As the weather gets warmer we all experience those muggy, stuffy days when it seems impossible to cool down. The thought of snuggling in to a long tubular hot water bottle might not seem as appealing as on a freezing winter evening.
Despite the warmer climate, you might still use your extra long hot water bottle with cover to help alleviate back pain, neck pain or cramps the same as you always did. What you might not be aware of is that your bottle can also be used to help cool down.
Fill your extra long hot water bottle to around half way with cold water
Keep it safe, fill it half way, ideally with filtered water. Fold the bottle in half and place it safely in to the freezer for around 90 minutes. This is an approximate estimation but should be long enough to get it nice and cold, but not too long that it becomes as rock hard as those ice encrusted lollies you find at the bottom of a chest freezer after three years! You can extend the freeze time to 120 minutes if you prefer.
You will need the bottle to retain some flexibility and not be too solid. According to experts the average freezer temperature should be set at 0°F (-18°C). Place the bottle in the fridege if you don’t want it to feel like you’re cuddling a snowman.
If you are regularly switching between hot and cold we would suggest that you buy a second bottle and use one for each temperature so as not to put excessive strain on the materials with fluctuations in heat.
Once your extra long hot water bottle is sufficiently frosty, place it under your knees to keep cool. This is a good idea when trying to get to sleep on those warm evenings. There’s nothing more frustrating when you are trying to drift off on a humid evening and the bed sheets are all sticky, opening the window doesn’t help and there is only so many times you can turn the pillow over for cooling comfort.
There are plenty of ways to complement the cooling comforts of your bottle, like getting a fan or hitting the shower. Why not take your bottle out and about? If you’re heading away for a picnic or to the beach and the weather is scorching hot then a cool accomplice can make all the difference.
Always approach with caution when ice meets skin. As the heat and humidity rises and the hashtag #cantsleep trends across Twiter and Instagram, thousands are in a similar position. You can always put your extra long hot water bottle in the fridge instead of the freezer, if you are concerned about it getting too cold. Lukewarm water, or colder water, can do the job if freezing ice cold water is keeping you awake.
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