“Australian MD advice on rehydration includes drinking half a pint of beer… checked.” Photo / Unsplash
With the UK and parts of northern Europe set to break records and an ominous heat wave of 40 degrees, many residents are facing temperatures they have never experienced before.
On Friday the British government issued its first “extreme red heat warning”.
The normally humid islands are more used to an average summer temperature of around 20 degrees Celsius. It is a land largely without air conditioning.
Cities and their residents are unprepared for this kind of heat. However, kind people from the southern hemisphere and the tropics have offered their tips for those in the UK to survive 40 degrees.
A Twitter user whose credentials were “a proper Aussie” gave a ten-step list of tips for dealing with the heat heading for England.
Dr Ellie Mackin Roberts from Victoria offered survival guides for Poms and their furry pets.
Among the top tips here was keeping the curtains drawn throughout the day and keeping spray bottles handy for cooling indoor spaces.
“Also good for keeping pets cool – which is VERY IMPORTANT,” she said.
Wearing sunscreen under clothing and keeping compression towels in the fridge was not common sense advice in the British Isles.
One of her most popular pieces of advice was recommending Australia’s national isotonic drink: Beer.
“Drink half a pint of beer (including non-alcoholic!) and then move straight into the water,” she recommended. Hydration, she said, was important – warning Britons not to drink too much coffee and not too much alcohol. Drinking water with your beer and espresso can help prevent dehydration.
“Heat stroke is no joke my friends,” said the classical player from Melbourne. She advised being aware of the early signs of heat stroke in pets and children and applying ice to the armpits of family members who overheat. “After that, seek medical advice and/or attention!”
Other netizens from warmer climes were quick to add advice for unprepared northern Europeans.
Kuala Lumpur-based lifestyle journalist Kate Ng also published her “handy tips for dealing with the coming hot days (and more than likely next summer), from a tropical girl.
Among her tips were house fans, lots of fans and keeping spare clothes in the fridge.
Particularly prescient for those in the UK, where few households have air conditioning, she said “steal every air conditioning moment you can”. Use every excuse to visit the office, shopping malls and movie theaters that are climate controlled.
While remedies from Twitter can be useful and sometimes amusing, it pays to take them with a grain of salt.
The Red Alert means the health impacts of the heat are a risk “to the fit and healthy, and not just to high-risk groups”.
