In today’s lifestyle, everybody is exposed to air conditioners almost every time at every place – houses, schools, colleges, cars, buses, theaters, malls, and even hospitals.
Though a majority of us are accustomed to an air-conditioned lifestyle day and night, is it good for the body? Build your answer as you go further down the blog.
The human body has a natural ability to adapt its temperature according to the atmospheric (external) temperature. For example, if the environmental temperature is hot, then the body reduces the temperature of the body and cools itself down. If it is cold, then the body will increase its temperature making it suitable to survive the extreme coldness.
These types of temperature adjustments happen every day and in every season in your body.
In summer, the environmental temperature is naturally hot. So the hypothalamus of the human brain sends a signal to the sweat glands to excrete the waste via sweat. This helps reduce body temperature and keep the body cool in hot climates. However, using AC frequently during summer inhibits this natural mechanism of our body. Immediately entering a cold (AC) room after rooming under a hot sun will resist the sweat excretion process. Hence, both waste and heat are not excreted properly out of the body. This results in the increase of pitta in the body.
How does getting exposed to AC (air conditioner) frequently affect your body?
- You are opening the door for eye problems like pain and irritation.
- High chances for metabolic disorders like weight gain or diabetes due to imbalanced pitta.
- Due to the cold temperature, we forget to drink enough amount of water needed to support the heat outside. This causes dehydration.
- A dry air-conditioned environment damages the skin badly leading to dry skin, dry eyes, or even headaches.
- Joint stiffness or joint pain increases in cold environments.
- AC rooms are always closed and damp making it a suitable place for germs to inhabit and spread infections.
- AC environment even acts as a cause for diseases like nasal congestion, throat infection, sinus, asthma, etc.
Living inside an air-conditioned room regularly inhibits fast recovery for people suffering from asthma or any other breathing disorders.
It is inevitable to avoid AC in our regular life. Not to support our bodies, but atleast to support the electronic systems that we use daily for entertainment and work.
So in that case, how to moderately and efficiently use AC?
Simple tips to keep your body healthy by wisely using AC in your regular life
- Always use AC at a moderate temperature. This helps you reduce the stress in your body caused due to extreme temperature changes.
- Use AC with a certain amount of intervals in between – living 24/7 under AC is not healthy.
- Keep your AC temperature at 25ᣞC or 26ᣞC when you’re sleeping at night.
- Try sleeping in natural atmospheric temperatures during winter, spring, & autumn, leaving summer an exception, where some might feel AC is necessary to survive the summer heat.
- Always keep your AC room ventilated before using the air conditioner. This avoids the spread of germs or infections.
- Never have direct face contact with the air supplied by the air conditioner. In this way, you can keep yourself away from dry skin, eye irritation, etc.
- Cool temperatures always make you skip the need for water. But don’t forget, you have to drink as much water as needed based on the natural temperature. Don’t dehydrate yourself. Also, avoid dry junk foods or soft drinks as the AC temperature is already dry.
- There’s something that you might be missing!
SUN EXPOSURE
Sun is always represented as “hot”, and you might hesitate to walk under such a hot temperature.
If so, then you can’t be a lazy bird, isn’t it?
Sleeping cozy under the AC, and missing the morning warmth of the sun becomes a big loss for your health.
Always have the practice of doing exercise in the morning under warm sunlight. This adds the required vitamin D to your body and keeps your bones strong and healthy. This also improves blood circulation.
- Never stay in an AC room at a stretch for a dozen hours. Take breaks in between. Take a walk in the natural atmosphere. Take the chance to breathe natural air.
- A hot water bath daily after a good body massage using any suitable oil is highly needed – sesame oil is good in that aspect.
AC is now becoming a very essential need for everybody. But still, you are smarter than those gadgets that give you cool air to breathe. Be wise, and use AC only when necessary. In the long run, minimal use of air conditioners can help you keep your body healthy.
