Old-school hacks to stay cool without the aircon

Learn about low-cost tricks for staying cool without cranking the air conditioner, from rice congee to foot baths.

Transcript

00:00Let's explore some old-school ways to stay cool without cranking up the aircon.

00:05These are all kinds of know-hows that were ready to hand 50 or 60 years ago,

00:11but in a sense, air conditioning has sort of obliterated our memory of those cultural practices.

00:16If you can, install shades outside your windows,

00:20or move potted plants in front to create a green screen.

00:25In the evenings, open up your windows for cross ventilation.

00:30In one of the communities we've been looking at in Riverwood,

00:32there's a large elderly Chinese population,

00:36and one of the things that they talked about was using cooling food.

00:41They switched their diet during summer months,

00:43eating things like rice, congee, and mung beans, which bring down bodily temperature.

00:49Other low-cost tricks to stay cool include having a foot bath,

00:54placing a wet face cloth on your wrists or the back of your neck,

00:59misting your skin or clothes with water, and then positioning yourself near the fan.

01:05While a fan can be a cost-effective, environmentally-friendly option,

01:10they are more effective in dry conditions.

01:13Fans work just on the principle of circulation, right?

01:16So it's the movement of air that cools the body,

01:20and that works well if you're sweating in a hot, dry environment,

01:24because it enhances the power of that evaporative cooling.

01:28In humid heat, it's less effective.