Multiple outlets report on a study examining how people in the UK respond to high temperatures. The findings describe residents taking “drastic action” to keep homes tolerable when cooling is not available or effective. Reported responses include sleeping in areas other than bedrooms, such as kitchens, to avoid the hottest rooms in the home. The study also says some people use improvised insulation or shading methods to reduce heat entering through windows. Examples mentioned across the sources include covering or taping materials such as tin foil and cardboard to windows, as well as using damp sheets as a makeshift cooling measure.
While the reports focus on the coping strategies themselves, they do not present a single cause in the available text. Instead, they portray a picture of household-level adaptations during warm conditions, suggesting some people resort to non-standard solutions when conventional cooling options are limited. The coverage is consistent that these measures are widespread enough to be captured by the study and that they range from changing sleeping arrangements to DIY window coverings.
