Summer is returning this weekend. That’s great news for balmy days in the sunshine, but terrible news for those who struggle to sleep in the heat.
We’ve all been there. Rolling around in sticky sheets, flipping your pillow every four minutes, desperately hoping a breeze is going to find its way through your window.
Every year, on the rare days where the temperature skirts 30 degrees, we all basically develop heatwave insomnia. And it’s even worse if you share a bed.
The extra body heat radiating from your partner can turn a warm night into a boiling inferno. And God help them if they try to touch you.
No amount of pillow-flipping or duvet-turning can counter the additional heat that comes from another human body – but if you don’t want to opt for separate beds (or don’t have an additional sleeping space), there are things you can try.
‘Double the bodies means double the heat,’ says Dr Lindsay Browning, psychologist, neuroscientist and sleep expert at And So To Bed.
Here are Dr Browning’s top tips for better sleep in the heat if you share a bed:
Take a cool shower
‘Right before you both go to bed, reduce your body temperature by having a cool shower,’ says Dr Browning. ‘Your body temperature needs to drop when you go to sleep, giving it a helping hand by cooling off in a cool shower should help you get to sleep faster.
She adds that the shower should be cool or lukewarm.
‘If it is too cold you might wake yourself up, and if too hot you might struggle to cool down in time to sleep,’ she explains.
Ditch your duvet
‘A no-brainer, but two bodies under a duvet is going to create an oven like effect,’ says Dr Browning.
‘However, if you are someone that needs to sleep under the covers at night opt for a straight cotton bedsheet or quilt cotton cover- and if there are two of you, have one each. This will ensure moisture wicks away from each individual and bed-sharers don’t end up sticking to each other.’
We know this is how the monsters get you, but sleeping with your feet outside of the covers can help as well.
‘We lose heat from our head and feet, by covering them you are trapping the heat. Set those toes free and feel cooler as a result,’ Dr Browning adds.
Sleep alone
Sorry lovers, if the heat is really too much you may have to sleep apart.
‘The good news is that heat rises, so the person banished to the sofa for the sweaty evening is likely to have a cooler night’s sleep,’ says Dr Browning.
‘If your sofa is made of a synthetic material, like velvet or a heavy material like leather, make sure you put a cotton sheet over to protect the surface from sweat and to ensure you are as cool as possible.
‘If you both want to sleep downstairs due to it being cooler, take it in turns with or invest in a blow up bed and decide who gets to sleep on that and who gets the sofa.’
Freeze hot water bottles
Dr Browning says a genius hack for hot nights is to prep your bed with frozen hot water bottles.
‘About 10 minutes before you plan to go to bed, or while you brush your teeth and take your cold shower, place the frozen hot water bottles in your bed,’ she says.
‘This will cool your sheets and covers, make sure you remove them from the bed before sleeping as bare skin contact with the hot water bottles while frozen could cause ice burn.’
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