Crossposted from Public Health Insider

When it’s hot outside, it can be miserable inside if you don’t have air conditioning or can’t open your windows. These tips can help when it feels like an oven in your home.

How to reduce the heat inside

• Block the sun with shades, open the shades at night. Curtains and shades can keep your home from heating up. But at night, when lights are out and if you don’t need them for privacy, keep the shades open to let the windows release heat.
• Trap heat with closed doors. If one room gets hotter than other parts of the home, close the doors to keep the heat trapped in that room.
• Turn off the lights. Lights generate heat. Only keep on the lights you really need.
• Limit your electronics use. Home electronics heat up the home, so turn off electronics you aren’t using. Reduce the time you spend using computers, video games, TVs, and other electronics.
• Use your oven or stove less. Cooking with heat increases the temperature inside your home.
• Put a bowl of ice under a fan. The fan can circulate air cooled by the ice.
• Hang blankets over windows. Emergency survival blankets or wraps (the silver type also known as “space blankets”) work well to reflect the heat and typically cost around a dollar at drug stores, outdoor suppliers, or online. You can use painters tape to keep them up and block out the heat. The video below shows how simple it is to do.

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