Summer is quickly approaching and for so many in the world, the temperatures are about to get super hot. If you are someone who has access to air conditioning or A/C, this won’t be a huge deal. But, if you are someone who doesn’t have any A/C, this means you could become very uncomfortable from the heat very quickly.
If you are trying to sleep in the summer without an A/C, this means you could take longer to fall asleep and find it hard to stay asleep throughout the night. Nothing is worse than waking up in the dead of summer hot and sweaty. This can even affect the amount of sleep you get and how refreshed you are the next day. In order to keep cool even through the hottest months and get enough sleep, we have a few helpful tips to help you get that sleep that you need.
Take a Warm Shower
It might seem counterintuitive, but actually, taking a warm shower about an hour before you go to bed will work to help cool you down. It’s as if the warm shower will provide enough heat, like a shock to the system, and will slowly, naturally start to work to cool yourself off. If you took an ice cold shower before bed, for example, the same effect would work but in reverse. You’d start to get hotter instead of getting cooler. So, in order to utilize a shower to help cool you off at night, try to make it a warm shower. Your blood vessels expand when warm, so in the cooking process, you blood will be moving extra fast to ensure that your body becomes cool and comfortable. This will make it so much easier to fall asleep and stay asleep when your body is actively working to cool you off naturally. You will see that the warmer the shower, the more cool you’ll feel in about two to three hours afterwards. It’s strange how it works this way, but it just does. Try this!
Keep Something Frozen Nearby
Applying something cold to your pressure points, such as on your temples, wrists and even on the back of your neck, is a great way to keep you cool throughout the night. Whether you decide to utilize frozen ice packs or you simply freeze some washcloths that you take out of the freezer before bed, these items will have a cooling effect on your body once placed in the appropriate areas. A frozen water bottle is also a great idea to have nearby, not just to take sips of throughout the night, but to have on hand in order to place it on your forehead or at the back of your neck. Keeping certain spots on your body cold will definitely help cool down your entire body, so having something frozen nearby is a great idea when you are preparing to start sleeping in the heat. You can even keep a frozen water bottle or ice pack in the bed under the sheet with you as long as you cover it in a Ziploc bag or some plastic wrap to prevent your bed from getting wet from condensation.
Eat Smaller Meals
If you are planning on sleeping without an A/C, eating a small dinner is the way to go. The more you eat, the more your body will heat up as it breaks down the food. This is why so many people tend to sweat after eating a large meal, because the body is working in hyperdrive to immediately start to break down all you just ate. Closer to bedtime, like dinnertime, you’re going to want to eat a small dinner this way your body will have plenty of time to break down the food and won’t overwork itself, causing more heat. This is a great way to ensure your body from heating up too much and if you have a small dinner and then maybe a small snack before bed if you get hungry, you should be able to sleep better and not have any issues being too hot. Plus, overeating can make you uncomfortable on its own, much less while incorporating a hot summer night to sleep throughout. Do yourself the favor and skip the second helpings – your body will thank you for it.
Keep Your House Cool During the Day
Being able to keep yourself cool at night without A/C will also determine how cool you are able to keep your house during the day. You may think that opening a window and getting some air inside the house is a good idea, but if it’s over 95 degrees outside, odds are this will just make the inside of your house feel like an oven door opening. In order to keep your house cool during the day, try to keep your windows and blinds closed. Using a floor or ceiling fan in the room can help circulate the air without having to add in hot, humid air from outside. You may not like the feeling of having the windows closed and the curtains drawn, but at night, you’ll understand just how great this technique works once you feel cooler. This is really just to get through the hottest nights without an A/C, so you can open up your windows once things cool down or even later at night when you could get some cooler breezes throughout the house.
Limit Alcohol
No matter the time of day or night, alcohol will heat up your body. Kind of like eating a large meal example, your body has to work hard in order to break down alcohol. Drinking alcohol before bed is always a bad idea because it will make you feel hotter and it will prevent you from getting adequate rest. If you are preparing to sleep throughout a hot summer night, you should definitely skip the alcohol if you are determined on making yourself as cool as possible. This means even drinking during the day, as your body naturally heats up with alcohol consumption at any point of the day. The less alcohol you drink during the day, the less likely it will be that you’ll have the alcohol sweats or will feel flushed from drinking too much alcohol.
Morning Exercise
To keep cool at night, try moving your workout routine to the morning. Kind of like the warm shower example, this type of exertion is kind of like a “get it all done at once” chance. If you workout in the morning, your body will naturally heat up from the exercise and you can use the rest of the day to cook it down completely. All your blood vessels will be constricted, and you will have already turned up your body heat to the highest level earlier in the day. By the time bedtime rolls around, you should feel at a more comfortable temperature and even feel more cool than you would without exercising in the morning. If you exercise at night, your body will need to take a long length of time to cool down completely, this could make you much more stuffy at night then you want. Exercising in the morning instead of at night or even in the late afternoon will help keep your body cool and you’ll be ready for a much more comfortable sleep that night. The earlier you work out, the better you will feel that night.
The Wrap Up
Overall, there are many ways you can help yourself keep cool at night, even without an A/C unit. Keeping fans in your home and keeping the drapes closed during the day are two key factors when it comes to keeping your house cool during the day and night. The more steps you take to keep your home cool during the day, the more likely it is that you will be cooler at night. Always remember to wear loose clothing at bedtime that is light and won’t warm you up or weigh you down too much. Sleep with a sheet instead of a thick comforter or blanket and try to give yourself plenty of time to wind down and rest before you actually expect to fall asleep.
If you follow some of these helpful tips, you are sure to see a difference and be on your way to a more restful sleep regardless of the scorching weather outside. Skipping hot beverages at bedtime, including tea, may also be a good idea if you are someone who is more sensitive to temperature and heat. Drinking cool drinks, like iced herbal tea with honey, is a good way to wind down and keep you hydrated. Always remember to keep drinking water all throughout the day, as well, to prevent dehydration and keep your body well hydrated. If you follow all of these steps, you are sure to be able to not only sleep at night without A/C, but actually sleep really well.
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