How do I sleep in hot weather?

Falling asleep requires body temperature to drop, which is why heat prevents it. Everything effective either helps that drop happen or stops the bedroom accumulating heat during the day.

What you'll need

• A fan (optional)
• Thin cotton bedding (optional)
• Curtains or blinds (optional)

Step by step

1. Keep the bedroom sealed during the day.Windows and curtains closed from early morning. Once outside is hotter than inside, an open window is bringing heat in rather than letting it out.
2. Open everything at night once it is cooler outside.Windows on opposite sides for cross-ventilation. This is when the room sheds the heat it accumulated.
3. Have a cool — not cold — shower before bed.It helps body temperature drop. A cold shower is counterproductive, since it causes the body to conserve heat afterwards.
4. Use a fan pointed at you, not at the room.Fans do not cool air; they help sweat evaporate from skin. Pointed at an empty room a fan adds heat from its motor.
5. Use thin natural bedding, or none.Cotton and linen breathe far better than synthetics. A single thin sheet is often better than nothing at all, since it absorbs sweat.
6. Sleep downstairs if you can.Heat rises and a ground floor room can be several degrees cooler. It is a legitimate solution rather than a compromise.
7. Damp cloth or a bottle of frozen water beside a fan.Air passing over something cold or damp is cooled by evaporation. Modest but genuinely effective in a small room.
8. Stay hydrated but stop drinking heavily close to bedtime.Dehydration makes heat harder to tolerate, but waking to use the bathroom breaks up an already fragile night.

Tips

• Cooling the wrists, neck and feet is disproportionately effective, since those are where blood runs close to the surface.
• Alcohol makes hot nights considerably worse — it disrupts sleep quality and impairs temperature regulation.
• A hot water bottle filled with cold water and put in the freezer for an hour is a cheap and effective cool pack for the bed.

Common mistakes

• Leaving windows open all day in a heatwave — Once outside is hotter than inside, it brings heat in. The room should be sealed during the day and flushed at night.
• Taking a cold shower before bed — It causes the body to conserve heat afterwards. Cool rather than cold helps body temperature drop, which is what initiates sleep.
• Running a fan in an empty room to cool it — Fans cool people by helping sweat evaporate. They do not lower air temperature, and the motor adds a little heat.

Questions people ask