I grew up without AC. Midwest U.S. Very hot. Very humid.

Sleep naked. Sleep on cotton sheets. Not synthetic.

Open all the windows at night. Close them up by 8 or 9 am.

And fans.

Don’t underestimate what a fan can do.

You can mimic the cooling effects of sweating by misting yourself with water or jumping in the shower for 5 min and then putting a fan on.

Wet hair always helped me cool down. especially with a fan on.

We used fans a lot growing up and I use them at home now with AC. I can be comfortable at 76-78 with a fan on.

No fan, and I need 71-72.

So it’s a way to save on electricity.

Also I wear less clothes. That always helps. Avoid socks. Tight underwear.

If you are a woman, I suggest switching to boxers when you are home.

Men’s boxers are better than “women’s” boxers. Which are just expensive boyshort underwear.

You need a loose crotch area.

Just buy mens in packs. Less expensive too.

Drinking super cold water often also helps.

What I do. I have 2 water bottles. I fill them half full and put them in the freezer. I take one out at a time. Fill with water. Have ice cold water for a long time since it’s not cubed. Then when it’s no longer icey cold. Switch it out for the other.

I would do this at work. Just write your name on the bottle and tell others not to throw them out, that you reuse the same one. Otherwise someone cleaning might think the same bottle has been in there for a month and decide to toss it out.

Things me or my parents would do those 40⁰C+ days:

Pull down the blinds to block the sun during the day. If the air is considerably hotter outside, don’t open the windows/doors. Wait until there is no difference in temp to do so.

If access to water isn’t an issue, once the sun goes down you can hose the exterior of the house, walls and any surrounding concrete/stone surfaces. It will cool it down considerably.

If it is really hot I would sometimes put a wet towel on wherever I was feeling the heat the most (usually heads and shoulders/arms). You will need to soak it every hour or so, because it will start to dry and warm up as you wear it. You can sleep like this, too, but you may wake up from the heat under a hot towel that’s nearly dry.

My area isn’t the hottest, but it does usually get up to about 100F for a day or two most years, and in the summer temps are in the 80s or 90s during the day pretty consistently, and it can be humid.

I have a mostly finished basement, I’ll spend a lot of time down there over the summer, it stays pretty consistently cool.

I’m lucky that I work night shift, so it’s easier for me to do stuff in the evenings or early morning before it gets too hot.

There’s a saying that there’s no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate gear. I usually joke that in the summer that means air conditioning.

But if you don’t have a/c, opening your windows and getting some fans going can really go a long way to keeping your house cool.

Limit your time outside, find somewhere to sit down in the shade and take a break if you need to.

Dress appropriately for the weather, lightweight, light colored, breathable clothing, linen is great if you can find it. Maybe consider wearing a wide-brimmed hat to keep the sun off your face and neck when you go outside.

Drink lots of water, find some cool foods to eat, watermelon, cold soba, ice cream etc.

This isn’t going to be an option very often, but when the conditions are just right I like to leave windows open overnight to cool down the house. If it’s going to be below 60°F and above 80°F the next day, it works best for me. Keep an eye on the dew point though because too much humidity isn’t great. I like to open windows on one side of the house then open another in the other side with a powerful pedestal fan sitting about 4 feet away. That seems to work best for moving air through the house and usually lets me get away without running the AC the next day. Also, Vornado makes a transom window fan that fits snuggly in the window case, that’s a great balance between blocking out a bit more noise because the window isn’t wide open, it’s a noise machine, and a huge benefit is it’s reversible.

Good luck!

I grew up here in Florida without air conditioning until I was about 25.

Really just learned to be still, that helps. Keep the windows open at night if it cools off at night.

Stay in the shade, if there is a breeze it is not bad. Fans, fans, fans. Carry a parasol if possible . Shade helps so much.

And I wait for the rainy season, ours is at the same time of year yours is. Love that time, every day it gets hot but then in the afternoon the rain comes.

ETA I think India has this covered already but stay away from synthetic fabric and cotton. Linen or silk are best, and oddly, light merino wool in a loose fit is also so good in the hot weather.

If you have space outside, plant native trees/vines/bushes that will help shade the building from the sun if you’re getting direct sunlight. You can just do clippings from wild growing plants for free.

timing of the windows opening and closing is key. Also tracking temperature helps, just a crappy thermometer (one indoors and one outside not in sunlight) will let you know when it’s time to open or close up.

Concrete/bricks work both ways as a thermal mass, if you can get them cool and covered from the sun it will help cool your area (think of cold concrete floors, I have an inner brick wall that an extension was built out on and it stays coolish). Same with water, most have experienced a cold water pool/pond on a hot day, big blocks of frozen ice can do the trick if you stick to freezing at night.

Free stuff:

• No/less electronics during the day (tvs/chargers/computer), it all adds to the heat
• no cooking during day, cold cuts/food only till night
• Take a nap during the hottest part if possible, or just sleep in daytime and move about at night on off days (something about waking up after a nap makes it seem less overbearing)
• do maintenance on your fans, take them apart and clean/grease anything that needs it (will need to clean more often if you lubricate due to dust build up causing gunk)

Black-out curtains are great to stop light, but if it’s entering the window already it’s just heating up that one spot so you’re still technically getting the thermal radiation. For that fix you would want reflective window covers, even foil would technically help slapped to the window (it’s the only time those reflective insulation boards actually do anything with infrared). Foil with something behind it to insulate, like literally anything (cardboard wrapped in plastic to air seal can even do it), then you can take down your contraption at night to let air through to cool.

Insulating and air sealing. Alternatively, air flow in any spots building more heat than the outside temp (like an attic or upstairs area). If it’s a family owned place it’s easier, renting you might have to address concerns with landlord.

Currently temps in my area are getting about 95f(35c) daytime and 65f(18c) to 60f(15c) at night. I can usually get my house down to 68ish(20c) before the sun comes up. Windows in a bottom floor with fans pointing in, any windows upstairs with fans blowing out (hot air rises, it’s the same technique for american colonial/victorian houses with dormers emulating ancient style architecture for passive cooling). If it’s single story just be aware of wind direction if you’re using the fan method and point some in where the wind is blowing and pointing out at the opposite side. My house will at max hit about 80f(26c) but by then it’s time to open the windows because the sun has set.

At some point, once true-true summer hits, the nights will be about 80f(26c) and over 100f(38cish) during the day. At that point regulating your body and getting used to the temps is key and an A/C or sometype of ground thermal air flow is the only way you’re going to make anything cool. If you’re using A/C just seal the crap out of your windows with plastic and/or insulation (remember condensation like an ice cup though will cause moisture and mold/mildew growth on the exterior if not done properly). Pick a room that keeps the coldest and put whatever you can on the walls and windows (even a quilt on the walls will help insulate some). Seal up as much as possible and hide from the heat.

Can’t live without AC in Mumbai…

You can dig a tunnel that is at least 6ft down and 100ft long that leads into your home at one end and up to a narrow opening on the surface on the otherside. Then add a fan that blows air from the tunnel into the home. This will function as a natural AC unit. It is a lot of work to accomplish but can cheaply cool a home as long as its maintained.

The science behind it is that the temperature under the earth past 6ft is around 55 - 65 degrees Fahrenheit depending on your region of the world. The fan will then draw the air through the tunnel where its cooled and pushed into the home. The tunnel doesn’t have to be that big just like 2ft in diameter. Though mold can grow here so you would want to use a material that is resistant like a smooth walled plastic pipe for your tunnel.

If you have access to a freezer.

Freeze icepacks and rotate them to your pockets, or sit them on your main leg artery.

Freeze a flat amount of ice and then place your feet on it to cool down.

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Also the cooling neck-wraps with gel-beads, actually work to cool you down. Goes well with a fan blowing on you too.

The temps in Houston are now firmly in the dangerous range during peak summer. When you reach a certain humidity and temperature, your body can’t regulate its internal temperature by sweating anymore, you essentially have to have some kind of external input to cool off, that can be cold(er) water, air conditioning, fans (where you can have lower humidity or temperature air blowing over you, or something similar.

If you can make changes to your structure, doing a radiant barrier or some kind of false roof (even a solar shade or something that doesn’t block all the sun) over your existing roof to limit the solar heat transfer to your structure can help.

If you can get some insulation for the windows, especially if you can get the foil lined version and direct the foil outside, that will also help.

Local air conditioning (mini splits or single room units) are often less efficient but if you are just focused on making it tolerable, you can do a single room as a cool down room for less money (upfront and in energy cost) vs a whole house or multi room unit. There are 12v units that can be run on a decent size solar setup like used in RV’s or campers.

The Hongkongers answer, “Air con.”

I swear we abuse ACs way too much. Nobody cares enough about the energy consumption except Lam Chiu-Ying.

In 105+ summers in texas we just crank the AC

Lie under a damp towel with a fan on the towel for evaporative cooling.

A/C is great if you can get it.