Sleeping when its hot

[mwaceu]

I live in the UK and I struggle to sleep during the hot period. What I can I do to make my time at night a much better experience?

 

I know I can use AC, Fans, sleep naked blah blah blah, and I have tried all of these.

 

I want to take this further than the obvious.

 

Can I condition my body to get "used" to the heat e.g. If I wear thick clothing during the day so it deosn't feel hot at night or gradually lower the temperature of my shower over a period of time?

 

What sort of materials should I keep in the bedroom e.g. reflective materials to direct heat away of matt materials to absord the heat?

 

Do I keep the window/door open e.g Window open to let the heat out or shut to stop the heat from getting in?

 

Would keep water or having a plant in the room make a differnece?

 

Anything else?

[CaptainPanic]

Lots of questions! I'll try to answer a few.

 

Getting to sleep, slowing your metabolism

Personally, I try to calm myself down before sleeping, so that I fall asleep quickly. Once I am asleep, my metabolism drops and I am not so warm anymore. There is quite a large difference in your heat production between when you're sleeping and when you're awake. So, the "condition" you're looking for is actually just sleep. Do you have trouble falling asleep, or do you also sleep too light (and keep waking up)? In my opinion, these are two different things.

 

Anyway, my preferred method is nothing fancy... I just read a book, preferably a boring one (I keep the entertaining ones for when I don't need to sleep). Books make me far more sleepy and calm than any computer game, movie or tv show can ever do.

Materials in the bedroom

I guess that the most heat transfer is by convection/diffusion, not radiation, so special materials will do very little.

 

Adapting to heat

Not quite related: I once saw a documentary about some Western Europeans who visited a desert salt mine (I think the documentary was called "The hottest place on earth" - I'm sure Google can find it for you). In that documentary, the Westerners worked in this salt mine, in really hot weather, and overheated in a matter of minutes. Then, they stayed in the area for a while, and tried again after getting used to it, a bit later. And they fared much better the second time. Their bodies had adapted to the heat in a matter of weeks.

 

But I am not sure you want to adapt yourself in such a way... the people in the documentary had a doctor who told them when enough was enough. You probably don't have medical supervision. So, don't overheat yourself!

[mwaceu]

Thanks for the response. This is much more helpful than any other forums.

 

The problem I have is getting to sleep. Once I am asleep then I usually sleep through.

 

I do tend to play videos game before bed I can feel the difference between when I do and when I don't. I usually counter act this by playing on my phone which I suppose it just as bad. I will make more of an effort to "chill out" before sleeping.

 

The reason why I considered adapting my body is because I find, if I have a shower before bed and do not dry myself completely, I can sleep better. Im not sure if this is actual science, coincidence or imagination. If its science then I could alter conditions in my favour.

 

The other thing that make wonder about conditioning my body, is that my partner always feels cold and I always feel warm. I assume that this is because over time from our younger years, she preferred the warmer environments and I preferred a cooler ones. If this is the case then surely this can be reversed. I don't have medical supervision but I am not talking about extreme changes, just subtle changes over time.

[CaptainPanic]

The reason why I considered adapting my body is because I find, if I have a shower before bed and do not dry myself completely, I can sleep better. Im not sure if this is actual science, coincidence or imagination. If its science then I could alter conditions in my favour.

 

Oh, yes, that's science alright

The water will evaporate, and that costs energy (which you provide in the form of heat). So, when you evaporate water, you're cooling down. That water will function exactly like sweat does in cooling you down. Sweat also evaporates, and thereby cools you down. If you are not completely dry after a shower, you basically leave some "artificial" sweat (water) on you. And incidentally, it smells better than regular sweat too. Normal water and sweat will work equally well in cooling you down.

 

It's my opinion (this bit is not really science, or at least I am not so sure) that if you shower too cold, your body will heat itself up. Your heartbeat will go up, and you are not so calm anymore. So, if you go to sleep in that state, you generate so much heat that you will feel warm quite soon again, despite the cold shower.

 

The other thing that make wonder about conditioning my body, is that my partner always feels cold and I always feel warm. I assume that this is because over time from our younger years, she preferred the warmer environments and I preferred a cooler ones. If this is the case then surely this can be reversed. I don't have medical supervision but I am not talking about extreme changes, just subtle changes over time.

I'm no biology expert, but I believe I heard that men have a higher metabolism (we burn more fuel, create more heat) than women. But hopefully someone with more knowledge about that will reply here too.

[mwaceu]

Ok. I think I have a better understanding now than I did. Correct me if I am wrong...

 

The more active I am before sleep, the hotter I will be. To counter act this, cut down on activity before sleep. Seems obvious now I have thought about it.

 

Going to sleep wet will cool my body down. My GF isn't happy with this but now I can say its "Medicinal"

 

Having cold showers, or keeping myself cool, has the reverse effect. My body will need to work harder to heat up my body up back to normal hence generating more heat. So I can assume that if I keep my body 'hot' before sleep, my bodies cooling mechanism will kick in and therefore make me feel cooler.

 

Long term, if I want to condition my body to get used to the heat then in theory it is possible for the body to adapt to the higher temperature but as United Kingdom does not have extreme weather and is inconsistent as best, plus any adverse medical effects that may occur, this isn't really a solution to my problem.

[Athena]

I like the suggestions for relaxing. Personally I use audio tapes, informational, meditation, gentle music, and usually am asleep before the end of a tape. Tapes of college lectures work good for me.

 

Being too warm can prevent a person from falling asleep. On really hot nights, I cover myself with a damp towel. I suppose sitting in a cool tub would also reduce the body temperature, and isn't a hot day a good excuse to eat ice cream?

 

I like the suggestions for relaxing. Personally I use audio tapes, informational, meditation, gentle music, and usually am asleep before the end of a tape. Tapes of college lectures work good for me.

 

Being too warm can prevent a person from falling asleep. On really hot nights, I cover myself with a damp towel. I suppose sitting in a cool tub would also reduce the body temperature, and isn't a hot day a good excuse to eat ice cream?

 

In answer to Captain's question is mixed. Cold water can wake us up, but if it is cold enough and we stay in it long enough, it can reduce our temperature too much. http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/coastal_communities/hypothermia The recommendation for reducing a fever is slightly warm water, or what I would call cool water.

[Joatmon]

Tapes of college lectures work good for me.

 

Don't take this seriously, I just couldn't resist it, but:-

This probably works well. When I was a lecturer I sometimes found it difficult to keep students awake on a warm day with real live lectures!

[swansont]

Having cold showers, or keeping myself cool, has the reverse effect. My body will need to work harder to heat up my body up back to normal hence generating more heat. So I can assume that if I keep my body 'hot' before sleep, my bodies cooling mechanism will kick in and therefore make me feel cooler.

 

Your cooling mechanism is perspiration, which kicks in if the normal radiation/convection/conduction are't enough, which is he same effect as not drying off after a shower, except that your body is warmer if you are perspiring. When you lie down, you're immediately covering ~half of your area, which inhibits the ability to radiate, so going to bed warm isn't going to make anything extra kick in. You'll conduct, but that just heats up the bed. If you're sleeping next to another warm body, that's another problem in terms of keeping cool. The average human generates ~100W.

 

I don't think the body does anything special to warm up if it's a little cool — it just happens in due course. Unless you're so cold that you start to shiver — that's a mechanism to get you to do mechanical work (i.e. exercise) and generate the waste heat that comes with it.

[Klaynos]

If I play computer games within a couple hours of when I go to bed I find sleeping much much more difficult, I think it's a brain activity thing, I think to much with gaming... Currently I tend to go to sleep listening to something, it doesn't really matter what, I find things like QI or just a minute work well, although last night I just ended up listening to all of just a minute and laughing at it, which isn't the best way of getting to sleep.

 

For the heat something that I find works is having my windows open (it's nearly always colder outside at night than inside) and my curtain positioned in such a way that the draft blows over my pillow. This cools me and my pillow.

[Phi for All]

It's my opinion (this bit is not really science, or at least I am not so sure) that if you shower too cold, your body will heat itself up. Your heartbeat will go up, and you are not so calm anymore. So, if you go to sleep in that state, you generate so much heat that you will feel warm quite soon again, despite the cold shower.

I think there is some scientific support for this, at least in terms of ambient temperature. If you take a cold shower, when you get out your skin temperature will be lower than the ambient temperature and your skin will feel hotter. If you take a hot shower, after you get out everything will feel colder. I think a hot shower is more relaxing to your muscles as well, increasing circulation by enlarging blood vessels just under the skin.

 

Off topic, but if you shower just before bed, don't use any soap or shampoo on your hair. This strips oils that protect the hair from excessive damage as your head rubs against the pillow cover or bed sheet.

 

 

I remember reading where looking at bright screens like computers, TVs, video games and such can inhibit efforts at falling asleep. I recommend reading also, nothing too interesting or thought provoking. White noise helps as well, like radio static.

[mwaceu]

Thanks everyone. This has given me something to think (not before bed though). I think tonight is going to be a hot one so I can try out a few things