Whilst the sizzling temperatures across the UK are a delight for many, keeping your room cool without an expensive AC unit or noisy fan can be difficult. Luckily, there’s an easy ‘light’ hack that will help remove unnecessary heat from your home
With scorching temperatures sweeping the nation, Brits are desperately trying to cool down their home.
Air conditioning units aren’t very popular in the UK, as most of the time it’s either raining, snowing, or raining some more. Plus, even a small portable AC will set you back hundreds of pounds which doesn’t always seem worth it when you’ll only need it for a few weeks of the year (if we’re lucky).
Fans are a much cheaper alternative, but can still be costly and require space. Plus, if your room is roasting, blowing hot air around isn’t exactly going to help.
Real Simple says the lights you use may be adding unnecessary heat to your home – and urges Brits to swap to more ‘efficient’ lighting’. “Incandescents give off light, sure, but they also give off a ton of heat energy, so keeping them on for hours at a time could be setting you back,” the experts said. “Energy efficient lighting like LED or CFL bulbs produce far less heat and last a whole lot longer.”
You can pick up LED bulbs from a slew of online retailers and homeware stores without having to break the bank. For example, Amazon is currently selling a pack of six LED bulbs for £9.99, which works out at £1.67 per bulb.
The pros also recommend keeping the oven off to avoid excess heating being added into the home (go outside and BBQ instead!) as well as turning off and unplugging any unnecessary appliances such as dishwashers and dryers. All of these produce heat and could be adding to the stuffiness of your house.
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Ashley Hainsworth of Bed Kingdom recommends keeping your windows open overnight to let cool air enter the bedroom. However, the sleep expert warns you may need to take an antihistamine to prevent any hay fever symptoms – and you should turn the lights off so creepy crawlies aren’t tempted to enter.
“If it’s very hot outside, shutting windows altogether may be a better option as it will be cooler indoors,” Hainsworth added. “If you decide to keep your windows shut, try opening doors intermittently so that the room is as well-ventilated as possible and doesn’t become stuffy.”
Other popular methods to keep cool include swapping out your winter duvet for a lighter alternative, sleeping in loose pyjamas rather than tight clothing, and adding shade outside your home in the form of an awning or tree. The Mirror’s Zahna Eklund tried the popular hack of adding foil to the inside of your windows to block the heat soaking in – and says the cheap trick worked wonders. You can pick up a 10-metre box of kitchen foil from Asda for just £1.45.
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