UK households urged to fill up hot water bottle on Monday

UK households are being urged to fill up a hot water bottle on Monday (August 11) as forecasters warn of another heatwave.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has issued a yellow heat health alert across much of England for the start of next week as the weather heats up. The Met Office has said temperatures could reach the mid 30s across central, southern and eastern parts of the country by Wednesday, August 13, with parts of the UK potentially having another heatwave by the middle of next week. The yellow heat health alert covers London, Yorkshire and the Humber, the East Midlands, East of England, the South East and South West, and is in place from 12pm on Monday, August 11, until 6pm on Wednesday, August 13.

Grahame Madge, spokesman for the Met Office, said: "The general pattern is that we'll see temperatures start to increase from Sunday and the duration of the heat is likely to last until Tuesday, possibly Wednesday.

"We're likely to see temperatures get to high 20s across quite a lot of the UK, and in the south we're likely to see the possibility of temperatures reaching mid-30s degrees centigrade across parts of central, southern and eastern England, with the likelihood that the heat will probably last longest in places like East Anglia, up through Lincolnshire and into Yorkshire."

While the hot weather is glorious during the day, at night it's a different story with the heat making for pretty uncomfortable sleeping. If you aren't lucky enough to have air conditioning then it be difficult to drift off, resulting in a frustrating night of tossing, turning and kicking the duvet off. But you don't have to resort to running fans for hours on end to cool down as all you need is a hot water bottle.

Yes, the primary purpose of a hot water bottle is to keep you lovely and warm, but experts say it can be used to achieve the opposite effect if you fill it with cold water.

Simply fill up your hot water bottle with ice cold water, or pop it in the fridge, and then place it in your bed just before you go to sleep. This will help to cool down your sheets and pillow, and then you can hold it against your skin to cool yourself down - just remember to wrap it in a cover or a tea towel if it's icy to avoid direct contact with your skin.

You can also fill the bottle with cold water and then put it in the freezer to make it even colder, but be wary of leaving it in there for too long as it can damage the rubber, meaning it could burst the next time hot water is added.

So if you do put it in the freezer, make sure to only fill the bottle half way rather than to the top, or just keep one bottle separate for cold use and the other for hot.

Heat-Treats says: "It's simple; just fill your bottle with iced water, ice cubes or crushed ice. The bottle acts in the same way in reverse; instead of releasing warm heat it emits refreshing cold. Contrary to hot water which will gradually cool down, the icy water will eventually warm up until it reaches room temperature.

"Some people suggest that you can fill your bottle with cold water and then place it in the freezer to chill further, although it shouldn't be left for more than 20 minutes otherwise the rubber can become compromised and may rupture. The best plan is to have different bottles for heat filling and cold filling.

"You can also use your cold hot water bottle for cooling down your sheets or pillow before you go to bed. If your bottle doesn't have a cover, wrap it in a tea towel or pillowcase to prevent overexposure to the cold next to your skin."