A week-long heatwave is forecast for much of the UK. How can one keep cool and carry on when the mercury is rising? After two less-than-dazzling summers, the sun is back. Temperatures in parts of the UK this week are expected to top 30° Celsius, prompting the Met Office to issue its first ever heatwave warning. But the effects of soaring temperatures can be countered. With some help from the NHS' Heatwave Plan, here are 10 suggestions - some eminently practical, others a little more ambitious - to help you keep a cool head while all around you are losing theirs. 1. PAINT YOUR HOUSE WHITE In many parts of the Mediterranean houses are whitewashed The NHS's heatwave plan for England suggests using "pale, reflective external paints" to keep your house cool. It's something you can see in many of the hottest parts of the world. Go to areas of Greece or north Africa and whitewashed villages are the norm. And there's science behind this. "It will certainly help," says physicist Prof Robin Marshall. "If you make the roof of your house white you will bounce a lot of heat back into the atmosphere." Of course, keeping your house white may not be totally straightforward. In a dry, pollution free area of the Med you may be OK. If your house is in London, Leeds or Liverpool, you might find it soon loses its reflective qualities. And titanium oxide paint, which provides the brightest white, may cost a bit. "Metallic paints are better - they reflect further out into the near infra-red range," says Prof Mark Dickinson, of Manchester University's Photon Science Institute. 2. KEEP OUT OF THE SUN Keep out of the sun between 11am and 3pm. If you go outside, walk or sit in the shade, apply sunscreen regularly and wear a hat. (To produce vitamin D, which is all important if you want to maintain functioning organs, the body only needs 10 minutes' exposure without sunscreen once or twice a day. And it breaks down if you stay too long in the sun.) 3. CHANGE YOUR DRESS This Tuareg man seems to believe dark colours are best The NHS advice says: "Wear light, loosefitting cotton clothes." So if white houses keep you cool, then white clothes must also be the best for keeping cool? It's perhaps not quite as simple as that. If you go to some of the hottest places in the world, people often wear dark colours. You can find Tuareg tribesmen resplendent in navy blue robes, and Chinese peasants toiling in black. "I look at what people do who have got experience living in hot sunny climates," says Prof Marshall. "They wear black clothing. "If you can stay out of the sun it will radiate heat off much better. But if you are in the sun it would be nice to have something on that is white." While this Tuareg man prefers white Richard Trillo, author of the Rough Guides to Kenya and West Africa, knows a thing or two about dressing to stay cool. He advocates loose cotton trousers, where shorts are not an option. But there are other things to bear in mind as well. "Don't carry anything in your pockets. I find even a credit card in my pocket is noticeably uncomfortable. It is covering up a bit of skin surface. "If you can bear to have a short haircut, do so, it makes you so much more comfortable." 4. SHUT SOME WINDOWS Shut windows exposed to the sun, and draw blinds or curtains against the light. Open these at night, or once the sun has moved off, to let in cooler air. 5. TREES AND PLANTS Trees offer shade and other benefits "Trees, plants and green spaces act as natural air conditioners, provide shade and absorb carbon dioxide," says the NHS's plan. If you're in a warmer part of the British Isles, pop a palm tree in front of your house and it will soon be blocking out the sun. And there's a chance you'll be contributing to a wider effort. Trees pump out moisture. 6. BOWLS OF WATER You can get the same effect in the house, not just with plants, but by leaving bowls of water around. "Evaporation helps cool the air," says the plan. Of course, if humidity is not your thing, you may want to ignore this advice. 7. DRINK WELL Keep hydrated with cold drinks, and eat foods with high water content such as fruit and salad. A chilled lager or iced tea may seem refreshing, but avoid alcohol and caffeinated beverages. 8. INSULATION Insulate lofts and cavity walls - this helps keep the heat out when the weather is hot, and in when the mercury drops. This may be more practical than painting your house white, says Prof Dickinson. "It all depends on what your house is made of. If it's good at keeping heat in, it's good at keeping heat out." 9. SASH WINDOWS Not one from the NHS, but one that would please the Victorians, is proper use of your sash windows. The simple fact is that many of those who own homes with sash windows don't open them in the right way. We should be leaving equal gaps at the top and bottom of the window. The theory, explored by researchers at Imperial College London, is that cool comes in through the lower opening and warm air is pushed out through the top. 10. RELAX Avoid over-doing physical exertion. Reaching for a cold drink ought to raise enough of a sweat as it is. Below is a selection of your comments. Some of the best ways to stay cool seem counter-intuitive. Drinking hot tea, getting a good dose of chilli heat and wearing a vest under a shirt are all effective ways of staying cool, because they make us sweat. Sweat is our bodies natural defence against over heating. The sweat cools us down, no matter how unpleasant that may be, without it we'd die. Wearing a vest utilises the sweat response to the best effect, and something I learnt from a Greek barman, it wicks the sweat away from the body, gets nice and cool as you move around and stops nasty sweatspots from appearing on your shirt.

Luke, London If you're at home or pottering about in the garden or you're in any situation where your personal appearance isn't too important, wetting a t-shirt, wringing it out and putting it on will cool you for as long as the shirt remains damp. The principle of air conditioning means that the coolness of the wet t-shirt will help to conduct heat away from your torso through evaporation. Ladies who don't wear bras should exercise some consideration when applying this method.

Rob White, Nr Portsmouth UK Points one to ten very useful, another good tip is to leave the loft hatch open where possible this seems to help with the hot air rising.

Kim Sussex, Andover Can I add number 11? Come to Edinburgh. Heatwave... what heatwave? We've had fog in the morning, if it burns off by mid afternoon we might see a bit of sun, then the fog returns in the evening and it's not exactly heatwave temperatures, more like 19-22C!

Lesley, Edinburgh, Scotland When excessively hot try the two t-shirt method. Start with two t-shirts in tepid water. Wear one, as it dries it will remove latent heat from the body. When it has dried off, change shirts don the wet one and put the dry one in the tepid water. Repeat as necessary. We use this method in-house only.

Brian Lloyd, Saskatoon Canada Before air conditioning the people who lived in our house would sprinkle water on their sheets before going to bed. This kept them cool to go to sleep and the house cooled itself before morning.

Helen Rekerdre, Dallas, Texas, USA Buy an electric FAN.....

Junaid, Lahore, Pakistan A cool or cold drink is not always the best option, my wise old dad, who served much of the Second World War in North Africa always advises a hot cup of tea, and going to hot countries you'll find that's what people drink. In hot weather a hot cuppa and a good strong curry! There is a logic to this, both make you sweat, sweat on the skin will pick up any breeze there is and cool you down!

Kate, Bury St Edmunds



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