafter up to that point when I feel overheated (which depends, but is increasing with experience of the tropics).

Of little use for most of us is the notion of using daytime aircon in a tiny room. An empty little bedroom w/aircon is better suited to use as an office/living area.

[tfc]

On the hottest days I'll rinse my shirt or singlet in water if I'm around the house, wring it out and then wear it. With a fan on it's like natural air con.

[LJW]

the wife is Thai and so she'll run the aircon all night full blast anyway...

I'm with her on that.

Me too

Except in my experience, most Thais like it 'warm'

Edited February 18, 2011 by LJW

[Flatouthruthefog]

<br />On the hottest days I'll rinse my shirt or singlet in water if I'm around the house, wring it out and then wear it.  With a fan on it's like natural air con.<br />

<br /><br /><br />

I'm all in favour of that.

My Thai wife comes from a poor family (out of the frying pan and........!) and, like them, we have just one air con for a small house.

She has taught me to "have regular cold showers and just do NOT dry off." Dramatically effective, especially if you can wander around the house in even less than your shirt or singlet!

[flying]

This is very common technique for athletic competitions

Very true & when we did triathlons we were always given cool wraps ( like a frozen cloth) on the run portion.

But we did not cool our hands. Instead we put them on the big main artery inside your elbow joint.

(same place they draw blood)

The reaction is instantaneous

Even now when i go to Thailand for a few months a year during hot season I buy them or something like them anyway at the 7-11's

They are frozen & you can re-freeze them.

Highly recommend them

Edited February 18, 2011 by flying

[Tokay]

I must sleep with the aircon during the hot season.

[paulchiangmai]

Don't even think about one of those water coolers in the humid season. If the air is dry they can be quite effective untill it gets very hot, in high humidity all you are doing is adding even more water, humidity, to the atmosphere. I gaurantee if you buy one you will throw it away by about April. Far better bet is to have insulation in the roof and set the timer on the A/C for night time sleep. In the day and evening you can turn an A/C on full for about 15 minutes to cool the room down and then turn the temp' up so it doesn't cut in very often, the very fact that it cuts in sometimes ensures that the moisture in the air is removed.

[orang37]

Sawasdee Khup TV CM Friends,

Many thanks for the variety of suggestions, and ideas, offered here ! Note: last year we started using our air-con about mid-January: so far this year: haven't turned it on yet.

In our scenario here, please note we are not describing a reaction to being out in the sun, and over-exposure to intense sunlight, or dehydration, or the result of exercising in intense heat, but rather the effect of being inside a house for long periods, relatively sedentary (at the computer) where the internal temperature of the house is reaching in the range 94-102 F., or more, and the effects possibly (?) exacerbated by high air-pollution.

We're not talking about "heat stroke" here, nor "clinical level" hyperthermia. We are not using any drugs that have known hyperthermic effects, such as "anticholinergic drugs, antihistamines, and diuretics," and we don't use alcohol where hyperthermia can be related to alcohol induced dehydration. And, we ain't smoking nothing. Almost needless to say this: but, of course, we don't regularly take any anti-febrile meds (like aspirin, paracetimol, etc.) which are useless in the case of hyperthermia.

Would be ungrateful here if we did not mention our faithful large-size Hatari fan which has been used almost non-stop for more than five years without breaking down, and kept going despite several accidental falls: Viva Hatari ! Sometimes we do, as one poster suggested, go and put the fan outside the house for a while, aimed to push the cooler air there into the house.

In using caffeine, in hours before twelve-noon, however, we do experience more of a sense of "internal heat."

Already do take frequent showers during the hottest parts of day or night, followed by standing in front of the fan, for five minutes or so, alternating front and back sides of this body, with a towel held out to the sides so the air from the fan is "trapped," and is even stronger on this body. This is ioho "palliative," and: hypothesis: the relaxation, as well as cooling relief, it provides, may help trigger a slight reduction in core temperature ?

And, already do use ice-packs at times (strong rubber water bottles imported from the US: cannot find strong, large, ones here), are used for both hot and cold therapy. Like them on this body's lower back, stomach, and alternating on the back of neck, and forehead and sides of head (temples), but have no "scientific" rationale for their application there. Usually use these only when this body feels extremely hot, after lots of sun exposure for example !

A question: should we distinguish between application of cold in ways suggested here (such as cold things in the hand) which probably induce a psychological sensation of being cooler (which can be very pleasing), and other techniques that actually result in decrease in the body's core temperature: such as long cold baths, resting in shade for longer periods of time ... and drinking lots of cool water, and, of course, all this in the context of maintaining electrolyte balance related to degree of activity and sweating: if you are being very active or exercising ?

If there is any scientific proof that holding cold objects in the hands, or a cold towel on the head, for a few minutes only, can rapidly produce a reduction in the human body's internal core temperature: we would deeply appreciate a source for that !

Khun Rasseru's cold baths sound delightful, and, for clinical hyperthermia, immersion in cool (but not ice cold) water for lengthy periods of time is the MOST effective treatement known, but, unfortunately we have no bath-tub. At times we have, however, gone and bought 10-15 baht worth of ice, and stuck our footsies in a big laundry plastic tub full of ice. Nice cooling effect, it seems, even if "ice-cold" carries some risk of vaso-dilation.

The hypothesis that cold administered at an artery inside the elbow joint can produce cooling is interesting: the poster is incorrect in implying that blood is ever transfused, or collected, from an artery, or the elbow: transfusions, and blood collections, are always intravenous. But, perhaps the poster meant the forearm area near the elbow.

In medical use of hypothermia, the technique of choice, for conditions like cardiac arrest, is passing cold saline solution in a catheter into the femoral vein which allows for precise control of rates of chill, and the precise control of the critical need to warm the heart gradually following surgical intervention. However this requires a highly-trained specialist, and is invasive. So other technques are often used including water blankets, torso wraps, leg wraps.

Hazmat teams and others, in their special suits that often produce very high internal heat, often have heat-reduction devices that pump cold water into a vest around the torso: and the torso would seem to be the place to get the maximum transfer of hot or cold into the body as rapidly as possible. Would love to find a vest that could be chilled/frozen overnight, and then worn Like so many hikers and bicyclers who used to hike or ride in very cold weather outside Thailand, we've always noted how comfortable we could be wearing only a light shirt, down vest to protect the torso, gloves on the hands, and a knit hat pulled down over our ears, enjoying greater freedom of mobility than in a full down, or whatever-filled, padded, jacket.

Khun CMX, if you read this far , you wrote "Of little use for most of us is the notion of using daytime aircon in a tiny room. An empty little bedroom w/aircon is better suited to use as an office/living area." A little confused on what you mean by this: our personal use specified here is exactly a small bedroom, windows all blocked by thermal insulation, used 99% of the time as office/study, in which we spend most of the time during the hottest daytime hours of the day with air-con set to 27-29, when a fan (and freqent showers) alone just "won't do it:" did we miss understanding something in your comments ?

Personals note: We find an interesting paradox in that if we go and exercise hard, then take red-hot saunas during the hottest days of the years, coupled with lots of hydration, before, during, and after, and followed by at least half an hour's rest in a cool place, our "reactivity" to heat decreases. Then, you, of course, if male (and single ?), also get the benefit of reduced testosterone (courtesy red-hot sauna) which can increase your self-esteem since you will be liable to spend less time and money on your primate quest for mango-tango

Lastly, we come to individual variation, which we find very fascinating: during WWII we read that scientists who tracked the survival rates of air crew shot down in icy waters found a wide range of time it took for some to die of hypothermia, some lasted ten minutes, while others survived for an hour, or more: they attributed this to body-fat and metabolism. Can we infer from this that individuals may have genetic, metabolic, and body-fat, related responses and comfort levels to cold or heat ?

This meat-package has always enjoyed swimming in icy-cold water that few other people could stand without a wet-suit, found it not only invigorating, but even a source of a very special kind of "altered state" of exceptional clear-mindedness, afterwards: perhaps now, that this body on average is 10-15kg below its average "adult form" level, and its percentage of body fat way down, that would not be true ?

And, and as Nat King Cole, and Irving Mills, wrote, and Nat sang so wonderfully: "Stay cool Papa, don't you blow your top."

best from both of us, ~o:37;

Edited February 18, 2011 by orang37

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

what about getting a kiddie pool and a propeller beanie?

I guess it's a problem that has been researched before...

How to stay cool without A/C

I like A/C myself.... definitely worth the cost but I like some of the core cooling techniques after a workout etc.

I suppose you could buy a thermometer and see what works for your specific body temperature situation

Edited February 18, 2011 by CobraSnakeNecktie

[Mapguy]

Sawasdee Khup TV CM Friends,

Many thanks for the variety of suggestions, and ideas, offered here ! Note: last year we started using our air-con about mid-January: so far this year: haven't turned it on yet.

In our scenario here, please note we are not describing a reaction to being out in the sun, and over-exposure to intense sunlight, or dehydration, or the result of exercising in intense heat, but rather the effect of being inside a house for long periods, relatively sedentary (at the computer) where the internal temperature of the house is reaching in the range 94-102 F., or more, and the effects possibly (?) exacerbated by high air-pollution.

We're not talking about "heat stroke" here, nor "clinical level" hyperthermia. We are not using any drugs that have known hyperthermic effects, such as "anticholinergic drugs, antihistamines, and diuretics," and we don't use alcohol where hyperthermia can be related to alcohol induced dehydration. And, we ain't smoking nothing. Almost needless to say this: but, of course, we don't regularly take any anti-febrile meds (like aspirin, paracetimol, etc.) which are useless in the case of hyperthermia.

Would be ungrateful here if we did not mention our faithful large-size Hatari fan which has been used almost non-stop for more than five years without breaking down, and kept going despite several accidental falls: Viva Hatari ! Sometimes we do, as one poster suggested, go and put the fan outside the house for a while, aimed to push the cooler air there into the house.

In using caffeine, in hours before twelve-noon, however, we do experience more of a sense of "internal heat."

Already do take frequent showers during the hottest parts of day or night, followed by standing in front of the fan, for five minutes or so, alternating front and back sides of this body, with a towel held out to the sides so the air from the fan is "trapped," and is even stronger on this body. This is ioho "palliative," and: hypothesis: the relaxation, as well as cooling relief, it provides, may help trigger a slight reduction in core temperature ?

And, already do use ice-packs at times (strong rubber water bottles imported from the US: cannot find strong, large, ones here), are used for both hot and cold therapy. Like them on this body's lower back, stomach, and alternating on the back of neck, and forehead and sides of head (temples), but have no "scientific" rationale for their application there. Usually use these only when this body feels extremely hot, after lots of sun exposure for example !

A question: should we distinguish between application of cold in ways suggested here (such as cold things in the hand) which probably induce a psychological sensation of being cooler (which can be very pleasing), and other techniques that actually result in decrease in the body's core temperature: such as long cold baths, resting in shade for longer periods of time ... and drinking lots of cool water, and, of course, all this in the context of maintaining electrolyte balance related to degree of activity and sweating: if you are being very active or exercising ?

If there is any scientific proof that holding cold objects in the hands, or a cold towel on the head, for a few minutes only, can rapidly produce a reduction in the human body's internal core temperature: we would deeply appreciate a source for that !

Khun Rasseru's cold baths sound delightful, and, for clinical hyperthermia, immersion in cool (but not ice cold) water for lengthy periods of time is the MOST effective treatement known, but, unfortunately we have no bath-tub. At times we have, however, gone and bought 10-15 baht worth of ice, and stuck our footsies in a big laundry plastic tub full of ice. Nice cooling effect, it seems, even if "ice-cold" carries some risk of vaso-dilation.

The hypothesis that cold administered at an artery inside the elbow joint can produce cooling is interesting: the poster is incorrect in implying that blood is ever transfused, or collected, from an artery, or the elbow: transfusions, and blood collections, are always intravenous. But, perhaps the poster meant the forearm area near the elbow.

In medical use of hypothermia, the technique of choice, for conditions like cardiac arrest, is passing cold saline solution in a catheter into the femoral vein which allows for precise control of rates of chill, and the precise control of the critical need to warm the heart gradually following surgical intervention. However this requires a highly-trained specialist, and is invasive. So other technques are often used including water blankets, torso wraps, leg wraps.

Hazmat teams and others, in their special suits that often produce very high internal heat, often have heat-reduction devices that pump cold water into a vest around the torso: and the torso would seem to be the place to get the maximum transfer of hot or cold into the body as rapidly as possible. Would love to find a vest that could be chilled/frozen overnight, and then worn Like so many hikers and bicyclers who used to hike or ride in very cold weather outside Thailand, we've always noted how comfortable we could be wearing only a light shirt, down vest to protect the torso, gloves on the hands, and a knit hat pulled down over our ears, enjoying greater freedom of mobility than in a full down, or whatever-filled, padded, jacket.

Khun CMX, if you read this far , you wrote "Of little use for most of us is the notion of using daytime aircon in a tiny room. An empty little bedroom w/aircon is better suited to use as an office/living area." A little confused on what you mean by this: our personal use specified here is exactly a small bedroom, windows all blocked by thermal insulation, used 99% of the time as office/study, in which we spend most of the time during the hottest daytime hours of the day with air-con set to 27-29, when a fan (and freqent showers) alone just "won't do it:" did we miss understanding something in your comments ?

Personals note: We find an interesting paradox in that if we go and exercise hard, then take red-hot saunas during the hottest days of the years, coupled with lots of hydration, before, during, and after, and followed by at least half an hour's rest in a cool place, our "reactivity" to heat decreases. Then, you, of course, if male (and single ?), also get the benefit of reduced testosterone (courtesy red-hot sauna) which can increase your self-esteem since you will be liable to spend less time and money on your primate quest for mango-tango

Lastly, we come to individual variation, which we find very fascinating: during WWII we read that scientists who tracked the survival rates of air crew shot down in icy waters found a wide range of time it took for some to die of hypothermia, some lasted ten minutes, while others survived for an hour, or more: they attributed this to body-fat and metabolism. Can we infer from this that individuals may have genetic, metabolic, and body-fat, related responses and comfort levels to cold or heat ?

This meat-package has always enjoyed swimming in icy-cold water that few other people could stand without a wet-suit, found it not only invigorating, but even a source of a very special kind of "altered state" of exceptional clear-mindedness, afterwards: perhaps now, that this body on average is 10-15kg below its average "adult form" level, and its percentage of body fat way down, that would not be true ?

And, and as Nat King Cole, and Irving Mills, wrote, and Nat sang so wonderfully: "Stay cool Papa, don't you blow your top."

best from both of us, ~o:37;

Just how long, actually, do you intend to pull this leg?

[flying]

If there is any scientific proof that holding cold objects in the hands, or a cold towel on the head, for a few minutes only, can rapidly produce a reduction in the human body's internal core temperature: we would deeply appreciate a source for that !

My my my.........It does not cost you a dime.

Take a small wash cloth & freeze it.

Take it out & hold it against your main artery of your arm......Try it & decide for yourself.

[featography]

I find running air-con on a timer for 1-2 hours at 25 degrees at bedtime combined with a ceiling fan running all night keeps me cool enough and gives electric bills around 1500 a month living alone in a 3 Bed house. Frugal enough? It works for me.

Everybody so far has good advice. I found the cold items held between the wrists, brings your temp down fast. I taught the wife there are 2 uses for 7-11 cold bottles of water; cooling wrists and neck, and drinking. A great place is under the chin and against the arteries on both sides of the neck.

Considering heat rises to the ceiling, cool air falls to the floor, I have always wondered why fans are installed high on the wall close to the ceiling in this country. Aircon blows cold air, going to the floor, causing heat to rise. Fan blowing the hottest air in the room, downward seems counter productive and costly. I chose not to use them, but instead, in our bedroom, with aircon on, I use 1 small table top fan, situated on the floor under the aircon. The fan only blows the cold air around the room. I have never slept on the ceiling, so I prefer the hot air to stay up there. Set at 28 degrees, the wife will chill early hours of the morning and wrap herself like a mummy with the blanket.

The water filled air cooler op mentioned maybe what we call, in the States, a swamp cooler. They are only used in dry arid areas of the country, because they put humidity in the air while cooling the room. They are virtually useless used in areas that have average to high humidity. And no, the misnomer Swamp Cooler does not mean they are meant for swampy areas. If this is what op saw, I would be very surprised they even try to sell them in Thailand.

Edited February 20, 2011 by featography

[CPT]

If you require the temperature to be in your 26-27 deg zone I suspect you are best served by the A/C. I have read on more than one occasion of evaporative coolers having negative health consequences but I don't know if this is an issue if they are properly maintained and operated. The times I have used evaporative coolers (in India) they seemed to be only marginally better than a fan alone and you also have to deal with the humidity. I would expect them to be less effective during the wet months as they might not be able to evaporate as much water due to the nearly saturated air (evaporation is an endothermic process and actually cools the air unlike a fan).

I would suggest removing all the insulation from your window and opening it. In fact, open every window in the home and use a fan in whatever room you are staying. It takes a little while to adjust to the higher temperatures as we get into the hot season but once outdoor temps plateau you'll likely adjust and be much more open to outdoor activities. This has been my experience but I certainly know many who simply prefer to pay higher electric bills and stay locked away in their air-conditioned homes through the season.

Gin and tonics also seem to help...

[tfc]

I always though one of these water cooled shirts would be cool. http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/liquid-cooled-clothing-the-cool-shirt

[CMX]

When I suggested using air-con only in a small room, perhaps converting a little bedroom into one's living/working area, I suggested that while the notion was be obvious, it might be of little use.

I meant to say that not many of us have a little air-conditioned room in the first place - or not without throwing out our own bed into the hotter regions of the house.

I am looking for a tub into which I might pour water, and myself in the daze to come. Perhaps one of those toy pools in which to wallow.

[orang37]

Sawasdee Khrup, TV CM Friends,

Really enjoyed the responses here, thanks !

Will definitely experiment with holding ice cold things in my hands, as suggested here. In fact, think we will try strapping ice-packs on our feet, and doing twenty-minute yoga headstands, as well, if we can afford the chiropractic or surgical expenses that may be incurred, thus.

The gentle funny-bone tweaking in suggesting a beanie with propellor, and a wading pool ... has actually led us to think about trying to find a small plastic wading pool that, perhaps, we could only partially inflate and, perhaps, stuff into our tiled shower area ... if, as the research we found suggests, water cooling of the whole body is the best technique in medical emergencies requiring chilling-out, why not ? The only drawback there is: that when it's really hot, the water coming out of our tap in the bathroom is also warm.

Meanwhile, we'll stay with the frequent showers, then standing in front of the fan, lots of cold water taken straight, hot saunas, ice-packs.

A guess is the main structural problem here is that the house walls just absorb a lot of heat during the fierce sun of the day, and the attic almost certainly has no insulation of the type you might find back "west:" so you get heat being radiated back into the house many hours after the sun has gone down: conversely, the house tends to stay cool for the first four hours of the morning. We ain't about to pay the expense of insulating the attic, and don't know if that would help or not (it's a rental house).

Wish we could afford one of those fancy thermal cooling garments referred to by Khun TFC !

May all our electric bills be lower while we remain cool ! And, once again, if you are purchasing an electric fan, may we recommend Hatari.

best, ~o:37;

Khun CMX, Khrup, Sorry for any confusion in our response: this house does have a small bedroom, which nicely converted to an office/study with air-con while still leaving room for a single bed. Let's wallow in our wading pools, dude !

Khun Featography, Khrup, We experienced "swamp coolers" while living in India for a year in 1975: they were just frames filled with hay mounted outside the window, with a fan pulling air in, and a water drip feed. My hosts also added a small amount of a mysterious attar, or essence, of a root named khusth, which is used in Indian (Muslim culture)perfumery. The smell in the house was actually quite nice, and the cooling effect did work even in the monsoon season when the humidity was high. The hay was changed once a week by a hay-changer-wallah who came around on a bullock-cart, probably made a few baht per top-up.

Khun CPT, Khrup, We do keep all the windows in the master bedroom open, as well as all other windows in the house, but there was a noticeable, cooling, change in the small bedroom now serving as office/study after we heavily insulated the windows, since its walls get the most direct sun during the day. And since we keep some valuable art objects in this office/study, we also feel its prudent they not be visible from the outside. But, thanks for your thoughts. Your thoughts on those cheap looking water/fan coolers not being effective when humidity is high seem right on. fyi, we usually do point our bedroom fan so that it exhausts air out of the room and thus draws in the cooler air outside. In terms of "adjustment," we doubt this body, whose comfort zone has gone from 22 C up to 27-28C, is going to adjust much more than that: this body grew up in Florida, and was bare-shirted, bare-footed, and sun-baked most of the time he wasn't in school, but it seems for intense mental concentration and energy applied to intellectual things, being cooler is required.

Khun MapGuy, Khrup, we have not felt any legs lately except our own.

[Ulysses G.]

Meanwhile, we'll stay with the frequent showers, then standing in front of the fan, lots of cold water taken straight, hot saunas, ice-packs.

Just turning up the air-con a few degrees is so much easier.

[dave2]

cmx.

re ... I am looking for a tub into which I might pour water, and myself in the daze to come. Perhaps one of those toy pools in which to wallow.

like these ?

drive round the ring road in any direction ... you will find them

dave2

[Thakkar]

<snip> if male (and single ?), also get the benefit of reduced testosterone (courtesy red-hot sauna) which can increase your self-esteem since you will be liable to spend less time and money on your primate quest for mango-tango

<snip>

I feel a song coming, sung to the tune of Do the Locomotion by Grand Funk Railroad

Everytime I see her I feel a little heat now

(C'mon baby, do the mango-tango)

Testosterone-a-flowing with each heartbeat now

(C'mon baby, do the mango-tango)

...

Anyway, as a teenager visiting Mumbai during summer vacation, my grandfather had the following advice for me when I complained about the heat:

Wear a damp vest

Drink plenty of water dispensed from a clay pot

Learn to slow down my movements

Sit under a tree and think cool thoughts.

We were only allowed to switch on the one 14-inch fan in the house if all else failed.