Acclimatization

By his term we mean responses of an organism to changes in its environment, adjustments to temperature, humidity, salinity, light and pressure.

I moved to Antalya from St. Petersburg where I lived for 7 years. I was used to cold summer, very cold winter with usual temperatures below zero, lack of sunshine, short daylight time and almost constant rains.

I would say it took me about two months to finally adjust to the new climate and environment.

Here are some basic tips for easy acclimatization

1. Try to arrive to your new destination in the evening, so you would have full first night to recover.

2. Do not try to do everything at the first day. Move slowly. Full day on the sun and swimming in the sea for hours could make you feel worse, as well as drinking a lot of alcohol you brought with you from the duty free shop.

3. Drink a lot of water and do not forget to rest. If this is summer time try siesta and avoid staying outside during peak hours.

4. Give your body some time to adapt, do not panic and realize it is normal. To be completely honest with you I had a big hormonal crisis since I moved and I missed my period three times since we moved before everything went back to normal. It is completely normal, just give your body enough time to adjust to the new reality.

5. Eat local food and use local products. Try also to switch all your personal care products to local ones. As soon as we arrived I noticed that my cleansing gel and shampoo don’t wash off easily with mild Turkish water and it might cause breakouts and scalp drynes.

Despite all these hacks and lot of time passed there are still something I can’t adjust to. For example high atmospheric pressure. During the changes of the weather in spring and summer I feel it the most and usually I wake up with migraines or feel pressure in my hands and legs.

How long did it take you to adjust to new country?