With parts of the UK set to endure another heatwave, scorching temperatures and a ‘medium’ risk of drought mean that you need to be more careful than usual when it comes to taking a shower
Parts of the UK are set to endure another scorching heatwave as the week goes on. With the mercury tipped to rise over 30 degrees Celsius in the South East later in the week, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has issued a yellow heat health alert, which serves to warn the NHS that the elderly and other vulnerable people might be at increased risk as the temperatures rocket.
Along with the hot weather the UK has been experiencing, there is also a “medium” risk of drought this summer, the Environment Agency has warned, after England has had the driest spring in over 130 years.
It’s not since 1893 that there has been so little rain, and so far a hosepipe ban has already been brought in by Yorkshire Water, due to dwindling reservoir levels – with Thames Water warning that they are poised to bring in a similar ban for their customers, unless something “changes significantly”.
Whilst temperatures are set to be high this week, as the month goes on, they are predicted in some parts of the UK to reach a terrifying 39 degrees Celsius, making it hotter than Dubai.
The combination of scorching temperatures and low rainfall makes for something of a perfect storm when it comes to our showering habits. Sweating more than usual and desperate to cool down, you may be tempted to jump into a cold shower – perhaps even more than once a day – to bring down your body temperature and feel at least temporarily refreshed.
However, we all need to conserve water in dry seasons like this one. The water demand reduction manager of Thames Water – Andrew Tucker – explained to the BBC, “on average the biggest water user in the house” is the shower, and so if everyone makes a concerted effort to reduce how long they spend in there, it could have a seriously positive impact.
“A couple of minutes off your shower could save a huge amount,” he explained, whilst pointing out that demand for water often increases in the hot summer months.
According to the BBC, in 2022, the average length of a shower in the UK was eight minutes, so you should aim to cut this down to four or five minutes if you find yourself regularly spending a long time in there.
If you aren’t sure how long you generally spend in your shower, try setting a timer the next time you have one, and you might be shocked at the length.
Even if you think you can’t get it down to four minutes, simply reducing your shower time by a couple of minutes, as Thames Water recommends, will still help conserve water.
In a heatwave you might be tempted to run a cold shower, but the experts say you should actually swerve this – however refreshing it might feel at the time, it could be doing you more harm than good.
During hot weather, our body has several natural processes to keep our body temperatures down and avoid organ damage – this includes obvious things like sweating, but also our blood vessels actually change size in different temperatures.
When it is hot, the vessels closest to our skin widen, which means more blood can get near the surface where it is cooler, and the body circulates blood, bringing the body temperature down.
Jumping in a cold shower causes those same vessels to restrict, sending the message that we need to warm up, not cool down, which means “less blood is now flowing to the surface of the skin. This will hold the heat in and around your organs instead of getting rid of it,” per The Independent.
This doesn’t mean you should have a really hot shower though, instead opt for a lukewarm temperature somewhere in the middle.
With people also often struggling to sleep in a heatwave, some experts have claimed that the optimum time to take a lukewarm shower is an hour before you head to bed – encouraging your body to cool down and also helping you relax before trying to get some much-needed rest.