Page 42 - Seniors Today - April Issue

vegetables keep you light, hydrated and
cool your systems.
Eat Smaller Meals
Because digesting a large, heavy meal
requires more energy than digesting a
small one, try small meals throughout the
course of the day.
Nurture Your Green Fingers
The benefits of having houseplants are
enormous. They give you oxygen, improve
your moods and they can also make a room
feel cooler.
Plants release moisture into the air, which
helps regulate the relative humidity of a
room and can make it feel more comfortable
than it otherwise would.
Scent Up
When it comes to keeping cool, not all scents
are created equal. Sandalwood is used in
Ayurveda to lower body temperature, so for
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a summer scent, try some pure sandalwood
oil or soap, to smell nice and feel cool.
A few natural fragrances that work well to
keep you cool are orange, grapefruit, lemon,
sweet basil, mint and bergamot. You can
even add a few drops to your bath water—
super invigorating!
Sit Under A Tree
If you really want to cool down when you’re
out and about, find a nice tree to sit under.
The shade from trees is actually cooler
than shade from buildings and other man-
made objects, thanks to a process called
transpiration.
A tree maintains its temperature by
circulating water around inside itself and
releasing moisture into the atmosphere,
to keep itself and the air around it cool.
Buildings, on the other hand, trap heat
and radiate it back into the surrounding
environment.
Try, the Japanese technique of forest
bathing (Shinrin-Yoku), it’s now available