Coping with heat and cold

From personal experience I can say that extreme temperatures are terrible. And what I have read from other sources, many radikas agree with that. No one can say why, but somehow we can't cope very well with heat and cold. Perhaps it's because we don't have enough energy for temperature regulation systems, perhaps not. But no matter why, it is so, and we need to find ways with which we can lessen the discomfort caused by heat and cold.

I tell here the methods I know. If you have any further suggestions, feel free to mail them to us, and we add them here.

Summer and hot weather

How to stay cool and well from inside:

• Drink water. Lots of it. At least 64 oz/2 liters a day. Try to drink as much of it with meals as possible.
• Salt. If it's terribly hot and you sweat a lot, you need to replace the lost salts. There should be salt pills available in almost any pharmacy.
• Ice. Ice, iced drinks, frozen fruits, ice cream, the list could go on forever. All of these keep you cooler.

NOTE: I'm extremely heat-sensitive and have problems with keeping both salt- and sugar-levels stable, especially in Summer. For people like me there are two good hints (or actually two versions of one hint):

Take half a bottle of some fruit juice, or squeeze some fruits, and mix it with half a bottle of mineral water (those ones which contain lots of different salts). You should have about 1,5 liters of that mix. If you used fruits or juice which didn't contain any sugar, add one spoonful of sugar. Drink as much as you want, since it contains both salts and sugars, you don't need to worry about drinking too much, like you'd need to worry with water. And it tastes great!
or
(For those who can't (are allergic etc.) drink fruit juices, or don't like mineral water.)
Take 1,5 liters of water and add one spoonful of sugar and one teaspoonful of salt. Mix well. It doesn't taste even half as good (actually it tastes much like water), but it is enough to keep salt- and sugar-levels stable.

And how to stay cool and otherwise well from outside:

• Sunglasses. Naturally, every radika uses them. Remember that there are different quality sunglasses. Use the darkest you can find, even when it's a bit overcast, headache can hit very easily. (Be prepared to argue with shopkeeper wherever you buy them, since they can't understand that we in average see more clearly in the dark than normals.)
• Use sunblock. Make sure it's effective enough. Sun protection factor of 20+ should be used if there's no covering clothing, and SFC of 15 or so should be used with clothing. (Don't trust what they say on the label, they are tested with five times as much sunblock as is normally used, and how long one can stay in the sun times mean how much one can stay with both sunblock and clothing.)
• Wear a hat with a good brim. Fisherman’s hat and the like, and shades as dark as you can stand. A hat with the shades keeps the sunlight from creeping in over the top of the shades.
• Use a cold cloth on the back of the neck. Soak a bandana or silken or cotton scarf and tie it around your neck.
• Dress according to weather. Use loose clothing (in my opinion, cotton and silk are best materials), preferably light colored. But use long sleeves and long trouser legs/skirts, to keep the sun from your skin. (Best combination I have found out, for women, is to have a T-shirt and very thin silken full-sleeved blouse, which doesn't need to be buttoned. It's not hot and it covers arms well. Thin silk is usually quite transparent, so something is needed underneath it.)
• Fans. A small fan on the desk pointing on the face will cool you nicely. If you have more than one, put one for feet also. It's best not to keep them on all the time if they are pointing towards you. Constant breeze may make your body warm itself more, so it's better to keep fans on five minutes then off five minutes and so on, or get away from them now and again.
• Don't wear strong scents. They will be oppressive when it's hot. Not to mention that it's polite toward others. Some people have asthma and it gets worse with heat. Citrus scents are nice and light, and they are also mild insect repellants. (Some people's skin gets even more light-sensitive from citrus scent on the skin, so be careful.)

Winter and cold weather

• Sunglasses. Although the world looks darker, the sunglasses are as important, if not moreso, than in Summer. The sun itself on the eyes still hurts, and with the falling of snow, the reflective glare can also be painful.
• Dress according to weather. In cooler months it's best to keep what body heat one produces from escaping. Wear layers of clothing, and if possible clothing of the thermal, fleece, flannel, or wool variety. These trap body heat well and keep the cold out. Remember that most body heat escapes through the head and extremities (feet, hands, nose, ears), so keep them well covered.
• Stay warm at night. Since body temperature drops during sleep, it's more difficult to stay warm. If you happen to have electric blanket, be happy. But don't leave the electric blanket on all night, though! Otherwise, have more blankets. (Of course you could get someone to keep you warm... *grin*)
• Drink warm drinks such as tea, coffee, hot chocolade, apple cider, etc. These help you to keep warm from inside, and also the warmth of cups warms your hands. For the same reasons avoid iced drinks.
• Exercise. The more active you are, the more energy your body will burn and the warmer you will feel.
• Sugars. Eating sugars can also help in building natural body heat.
• Feeding. Some people say that this also keeps warm. Not sure why or how or if it works for all, but it is something to keep in mind.