Warm compress

“*Bay rum rub (West Indian bay, Pimenta racemosa).* The bottle on the shelf in many Jamaican and Caribbean homes, rubbed into aching knees, stiff backs, sore muscles, and on the forehead for a headache. Video recipe: a handful of fresh bay rum leaves in a clean jar, white rum poured over, crushed ginger and a pinch of sea salt, lid on, one week in the dark. To use: warm a little in the palm, then rub into the joint in slow, firm circles and let the heat build. The leaf oil is rich in eugenol, the same compound as in clove, and the warmth and the rubbing are part of the medicine.”

“Moxa. Ekiken's heat endured now for benefit later, and 灸を据える (kyū o sueru), which also means a stern scolding. Miyagi: "Some good things sting first."”

“Usually called heat shock (sudden temperature change, blood pressure swing). Some researchers blame overheating with clouded consciousness (のぼせ, nobose) instead.”

“The Dutch heat plan for older people: the RIVM activates the Nationaal Hitteplan with the KNMI when several days of 27 °C or more are coming. Older people feel thirst less and dry out faster. Core advice: drink without waiting for thirst, keep house and body cool, activity before 12:00 or after 18:00, limit alcohol, look in on vulnerable neighbours. Salty broth or tomato juice replaces what sweat took, but on a salt-restricted diet or water pills ask the GP first.”

“Bouillon and kippensoep. Sunday soup. In a heat wave salty broth puts back the salt lost in sweat, not on a salt-restricted diet without asking.”

“First, always: cool running lukewarm water for 10 to 20 minutes. No fat, butter, lard or toothpaste. Baba's lard on a fresh burn we do not do anymore: it traps the heat.”

“Summer: the season of heat and of cooling food. Mung bean soup, watermelon, cucumber, green vegetables, chrysanthemum tea. Cantonese summer soups "clear heat", the most common soup function of all. Heating foods (fried food, alcohol, red meat and innards) are kept back.”

“How the old cooks sorted heat. Heating foods are high in calories, cooked at high heat, spicy or bitter, or "hot" in colour, red and orange. Green vegetables are the most typical cooling food. Heating foods are kept back in summer.”

“Summer, June to August: cooler, lighter meals, no hard exercise in the heat of the day, shade, water. The texts' "avoid sunbathing" agrees with every Dutch skin doctor.”

“The change of season. Ang pays special attention to the turning points: the first cold week, the first heat, the start of the rains. "The weeks between seasons are when the old people catch everything. A scarf, a warm meal, an early night. That is our whole secret."”

“The old view in general. Too much garm is blamed in household belief for inflammation and digestive trouble, and sard foods are the household's answer to heat.”

“Too much of one side. In household belief, too much garm is blamed for inflammation, rashes and digestive trouble, too much sard for poor circulation and feeling cold. So sard foods meet fevers and heat, and garm stews and soups carry the winter "for vitality".”

“A Dutch summer heatwave is the books' summer: moru, rice, cool cooked food, rest in the shade, little exercise in the heat.”

“Pitta is made of fire and water. It transforms things: digestion, warmth, the sharpness of the eyes and the mind. The books link it with heat and sharpness and with the returning sun of autumn.”

“Heat-sensitive medicines. Water pills, ACE inhibitors and sartans, beta blockers, SGLT2 inhibitors, NSAIDs, antipsychotics, antidepressants: the pharmacist first. Never stop a medicine to go to the banya.”

“Steam and dry heat. A Finnish sauna is often hot and fairly dry. A banya is a wetter heat, with water on the stones and the venik moving the steam over the skin. The wet heat feels hotter on the skin at the same temperature. "In Finland they sit. In the banya we steam. Both are good. Ours is wetter."”

“Heat in the Netherlands. Dutch houses keep heat in, Dutch people keep working through a heatwave. "In a Dutch heatwave, live a little like my village. Curtains closed in the day, windows open at night, the heavy work early, a rest after lunch if you can, and water within reach."”

“Listen. Heat, work, salty food, sweet drinks? Or an old person who forgets to drink?”

“Heat shock proteins (HSPs, especially HSP70): activated at core temperature increases of 2-3 degrees F. HSPs repair misfolded proteins, protect against neurodegeneration, and enhance cellular stress resistance.”

“Cold and heat are free stress that makes you stronger. That's hormesis in action. Cold plunge in the morning for 2-3 minutes at 50-55 degrees F - you'll feel like a different person for the rest of the day. The norepinephrine hit is better than any cup of coffee. Sauna 3-4 times a week for cardiovascular protection and detox - the Finnish data on this is almost embarrassingly strong. But here's what I tell everyone: the discomfort IS the signal. Your body adapts to stress. If it's comfortable, it's not working.”

“EZ water is built by infrared light, body heat, and grounding”