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The UK is hotting up and – in true British fashion – it’s all anyone can talk about. While bright sunshine is a welcome change to our usual grey skies, the accompanying heat isn’t quite so welcome when it comes to tucking ourselves into bed each evening. With very few of us prepared for such high temperatures, sleep becomes elusive as we toss and turn in hot and stuffy bedrooms.
Desperate for a good nights sleep? Here are the 6 changes you can make to help you sleep better during a heatwave.
Don’t work out too close to your bedtime
Although you may think exercise will help you sleep better by getting rid of any unexpended energy, it actually has the opposite effect. It will increase your heart rate, making you feel more alert, while also raising your body’s core body temperature, causing you to feel even hotter as you head to sleep. Instead, keep exercise to the morning during the heatwave.
Invest in breathable bedding
During a heatwave, nothing keeps you awake, quite like thick, hot bedding in synthetic materials. For something more airy and breathable, look for bedding made from natural fibres like linen. One reason for this comes down to something called thermal conductivity – a process that explains why certain fabrics, or other materials, are able to conduct heat better than others.
‘On a hot day, linen is the thing that’s going to keep you cool,’ explains Genevieve Rosen Biller, co-founder of interiors brand Bed Threads. ‘It’s all thanks to the moisture wicking in linen and the way the fibres have been woven together to promote air flow around the body.’
Find a duvet with a lower tog rating
If you like sleeping under a duvet, but are finding your current one is too hot, try swapping a duvet with a lower tog rating. The higher the rating the better the duvet is at locking in heat, and therefore the warmer it feels. For summer, a tog rating of between 1 and 4.5 will keep you feeling cool.
Switch to cooling pyjamas
As with your bedding, pyjamas made from natural fibres are essential when it comes to keeping cool overnight. Super soft and lightweight, cotton is a great option for this. Look for airy dresses and shorts over anything too tight or restrictive.
‘When the heat is rising, I always turn to one of our buttery soft cotton voile nighties,’ says If Only If founder Emily Campbell. ‘Styles like Isabel and Clover use, on average, about 4-5m – it’s so breathable and the perfect thing to sleep in with the bed covers thrown off.’
Upgrade your fan
It goes without saying that a fan is a bedroom essential during a heatwave. However, not all fans are created equal, so it’s important to shop around before committing.
‘When buying a fan, it’s important to think about how effectively it cools you, rather than the room itself,’ says Alex Hudson, Environmental Care Engineer at Dyson. ‘Unlike air conditioning, fans don’t lower the ambient temperature, instead, they create airflow that helps your body feel cooler. Because of this, airflow performance is key.’ Alex recommends looking for a fan that delivers powerful, consistent projection rather than uneven or ‘choppy’ air. Features like oscillation can also help direct airflow across different parts of the room, ensuring an overall cooler feel.
Heat and noise can both interfere with sleep quality, so a fan designed to minimise sound can make a noticeable difference. ‘Dyson fans are particularly well suited to overnight use, helping you stay cool, comfortable, and undisturbed, as they feature a night mode which dims the display screen and lowers the fan speed to a quieter setting.’
Add glycine to your supplement rotation
Updating your supplement rotation can also help improve your sleep during a heatwave. A hero ingredient to look out for is glycine. ‘It is an amino acid that can cross the blood-brain barrier and can modulate the central nervous system,’ explains Dr Adam Collins, Head of Nutrition at Form. ‘Glycine can enhance peripheral vasodilation, increasing blood flow to the surface to help dissipate heat and reduce core temperature. Core body temperature needs to drop for us to fall and stay asleep.’
