How Can I Sleep Better During A Heatwave?

In the midst of all of the record-breaking heatwaves the world is seeing at the moment, people’s sleep can be one of the first things to suffer. Not only is that straight up unenjoyable when it’s happening, but a lack of sleep can make us feel pretty awful in the days after too. So how can we beat the heat when we want to sleep?

Don’t nap

As tempting as it is when it feels like holiday weather, taking a nap when there’s a heatwave isn’t such a great idea if you want to sleep later on. While short naps can make us feel a bit better, if the naps stray into full on deep sleep territory, or you’re simply not a napper under normal circumstances, it can a) make you feel super groggy , which isn’t fun in the heat, and b) make it even more difficult to sleep at night .

It’s easier said than done, of course, as heat can make us feel lethargic; that’s because of the extra energy that the body uses up to try and keep your core temperature normal. The visible sign of this is sweating more (which can also happen during a heatwave nap) but underlying this is an energy-expensive increase in heart and metabolic rate.

Keeping the bedroom fresh

The bedroom might otherwise be a place for spicing things up, but if you want a chance of a decent night’s sleep during a heatwave, one of the best things to do is try and keep things cool in there.

Air conditioning might seem like the obvious way to do this, but for one, not everyone has it (fellow Brits will be all too familiar with this) and second, AC can be pretty expensive to run. Thankfully, there’s another simpler – and free – option.

Keep your curtains closed during the day – this keeps the sunlight out, stopping it from beaming in and warming up the room. Similarly, it can help to keep windows closed; the air outside is likely to be hotter than that inside, so keeping them shut stops the hot air from moving in.

In places where the nights tend to be cooler than the days, as long as it’s safe to do so, opening up the windows for a bit later at night and early in the morning can let hotter air out, and bring some much-needed coolness.

This helps us sleep better because lowering its temperature is part of the way that the body prepares to settle down for the night. If the air around is too hot, then it’s a lot harder for the body to cool down, making it difficult to get to sleep.

Cool threads

Those cozy teddy fleece bed sheets your grandma got you for Christmas are an absolute no-go in the hot weather. Instead, it’s recommended to switch to bedding made out of more breathable, natural fibers like cotton and linen to stay cool. Bunging them in the freezer wrapped up in a plastic bag can also help.

Though it might be tempting to ditch everything when you’re tossing and turning, the body can eventually cool down once you’re asleep – so don’t go throwing away your sheets in a heat-fueled rage, you might be cold later on.

No freezing showers

This might go against your every instinct when it’s hot and sticky, but taking a freezing cold shower before bed might actually end up making you even warmer . That’s because it can cause blood vessels to tighten up – known as vasoconstriction, this is a response from the body that conserves heat, which is probably the last thing you want to do.

Instead, showering in cool-to-tepid water can help trigger the lowering of body temperature required to get sleepy.