How To Stay Cool During The Summer When Doing Outdoor Projects
Working outdoors is rarely easy — but it’s particularly challenging when the summer heat arrives. In that situation, even workers in the most superb physical condition will find their jobs quite difficult. That’s why you should do everything possible to stay cool during outdoor projects in summer. Don’t worry, we’ll give you a couple of tips for this right here!
Hydration
When it’s particularly warm outside, it’s also humid in most cases. That means that waiting for your body to be thirsty for water may already mean too much exertion for it. Instead, you need to constantly be drinking enough water in order to maintain proper fluid levels. In most cases, water is your best option. Sugary drinks will only make you thirstier. That’s why we recommend drinking water every half an hour, or even more often.
If you can avoid doing the heavy lifting when during the hottest part of the day, you will also help your hydration levels. Generally, stuff like big moves should be left to professionals in the summer months. In case you definitely decide to perform this on your own, we recommend starting with your water intake even before you’ve started working outside. That will leave you with enough stored fluids to make it through the first hour or two of physical exertion in the heat. And after that, make sure you’ve got a water bottle with you at all times.
Drop The Coffee
There’s nothing that gets us ready for work like a big cup of java. However, as good as coffee is for productivity — it’s not the best thing you can do if you’re roofing in the middle of July. That’s because caffeine actually lowers the water content in your body and keeps you dehydrated. Before you reach for any coffee alternatives, know that energy drinks have quite a lot of sugar and caffeine as well — the same goes for them.
While you’re working in the heat, we understand that you need a pick-me-up every now and again. However, coffee and sugar will only make you more tired in the long run.
Dressing Properly
What you eat and drink isn’t the only important thing if you’re trying to stay cool during outdoor projects. It’s also just as much about what you wear. You need to have the right apparel on — the stuff that will shield you from the sun’s rays.
In other words, stick to looser clothes and breathable fabrics. This will reduce sweating and assist your body in maintaining the right temperature levels. If your job allows the possibility of wearing a hat, that’s probably the most useful thing you can do to protect yourself from heat.
Many people decide to remove their clothes when they’re hot outside, but that’s actually counter-intuitive. Stripping off your shirt will leave you exposed to more heat than if you kept it on — solely because your skin is now in direct contact with the sun. Not wearing proper clothes can lead to heat strokes in the most extreme cases, and nasty sunburns on average.
Putting on Sunscreen
Even today, it’s a stereotype that sunscreen is for weaklings and that real tough guys bear out the heat. In reality, that’s the worst thing you can do for your skin and your body. Regardless of how well you’ve dressed for outdoor projects in summer — you’re bound to expose some skin on your hands or face. For that eventuality, make sure you take some sunscreen with you and spread additional layers throughout the whole work day.
Take care to protect the areas that burn up most often, such as your neck (the back), your ears, and the nose. And this would be true even if you were just taking a day off on the beach — but you’re not. Seeing as you’re working outside and probably sweating in the heat, you’ll need to put on thicker layers and do it constantly.
Use The Shade
Even if you do everything that we’ve advised in order to stay cool during outdoor projects in summer, it’s still imperative to take as much time off as you can and go for the shade. You need to take cover long enough for your body to recuperate and retain the ability to withstand more heat.
Also, if possible, move as many work tasks to the shade as you can. If you’re decking your porch, you may already have some cover from the sun — but that’s not the case with all tasks during the summer. That’s why spending your breaks away from the sun is important — go to the shade whenever you can. Besides that, organize crew rotations so that no-one spends too much time in the heat.
Allow Yourself to Acclimate
Many people live in regions where seasons change the weather drastically — meaning that your body won’t adapt to the heat exposure right away. You must not start work outdoors head on and immediately get into it with a strong tempo. Instead, try to work moderately at first, without tiring yourself out in the beginning. That will allow your metabolism and body to adapt itself to the new temperature conditions.
Conclusion
As you can see, working outside when it’s extremely hot isn’t easy. You need to do everything you can to stay cool during outdoor projects in summer. Otherwise, your work productivity will suffer, as you become sluggish and less agile. Besides that, prolonged exposure to extreme temperatures can have a detrimental effect on your body’s wellbeing. Stay safe while you’re working!
