When it comes to beating the summer heat, the clothes you put on your body are nearly as important as the food you put into it. When you’re outside in the scorching daytime heat, your clothes offer your only flimsy protection against the Sun. Choosing your clothes specifically to help keep you feeling cool is vital.
- Choose Cotton Fabrics- Sweating is our body’s natural mechanism in order regulate it’s temperature and we correspondingly tend to sweat more during summer. Cotton fabrics are a great choice as they absorb sweat and reduce body odor. They also prevent infections from developing by keeping the body dry and cool. Cotton also allows for increased air circulation as it is a lightweight fabric unlike synthetic fabrics that are best avoided in summer.
- Opt for Light Colours- Sunlight reacts to different colors in different ways. Darker colors tend to absorb more light than they reflect and as a consequence they trap more heat. Lighter shades such as white, peach, yellow and other pastel shades reflect more light than they retain and therefore help the body to stay cool.
- Wear Loose Clothing- Wearing tight-fitting clothes in summer can be extremely uncomfortable. The prolonged contact of fabric with your skin even increases the chances of infection due to sweating and the resultant bacterial and fungal growth on the body. The summer heat causes your blood vessels to dilate allowing heat to escape through your skin, so loose, flowy clothing actually keeps you cooler by allowing your skin to breathe and your blood to circulate freely.
- Cover up- Contary to popular belief that shorts and sleeveless tops are ideal for summer, covering more skin with light breathable fabrics might actually be a better idea. People in desert regions wear long flowing robes that cover them from head-to-toe and protect them from the scorching heat. While exposing more skin lets your skin breathe more freely, it also exposes it to sun damage and the harmful UV rays of the Sun causes sunburns, wrinkles, heat rashes and even increases the risk of skin cancer. The ideal clothing for hot summer days would be loose pants and long flowing skirts, with lots of sunscreen to protect any exposed skin.
