Four Surprising Ways to Beat Extreme Heat (And How Does It Relate to a Cup of Tea?)

How can we cope with the extreme heat sweeping the world, including Israel? Not all of us can stay cooped up at home in the pleasant coolness of the air conditioner all day. So how can we help our bodies maintain a reasonable temperature and avoid feeling faint and exhausted under the sweltering heat?

Here are some especially surprising methods that have been scientifically proven:

First Way: Increased Sweating

This is one of the most important mechanisms in our body - the sweating system, whose significance is doubled in the summer. Since sweat helps cool our body, it is important to keep an active sweating mechanism, which can be done through accelerated physical activity during a sports workout or even by cleaning the house. Our natural instinct when sweat appears is to wipe it off our body or face, but the truth is the opposite: to help cool the body, it is important to wash the beads of sweat with water and let them dry naturally. 

Second Way: Eat Right

Since our body temperature rises in the summer, avoid consuming foods that 'heat' the circulatory system, such as steak or heavy meat. Instead, prefer consuming water-rich fruits and vegetables like cucumber and watermelon. 

Third Way: Hot Tea (Yes, you read that right)

Drinking very cold drinks on a hot day - initially, we might feel cooling down, but biologically, this is when our body heat actually rises, and shortly after, we feel hot again.  

A study conducted at a university in Canada examined the connection between body heat and drinking hot tea and came back with particularly surprising findings: hot tea cools the body. How? The study found that the more hot tea is consumed, the more the body's heat decreases - as hot tea significantly increases the metabolic rate, leading to an energetic change. 

Fourth Way: Skip the 'Warm Lights'

Did you know that the heat emitted from your regular household light bulbs is 90% higher than from fluorescent bulbs with white light? Not everyone likes the white light, but when talking about intolerable heat, it's better to opt for the white and cool light over the yellow one.