h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Richard and I went on holiday to Egypt in September. The temperatures ranged from 37 Celsius to 50 Celsius, and that's hot! What amazed us was the number of people that didn't follow the basic rules for dealing with hot conditions.

Use sun-block. (Richard used SPF 0, 'cos he has very fair skin. I was OK with SPF 35. Adjust to suit you skin type, how hot the sun is and whether or not you want a tan.)

Wear a hat. Sun stroke is unpleasant at best.

Drink lots of water. You'll probably sweat more than usual. (We took at least 1 litre each when we went out. Even though the trips were only 2 - 3 hours, we still got through that much.)

I presume that is a typo. Did you mean to say SPF 40? Or 50?

As a fair-skinned redhead who grew up in Texas, USA, I used only SPF 45 and above. My father got skin cancer several times because he did not use sunscreen, so I learned to be very cautious.

Drinking lots of water, juice, or milk really is the best thing you can do for your health when it's unbearably hot. Remember that drinks like alcohol and soda pop can actually dehydrate you.

In Texas, it's also a good idea to carry a jug of water in your car, in case a breakdown causes you to be stranded on a long road with no gas station nearby. Every once in a while, someone dies waiting inside their hot car for some sort of assistance to arrive. The worst thing about this sort of death is that is so easily preventable.

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When I moved to Denver, Colorado, I came to understand how to survive in colder conditions. I am sure there are Researchers who must bear colder weather than me. But I found a couple of tricks for surviving colder winder climates.

Ski jackets and coats are especially good at trapping your body heat and using it to warm you. Fur coats also do a super job, but of course many people have special reasons for staying away from furs. Don't assume that a fake fur coat will necessary provide the same benefits. Fake fur coats often fail to provide good protection for cold weather.

Never be afraid to wear many layers of clothing. You might wear flannel underwear on very cold days, and cover that with a shirt and pants, plus a sweater, coat, heavy socks, boots, gloves, and a hat.

And do remember that your head is where most of your body heat escapes from. A simple winter hat will do more to protect your internal body temperature than any number of socks or sweaters will do.

Sunscreen is important for people in cold climates too. Many cold areas get lots of snow, which reflects the sun back at your face instead of absorbing the light like grass or pavement does. Also, many cold areas are high altitude environments, where there is literally less atmosphere protecting you from the sun's rays. In really high altitudes, it's not a bad idea to put on sunscreen (or make-up with an SPF factor) daily.

Finally, people moving to a cold, dry climate for the first time will often get dehydrated. I recommend drinking plenty of fluids, and investing in some lip gloss or Chapstick right away. Unexperienced travellers may notice their lips peeling after a few days. Unfortunately, it can take them a long and painful time to heal.

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Elderly people are especially prone to heat stroke and pneumonia. Unfortunately, they are also the most likely people to be living in older houses without adequate air conditioning or heating. For this reason, you should donate coats or cooling fans to your local charity organization if you live in a very hot or cold place.

Also, do stop and offer roadside assistance if you see someone's car has broken down during a heat wave or blizzard. It may seem like a waste of time, but remember that you could easily be saving someone's life.

Yes, it's a typo - sort of. My keyboard at work started acting up yesterday and the 3, 4 and 6 keys stopped working. I used the keypad at the side of the keyboard for a lot of numbers, but forgot when typing up that entry.

Richard used SPF 60. No, the 60 is not a typo. We were surprised when we found it, because we didn't think you could get that high an SPF in the UK. It worked, though. He didn't burn.

I live in Dubai, UAE and here the temperature can reach anything up to, and sometimes beyond, 50*C. Everything is air conditioned here - every house and every car. We try our best not to go outside at all but when we have to it's just a mad dash from one air conditioned area to another. Personaly I stay at home during the day and don't leave the house until it gets dark, when it's cooler.

As someone said, water is very important. They say you're supposed to drink 7 pints a day here. Another piece of advice I've heard from a lot of people here is that you should drink water until your thirst is quenched and then drink some more.

The only people here who use sun screen are tourists, because they are the only ones insane enough to stay outside for any length of time.

Water can work miracles in extreme heat. Last year, I went to Panama with my national guard unit. We left in late winter, and we worked in the hot sun during the day. Fortunatly, we had been issued Camelbacks.

Camelbacks are 70 fluid ounce bladders with a long drinking tube. You put the bladder in an insulated pouch that you wear like a backpack. Then you have the drinking tube handy whenever you want a little water.

As you can imagine, we were not in spectacular shape, and we were taken from winter weather to extreme heat and humidity. Still, we had no heat injuries during our trip.

If you have not got air conditioning, one way to keep your house cool in the summer is to close all the windows and draw all the curtains during the day, and open all the windows at night. This method is used by Italians, where it does get hot in the summer. It may not work in the sort of really extreme temperatures some people are talking about here.

If you left the windows open all night here the mosquitos would eat you alive by morning. You'd wake up with all sorts of nasty bugs crawling across your face.

In this area the predecessor to the modern air conditioning unit was the wind tunnel. It's sort of a cuboidal tower on the roof divided across the diagonals by some sheets with an opening at the top. If you sit under one it's actualy quite cool and comfortable. I guess the breeze gets trapped in the tunnel and gets blown down or something. Some poor people here still use it rather than the AC unit.

Couldn't you use mozi nets over the windows? But I guess they could always find one way to get through...