How to Sleep Better During Summer Heat Waves

Summer heat waves can turn bedrooms into torture chambers, especially if you are tired of running your AC constantly or don’t have the money for a high energy bill. Unfortunately, your usual sleep strategies stop working when temperatures refuse to drop below 80 degrees all night. Regular advice about "keeping cool" becomes useless when the air itself feels like breathing soup.

Getting decent sleep during extreme heat requires completely different tactics than normal warm weather. These aren't your typical "use a fan" suggestions - these are emergency measures for when Mother Nature is actively trying to cook you alive.

Your Body Temperature Is the Real Problem

Core body temperature needs to drop about 2-3 degrees for sleep to happen naturally. Heat waves prevent this cooling, leaving you tossing and sweating all night instead of actually resting.

Taking a lukewarm shower before bed helps jumpstart the cooling process. Don't use cold water - the shock makes your body generate heat to compensate. Lukewarm water cools you down without triggering heat production.