I am always reminded of visiting a hospitable desert Bedouin in his tent whenever someone complains about a hot summer’s day in my native Switzerland, where cold and rainfall are well known but not real drought. In the shade of his black goat’s-hair tent the temperature must have been around 40 °C (104 °F) and the air outside was shimmering in the heat. In spite of this the bearded man, whose deeply lined face betrayed his advanced age, served me hot tea. I was astonished and wanted to know the reason. His answer was quick. It was completely wrong, he said, to drink cold water in the intense heat; it would only increase the thirst instead of quenching it. And so would sweet drinks, he added. It would be asking for trouble and not healthy either. At the time of our conversation I was still doubtful about his conclusion, but eventually it was confirmed by my own personal experience. It is really true that a hot drink or juicy fruit are better than anything else to quench one’s thirst in the heat. What is more, they may prevent you from catching a cold, but there is no guarantee for that if you gulp down ice-cold beverages.
It is also important to breathe through the nose when it is very hot, not only when you are in the cold. The nose is equipped with a built-in air-conditioning system, or temperature control, which warms up the incoming air in the winter and cools it down in the summer.
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