Dried out!

After the last blogpost talking about getting so much hail that it looked like it snowed....

Well less than a week later....along with a 32 degree day, today's Gaborone outside humidity is registering at 4% according to the Weather Station at the Airport that registers on 'Wunderground'

From my searching of the 'www' apparently the lowest recorded humidity on earth was 2% in the middle of the desert in the USA.

I've also learnt that humidity in aircraft cabins also runs low (about 5-20%) - but that is what our daytime humidity levels are like almost all year round!

Well, here we are on the edge of the Kalahari Desert and this is normally one of the hottest months before the rainy season sets in, so I shouldn't be surprised....the reality is that low humidity is 'normal' here.

Low humidity is a foreign concept in the area of Australia where I grew up, by the sea in I suppose what might be called the sub-tropics - the problem there was super high humidity - like up to 98% even when it wasn't raining!

In those days I never had to think about preventing dehydration headaches!

So....

When you read about 'health preservation tips for flying in low humidity aircraft', it seems I should be taking note of those tips for daily life here!

......things like:

-  up your vitamin intake because dry air contributes to compromised mucous membranes and increases likelihood of disease

-  be sure to drink extra water to stay hydrated - sip little bits of water all day

-  avoid alcohol and coffee (neither of which I drink normally) as they have a dehydrating effect

-  take a bath rather than a shower and even better if you add Epsom Salts (magnesium) - well I'm limited there as our house doesn't have a bath!...but I do take extra magnesium supplements

-  Use moisturisers

here are some links if you are interested in reading about the effects of aircraft cabin low humidity to help yourself next flight you take and to learn more about the environment we live our entire lives!

Here and here and here

But keeping fluids up is something that is constantly on our minds as it is just so easy to get dehydrated in our part of the world.  

We carry a water bottle everywhere we go and we make sure we remind visitors to keep their water up! Part of the problem is that the air is so dry and hot that any perspiration is evaporated almost instantly and you don't realise how much body water you are losing....or how much 'salt' (body minerals)....including magnesium salts.  We have to supplement with a lot of magnesium (especially my husband) or else we get muscle twitching, spasms, headaches and migraines.

(another interesting fact....did you know that annual evaporation here in Botswana is 2 metres!)

But our bodies aren't the only things that DRY OUT!

• - glued furniture joins dry out and furniture comes apart
• - wooden furniture dries out and joins pull apart
• - clothes 'dry out' too much and the fibres (especially natural cotton) just break down over time and get holes and rips more easily
• - fruit left on the counter dries out - we have watched passion-fruit, lemons and mandarins just shrivel up to half their normal size.
• - plastics dry out, and crack, and split and so household items can become useless very quickly when one small plastic part cracks or splits - even outdoor plastic chairs after a while become brittle and can 'snap'!
• - rubber seals dry out and shrink - and if they are seals of importance - like in a car engine!!!!.....all kinds of trouble can result!!! (in fact with dry air and dust - it is quite normal here for car repairs to have to happen far more frequently than what the manual says.
• - even plants dry out - it's quite something to watch a cactus aloe actually partially dry out!

But its not all bad.....we have a thatch roof and the biggest enemy of thatch is moisture!....so dry air is a good thing in that sphere....

and

I don't have to worry about cleaning of mould issues in the shower!

And I can be thankful that even though its only 4% humidity at the airport, here in my thatch-roofed house in the bush, its about 25% (that's still considered low but its better than 4%!)

And on this very, very dry Sunday, I'm reminded again to pray for rain for this land, where severe water rations are in place, and the dam that supplies our water supply is dangerously low. Please join with us in praying for rain.