How to sleep in the heat

It can be difficult to sleep a good night when the weather is hot.

Here are some simple tips that could help.

Hot weather can make us feel a little lethargic during the day. Indeed, we use more energy to regulate our internal temperature.

But if your sleep is disturbed at night, try to avoid nap during the day. When it is hot, drowsiness can be precious – save it to bed.

Hot weather can encourage you to change your habits. Don’t do it. This can disrupt sleep.

Try continuing to bed at bedtime and usual routines. Do the things you do normally before going to bed.

Take measures to make sure your room is as cool as possible at night.

During the day, draw the curtains or blinds to prevent the sun. Be sure to close the windows on the sunny side of your home, to keep the air hot.

Open all the windows before bed, to get a breeze.

Reduce your bedding but keep the blankets at hand. The slim cotton sheets will absorb sweat.

As hot as it is in your room, your body temperature will fall overnight. This is why we sometimes wake up in the cold.

The very use of a small fan can be reasonable in hot weather, especially when it is wet.

It encourages the evaporation of perspiration and facilitates the regulation of your internal temperature.

If you don’t have a fan, try to fill your bottle with hot freezing liquid water.

Alternatively, fresh socks in the refrigerator and put them. The cooling of your feet lowers the overall temperature of your skin and your body.

Drink enough water throughout the day but avoid drinking very large quantities before bedtime.

You probably don’t want to wake up thirsty – but you don’t want to make an additional trip to the toilet either.

Pay attention to soft drinks. Many contain large amounts of caffeine, which stimulates the central nervous system and makes us feel more awake.

Also avoid drinking too much alcohol. Many people drink more when the weather is hot.

Alcohol could help us fall asleep, but it promotes awakening early in the morning and a highest quality of sleep overall.

• Dehydration: Drink enough water to make sure you replace this lost with urination, perspiration and breathing

• Overheated: This can be a particular problem for those who have heart or breathing problems. Symptoms include tingling skin, headache and nausea

• Exhaustion: This is when you start to lose water or salt from your body. Feeling light, weak or having muscle cramps are just some of the symptoms

• Heat stroke: Once a body temperature reaches 40 ° C or more, the heat stroke can settle.

What do the heat waves do?

If you have trouble sleeping, get up and do something calming. Try to read, write or even fold your washing.

Just make sure you don’t play on your phone or a video game – blue light wakes us up and the activity is stimulating.

Go back to bed when you feel sleepy.

Children are often fairly robust sleepers – but they can be very sensitive to changes in the “mood” of the family and the routine.

Make sure that bedtime and bathing hours do not leave the window simply because it is hot.

As part of the bedtime routine, lukewarm baths are recommended by the UK NHS website. Make sure they are not too cold because it will stimulate traffic (how to keep your body warm).

A baby cannot let you know if it is too hot or too cold, so it is important to monitor your temperature. They generally sleep better when the ambient temperature is maintained between 16 ° C and 20C.

You can install a thermometer where the baby sleeps.

Most of us need about seven to eight hours of good quality sleep, external every night to function properly.

But remember that most people can work well after a night or two disturbed sleep.

Although you can yawn a little more frequently than usual, everything will probably be fine.

These advice was based on suggestions by Professor Kevin Morgan, former director of the Clinical Sleep Research Unit at the University of Lughborough, and Lisa Artis, of the Sleep Council. This article was published for the first time in July 2019.