Due to climate change, recent summers in Spain have been hotter than in the past, and the dreaded ‘heat waves’ are more common. In fact, the last heat wave that hit our country between the end of June and the beginning of Julyleft nearly 400 people dead in the cities of Madrid and Barcelona.
The usual way to combat these heat waves at night and get some sleep is to use either air conditioning or a fan, but if you can’t or don’t want to spend money on your electricity bill this summer, keep reading because we’re going to reveal a simple trick that the Egyptians used to sleep cool when there was no electricity.
Here’s what you should do if you want to stay cool at night and save money
Although fans and air conditioners are very convenient for cooling our homes in summer, many people do not have them or prefer to avoid them for health or energy-saving reasons.
If this is your case, the solution to this problem comes from one of the oldest and most advanced civilisations of its time, the Egyptians. This is because the Egyptians had to adapt to living in extreme heat, which led them to devise a series of natural methods to combat the heat at a time when electricity had not yet been invented.
The simplest trick used by the Egyptians to cope with hot summer nights was to lightly dampen a sheet or large towel with cold water, wring it out well so that it does not drip, and use it as a light blanket to sleep under.
This cooling technique is based on the principle of evaporative cooling or evaporative refrigeration, a natural process that uses the evaporation of water to reduce the air temperature and is based on the idea that water, when it evaporates, needs heat to change from a liquid to a gaseous state and, by taking this heat from the environment, the surrounding air is cooled.
The keys to using this homemade cooling method effectively are as follows:
- Use a towel or light cotton or linen sheet, as these fabrics allow for good absorption and facilitate water evaporation.
- Avoid thick or synthetic fabrics, as these are uncomfortable and less effective.
- Use a spray bottle or vaporiser to distribute the water evenly over the sheet and towel and to avoid soaking them.
- Once you have dampened the towel or sheet, lie on it or use it to cover yourself
- In order for the water to evaporate and cool the bedroom, there needs to be good air circulation in the room, which you can achieve by leaving the window slightly open at night
It is also advisable to complement this cooling method by placing small damp towels on the parts of the body that best regulate temperature, which are the neck, wrists, ankles and forehead.
