Tricks for beating the heat

Holy hell on Earth, it's hot today. Like Africa hot. Seeing as that our house is so close to the ocean and 350 days out of the year the weather is very mild, we have no AC. I am wilting. Literally. I feel like the kid in that Shel Silverstein poem that wants to take off his skin and sit around in his bones. Yeah, that hot.

But, I also used to work with athletes that weren't so adept at managing their body temperatures in extreme heat. After being on the wrong side of a collapsing lineman one too many times, I picked up a trick or two to keep the internal mercury down...at least a little.

Obviously, drinking lots and lots of ice cold water will help keep you hydrated. If the weather's super hot and you can't sweat because of dehydration, things are gonna get pretty ugly, pretty quickly. And as a PSA, if you're in the sun doing *anything* and you start to feel a little queasy, you best get yourself to a shady spot and DRINK WATER. Nausea is the first sign of heat induced problems

Get a few bags of frozen peas and just leave 'em in the freezer. They come in handy for all sorts of things like icing sports aches and pains and for keeping cool on days like today. There are several large arteries that run very close to the surface of the skin (in areas like the neck, groin, armpits and wrists) and placing a bag of frozen peas over these areas will help to cool your internal temperature. Plus, frozen things just feel good on hot days!

Along the same frozen lines, take a plastic water bottle, fill it and freeze it. Once solid, place it on the floor and roll the soles of your feet back and forth over it. It's a little cold at first, but feels heavenly.

If all else fails, hop in a cool shower or pool. If there is any sort of breeze outside (or if you have a fan), the air passing over your wet skin will help to cool you down. And man, does that ever feel good!

On that note, I'm gonna head out of my ridiculously hot house for a bit. I think it might be hotter inside than it is outside and I could use a cold drink. Margaritas, anyone? ;)