Air-conditioning may be the best thing to happen to summer since the invention of beaches. In retrospect, it's hard to imagine that prior to the 1940's, and going all the way back to the dawn of time, people just toughed out the summer heat (except the lucky few who lived in caves). Think about it: At the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, it is probable that John Hancock and the guys, in their elegant eighteenth century clothing, were drenched with perspiration. They didn't bathe that regularly, either, because their water was all drawn from hand pumps.

Air-conditioning offers obvious health benefits for those with heart conditions, pollen allergies and skin problems exacerbated by sweating. It does, however, pose a few problems. For one thing, it moves air around (the good news is that unlike many furnaces, it obtains the air from the outdoors). Any time you move air around, you whip up dead skin particles ("flora") and bacteria that can spread disease and cause skin and eye dehydration and itching. Also, constant wind from the air-conditioner can make beneficial moisture evaporate more rapidly from skin and eyes (so don't position yourself directly in front of the machine for long periods - this is especially true in cars). And be aware that air-conditioning causes air to lose humidity (cooler air is not capable of holding as much moisture as warmer air-hence the condensation on the outside of the air conditioner), so the resulting air is not only cooler but drier.

Natural air exchange is important in all seasons because outdoor air is usually "fresher" and contains fewer bacteria than indoor air. Thus, it's a good idea to turn the air-conditioning off once in a while, open the windows and let an exhaust fan scour out the air in your house (this is not a bad idea in winter, either). And, of course, for dry, itching, skin and eyes, to create an instant micro-environment of moist, healthy air around your body, nothing beats Nature's Tears^® EyeMist^TM or Nature's Mist^® Skin Moisture.