Heatwave tips for 2025: 9 low-cost ways to keep a family of five cool

Public health heatwave advice for 2025 has been updated, and the most useful parts are the cheap, practical ones. For one family of five, the biggest change came from simple habits: drinking water before anyone felt thirsty, wearing light-colored, loose, breathable cotton clothes, keeping out direct sun by closing curtains or blinds, using the oven less, getting the most out of fans, and planning anything outdoors outside the 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. peak. Not gadgets. Not expensive home upgrades.

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The backdrop here is hard to ignore. Global temperature records put 2025 as the third warmest year, behind 2024 and 2023, and heat records from 2022 to 2025 show 41 countries either tied or broke national highs. Heat can turn dangerous fast, leading to dehydration, heat exhaustion, or heatstroke, especially for people who are active, spending time outside, looking after children or older relatives, or living with chronic conditions.

If you’re bracing for another brutal summer, this update is worth reading. Public health agencies keep warning about a risk people miss all the time: overheating at home. A lot of heat-related deaths happen in private homes that don’t have enough cooling, especially during stretches of hot nights when buildings never really shed the heat. Early prevention gives you the best chance of staying safe.

You can get guidance from public health agencies, and if your home gets too hot, go somewhere cooler: a cooling center, a library, a shopping mall, or another air-conditioned building.

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