Lately, the temperature in the country has reached alarming levels, with the air seeming like a damp, heavy blanket. You step outside and stand under a shade, but it doesn’t do anything to help either. In my case, it almost feels as if the heat is making my body feel like it’s roasting from the inside.
If you have found yourself googling this at 3 a.m., frustrated and sweating buckets, while lying on a cold tile floor, you are not alone. And more importantly, you are not imagining it. The Nigerian Meteorological Agency confirmed that 2026 would bring warmer days and warmer nights than we are used to. This was foreshadowed when the usual harmattan relief barely showed up this past December.
It’s now official; climate change has disrupted our weather patterns, leaving us with scorching temperatures that don’t even relent at night.
What you don’t know is that this heat isn’t just uncomfortable. It is also actively doing things to your body.
When your internal temperature rises, your heart starts working overtime, pumping blood furiously toward your skin in a desperate attempt to cool you down.
The brain is also affected, as it can actually swell from the heat, which explains why you feel foggy, irritable, or just done with everything by mid-afternoon.
Your kidneys are begging for water, and your digestive system slows to a crawl because your body has decided that cooling you down is more important than digesting that jollof rice you ate two hours ago.
What To Do Then?
Start with drinking enough water. Don’t wait until you’re thirsty, but before. Keep a bottle on your desk, in your bag, next to your bed. If your urine is dark yellow, you have already fallen behind. Drink electrolytes if you have been sweating heavily, or simply eat something salty to hold onto the water you consume.
Next, rethink your environment. If you have air conditioning, use it strategically during peak hours, usually between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. If you don’t, create cross-ventilation with windows and fans. Damp cloths on your neck and wrists actually work. So does staying on the lowest floor of your home if you have multiple levels.
Pay attention to your body’s distress signals. Heat cramps in your legs mean stop and rest. Cold, clammy skin with dizziness means you are in heat exhaustion territory and need to cool down immediately. If your skin is hot and dry and you stop sweating altogether, that is heat stroke. That is the red line. Do not ignore it.
Takeaway
We are in this together, and the heat is not letting up anytime soon. But with a little knowledge and a lot of water, you can keep your cool when everything around you is on fire.
