Even the best air conditioning systems may struggle to cool down your home when summer begins to ramp up. When the heats gets overbearing, try cooling off with these creative ideas. Build your own mini air conditioning unit When it feels too hot even with a fan directed right at you, you can use that fan and combine it with a large mixing bowl full of ice to build your own mini air conditioning unit. The principle is the same as a real air conditioner, except that it works by melting ice rather than boiling liquid. According to ApartmentTherapy.com, you’ll be best off tilting the bowl so that the air from the fan hits the ice as directly as possible. Even after the ice has melted into water, it should still help cool the room, albeit at a reduced rate. Alternatively, you can use frozen water bottles instead of a bowl of ice and then reuse them later. Know your pulse points If there’s no pool around to get completely submerged, you can still get cool by strategically pouring water or placing a cool object over your body’s pulse points. These are the points where it is easiest to feel your pulse because your blood vessels are close to the surface of your skin; as a result, because they are so close, you can also use them to cool off your blood, which will lower your whole body temperature as it travels through your circulatory system. The best pulse points, according to About.com, are the neck, temple, inner thighs, back and top of knees, ankles, inside bend of elbows and inner wrists. Swap your sheets Changing bed fabrics can be a great way to stay cool in the summer. While flannel and fleece do an excellent job of keeping you warm in the winter, fabrics that stay cooler and breathe easier—such as cotton—will be more effective at keeping you fresh during the summer nights. In addition, try to get your hands on a buckwheat pillow. Herbco.com says that the naturally-occurring air space between buckwheat hulls allows them to dissipate heat rather than trap it like conventional pillows. Combined with cooler fabrics, you’ll no longer need to toss and turn while looking for the coldest part of the bed. Turn off all heat sources This might seem like an obvious tip, but homes are full of sources of heat that are not so obvious. First, the basics: close the blinds, turn off the lights (or switch to incandescent light bulbs) and use the microwave or grill instead of the stove or oven if you need to cook something. Turn off and unplug all electronic devices as well, especially computers and TVs, which generate heat while running and even while idling. In addition, About.com says that light fabrics reflect heat rather than absorb it, which means that if possible, you can even “turn off” your warm surfaces by covering them with smooth white fabrics, even if that means simply throwing a white sheet over the corduroy sofa. Combine each of the tips above to stay cool all throughout the summer, no matter how warm it gets. This article is presented by Lexus of Northborough in Northborough, Massachusetts.
