How to beat the heat and stay healthy

I have this friend of mine who works with HSBC Bank in Kolkata. She was telling me a couple of days back that in her branch, which is Kolkata, they have started keeping Glucose water, Glucovita, etc, because they have had quite a few incidents during the last few days when a customer walked in and fainted!

Customer Care! Guess, they had to when the outside temperature is 42o C with 88% humidity!!
Not only in Kolkata, but in most Indian cities it is proving to a case of an early and difficult summer thanks to global warming.

But how do we survive this heat, particularly if we have to go out in the scorching heat to work? Here are some tips for you:

1. Take bath at least 2 times in a day with just about luke warm (yes!) water
2. Wear ONLY Cotton Clothes - lose fit, light shades like white, light blue, cream etc.
a. Absolutely NO RED, BLACK, BROWN, DARK GREEN, NEVY BLUE & ORANGE colored clothes even for the evening
b. No synthetic material for your clothes / avoid silk. Tusser is OK.
3. Wear a Cap, if umbrella is too cumbersome to carry. Some of you may feel funny wearing a cap, but think this way – cap on head is better than you on the road, fainted.
4. Carry a bottle of water – (keep a 250 ml bottle, it is easier to carry) with little glucose / sugar; and re-fill it and keep it in your bag if you have to travel from one office to another.
5. Don’t eat any oily food and avoid all Junk food; eat fruits and vegetables and plenty of water.
6. Tray to wake up around 5 AM in the morning and take a 30 min walk, that’s the only time it will be little cool outside. (you can come back and sleep again if you want)
7. Avoid going out of home between 12 noon and 3 PM
8. Use a Sun Screen Lotion with a SPV (Sun Protection Formula) of min 20 (there is one from Biotique which is really good).
9. And if you don’t want to tan yourself, wear full sleeves cotton shirts or tops. This will also help to protect you from heat


Now a bit for our environment too –

1. at home if you have an AC, keep the temperature fixed at 24 o C, you can use your fan if you want it cooler.
2. If you have to go out of home, or catch an appointment during the day, try to do that during mornings or after 3 PM, in between is the time when it is too hot, and your car will need extra cooling.