Health

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Jul 28, 1904

Means of Keeping Cool

SWELTERING as I am this July day in New York, I am inclined to say to the question, how to keep cool in very hot weather, “Go to the tropics.” Or, at least, throw conventions aside and dress as they do in the tropics.

It is never so hot in the Philippines as it is here to-day. It is far easier to keep cool there, for one can safely adapt his dress and manner of living to the climate. When a drop in temperature of from twenty to fifty degrees is not uncommon, one hesitates to advise wearing the thinnest of clothes in the temperate climate. Yet when we are having a “spell” of very hot weather, there are ways of making life more tolerable. The rule observance of a few details with regard to personal dress and habits would remove many of the causes of discomfort from which so large a number of persons suffer, to a large degree unnecessarily.

The invigoration of the four or five minute shower-bath is a good beginning for withstanding the wearying and wearing “dog-dayish” hot day. This does not necessarily mean the latest devices of modern plumbing. A tin dipper and a pail of cold water are sufficient. A second shower before retiring, without any strenuous rubbing of the skin, is refreshing and sleep conducing.

As to clothing: the thinnest underclothing, preferably white linen mesh, should be worn; thin material is easily permeable by air and moisture. The next best material is cotton. Changes should be frequent, and strict cleanliness observed. If comfort is of any account, the laundry bill should not be considered. All articles which come into direct contact with the skin should be changed as often as they become soiled. A daily, and sometimes a semi-daily, change is recommended. The sense of cleanliness itself is cooling, and tends to a feeling of self respect. An abdominal band should be worn. It protects the internal organs in case of a sudden change in the weather. This should be of the thinnest flannel, and should be changed frequently. In going to bed a perfectly dry band should be put on.

White, thin cotton stockings are the only ones permissible, and the shoes should be thin-soled and of white canvas or other porous material. These should be comfortably large. White open-worked stockings and slippers are suitable for women, while children should wear no stockings and the simple heel-less sandals which are now on sale in the up-to-date shoe stores. For hygienic reasons they should never be allowed to go barefooted in the cities.

The suit should be of white drilling or some similar material, and the coat should button up naval fashion to the neck, and have a low standing collar. No shirt should be worn over the undershirt, unless possibly it be the negligee shirt. With a nicely laundered cotton suit, cuffs and collars may be omitted. For women the ideal costume is the low-necked dress of thinnest white muslin or organdie, with elbow sleeves, no gloves, and no hat. No clothing should be worn which constricts or unduly confines any part of the body. Everything that is worn should permit full and free circulation of the blood and air, as well as prompt evaporation of the perspiration. Lower garments should be suspended from the shoulders.

A loose-fitting Panama hat, without any sweatband is the most comfortable headgear. It is also the most hygienic, for it can be washed frequently.

Drink little, or if one must drink, drink cooled but not iced drinks. Iced tea and coffee and all alcoholic drinks are to be avoided. If one must have ice, let it be in the form of chopped ice. Iced sherbets are all right, but it is a good rule to keep away from the soda fountain. During the hottest weather one should be scrupulously careful of his diet. Don’t overeat. Avoid rich, hearty foods.

Exercise should be taken before or after the heat of the day. Keep out of the sun, especially at midday. If one is obliged to be out, a pongee silk sun umbrella with a green lining should be carried. Take things easy. Don’t get excited over trivial matters; as the expression is, the “heat gets on the nerves,” and little annoyances are greatly magnified. Sleep as much as possible. From our Philippine brothers we may learn that the afternoon siesta helps in combating the effects of a hot day. This means for the busy man a short nap of ten minutes. What is beneficial is the few minutes of complete relaxation of the nervous system. American women in Manila adopt completely the tropical custom of undressing and going to bed, and are not expected to receive or make calls until five o’clock.

The wardrobe of every woman should contain at least one attractive negligee costume, so useful and so common in the East; the silk kimono of the Japanese or the neutral colored sarong of the Javanese. To be found in such a costume on a hot afternoon the housekeeper should not be looked upon as slack or immodest, but appropriately dressed. I know this runs counter to the ideas of our New England grandmothers, but I feel that we have much to learn from our tropical relations.

The night clothing for men should consist of a suit of pajamas. In the tropics the material which best protects the wearer from the chilling of the surface of the body during sleep is the thinnest woolen; but if this is objected to in this climate, pajamas may be made of linen mesh.

If we would only let common sense, and not petty convention, dictate what we shall wear and how we shall live, we would find the hot weather more tolerable, and ourselves and those about us happier.—Good Housekeeping.