It is the May Bank Holiday.
You know what that means. Festival season has arrived, and it’s going to be hot.
Olivia Dean hits the decks for Radio 1. Sub Focus plays Love Saves the Day. Millennials pretend they’re still cool by listening to Kate Nash at BeardedTheory. But while the music plays, the temperature climbs.
Dancing for hours, sleeping in sweaty tents, making questionable choices with your hydration—this is how you get wiped out.
Stay alive. Here’s how.
Drink until you’re bored
Water. Drink it.
Alcohol turns your kidneys into a faucet. For every alcoholic drink you consume, you’ll pee out 100ml more than normal. Add sweat into the equation, and you are dehydrating faster than you realize.
Alternating every drink with water isn’t optional anymore.
Bring a reusable bottle. Fill it up. Skip the bar lines. Save time, save sanity.
Let your body breathe
Fashion matters at festivals, right? Wrong.
When it gets hot, stripping layers isn’t just vanity.
Skin exposure sounds risky—sunburn, UV damage, you get it—but if you are sweating buckets, clothes are your enemy.
Tight fabrics trap heat. They stop evaporation.
Evaporation cools you down. The water turning to vapor steals heat from your skin. No evaporation? You cook.
Ditch the denim.
Wear light colors. White reflects the sun.
Spray water on your shirts. Let the heat leave.
It feels gross but works.
The tent is an oven
Ever wake up at 6am, crawl out of your polyester shelter, and realize you survived a microwave?
Tents are greenhouses. Body heat bounces around. Sunlight traps warmth.
If you want sleep, bring a larger tent. Air needs space.
Strip off the flysheet. It keeps bugs out, but it also traps the heat. Do you need a plastic roof over your plastic shelter? No.
Face the door toward the wind.
Throw a battery fan inside. Movement kills stagnation.
Medicines need shade
Heat breaks pills.
Insulin. Inhalers. EpiPens. These things fail if left in direct sunlight.
Check the color. Sniff it. If it looks wrong, it’s ruined.
Medication messes with your thermostat, too. Some drugs increase dehydration or make you dizzy faster. Diuretics, asthma meds, heart conditions—talk to a doctor or check the label.
“Medicines can make you more likely to… get dehydrated,” notes the MHRA.
Set phone alarms. Drink water. Reapply sunscreen. Automate your survival.
Watch for the crash
You might not notice it until it’s too late.
Heatstroke hits hard.
Headache? Check.
Dizzy, confused, nauseous? Check.
Pale skin? Cold but sweaty? Bad.
If a friend can’t stand up, if their pulse is racing or they are breathing fast, they aren’t “fine.” They are dying.
Temperature hits 38°C+.
Do this immediately: Wet a cloth. Cold water.
Press it to their neck. Their armpits. Major arteries need cooling now.
Then find help.
