Staying cool at work not only feels better, but we are also more productive when the temperature is pleasant.
If you are lucky enough to work in a building with air conditioning it’s not too bad, but if you work outside or from home or have to travel without air conditioning or if you are just feeling the heat, we have some great tips for staying cool.
1 . Hydrate
Drinking water is one of the best ways to stay cool. Aim to drink two litres of water a day. Sip little and often. Make sure you don’t dehydrate with our workplace hydration chart. Put up the print version in your work loos to help others.
Try other drinks if you don’t like water. Avoid caffeinated fizzy drinks, but the odd decaffeinated tea or coffee is fine and lovely when iced. Coffee and tea are diuretics, which make you pee, but you would have to drink a lot of tea for it to have a negative effect.
2 . Strip off
Our natural cooling process is to sweat. The evaporation of water on our skin cools us. So it’s important not to interfere with this. Evaporation is hindered by thick clothing and layers. And dark clothing gets hotter in the sun.
While stripping off our clothes whilst working from home or ditching the trousers for Teams or Zoom calls is something we have all tried (with varying degrees of success or embarrassing failure) it’s not something you can do while commuting to the office or in the presence of others.
Try wearing loose, thin clothes and if you are out and about. Try light colours too. If you can, put your hair up or cut it shorter.
3 . Keep out of the sun
Drawing a blind will stop the sun from heating a room. If you have to work outside, get a sun hat and try and find the shade. If you work from home, draw the curtains but keep the windows open.
4 . Go outside
Hang on, we just said stay out of the sun. Well, that still holds true, but if it’s warmer inside than out, the answer is to go outside regularly. It’s great to stand up and move about too.
5 . Ventilate
Check with your building supervisor to see if your office windows can open and if they would be secure if vented in the evening. It’s a good idea to use the cooler evening and morning air.
Use a fan. Moving air helps the natural evaporation process. Try putting a frozen bottle of water or a bowl of ice between you and the fan.
6 . Cool your pulse points
This is a quick way to cool off. A cold, wet or frozen towel or facecloth can do wonders when applied to the back of the neck, temples, the backs of your knees and wrists. Try dipping your hot feet into cool water. This is easier at home though and you may draw some strange looks. You’ll have to determine whether it’s worth it.
Fine misting spray bottles can help you stay cool at work too. So keep one to hand. Avoid water pistols at work.
7 . Eat light
Try lighter meals to reduce the amount of work your body has to do to process food. Avoid protein and carbohydrate-heavy meals. When the body processes meat it uses additional energy and generates extra heat. This is called thermogenesis or more commonly known as the meat sweats.
Focus on food with a high water content such as cucumber, celery, lettuce and tomatoes. When we sweat, we lose electrolytes. These salts and minerals such as magnesium, calcium and potassium need replacing. Try watermelon, bananas, peaches, and apricots.
8 . Turn it off
Electrical items can generate heat, so track down monitors, lights and other items that aren’t being used and switch them off. Apart from reducing the heat, it cuts down on our energy use too.
9 . Change your hours
This is not always practical, and sometimes it’s easier if you work from home or have flexible working, but if you can, try working earlier in the morning or later in the evening when the temperature is cooler.
10 . Cut out the alcohol
Although it can be tempting to drink alcohol after working when it has been hot, it will affect your body the next day making it more difficult to stay cool.
