With heatwaves becoming more common around the world, the risk of a good night’s sleep being ruined by the sweltering heat has become an increasingly common experience.
The combination of warmer temperatures during a heatwave and how the skin gets hotter at night when you sleep can lead to sweating, skin sensitivity and general discomfort.
There are a lot of reasons why people get hot during the night, but there are ways to help manage it.
Buying the right luxury pillows made from breathable materials can help, as can using a fan, having cool water at your bedside and using a cooling pad or slightly damp flannel on your forehead.
However, one popular piece of advice, one even cited by the Sleep Foundation, might be causing more harm than good when trying to sleep.
When Common Sense Fails
A common trick that a lot of people try at least once is to put their pillows or pillow cases in the freezer or fridge to help cool them down.
On the face of it, this sounds like common sense; if you cool down your bedding, it will cool you down and help you get to sleep when it is uncomfortably warm outside.
However, despite sounding logical, it actually can make you sleep worse during the night.
The reason for this is that freezing a pillow or wearing damp socks to bed adds moisture to your bedroom environment, which will invariably warm up during the night.
Rather than cool you down, this could cause you to sweat more, making you feel more uncomfortable, restless and tired the next morning, even if it helps cool you down just before you get to sleep.
What Can You Do Instead?
Instead of this, focus on solutions that draw heat and moisture away from your body and keep your room temperature closer to the ideal of 15-20 degrees Celsius.
A fan aimed towards your bed can help cool you and your pillow down, turning the discomfort of warm sweat into something that can help cool you down more.
Using breathable materials for your bedding, especially your pillow cases, will help sweat move away from the skin, reducing the amount that lingers on the skin enough to disrupt sleep.
Keeping hydrated and avoiding particularly big meals before bed can help keep you cool, as the latter can cause your digestive system to work as you are trying to sleep and generate heat.
As with choosing the right materials for your pillows, choose the right level of clothing and the right materials if you wear a nightdress or pyjamas. Moisture wicking is an essential part of sleep, as your skin temperature is warmer and you are more likely to sweat.
Make sure to close your blinds or curtains during the day to stop heat from building up too much and open your window at night to help you sleep.
Finally, if you are struggling to sleep during the night, a lukewarm shower or bath can help your body naturally cool down more effectively. Alternatively, running your wrists underneath a cold tap can create a similar effect.