MetaChat - Top Tip : How to get a good night's sleep in hot weather.

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09 June 2008

Top Tip : How to get a good night's sleep in hot weather. →[More:]

You know when it's really hot and you just can't get to sleep? You toss and turn, nekkid under a light sheet, with a fan blowing on you? Then you finally doze off, only to wake at 4am, covers thrown off, and you're freezing cold where the sweat has chilled on your skin?

Well, this is my Top Tip for getting to sleep in hot, hot weather.

Wear pyjamas. Seriously.

Before you say "but that's just crazy talk" hear me out.

Wear a loose and light set of cotton PJs (or a t-shirt and yoga pants - the key is that they can't be too tight or you'll bake) and sleep on the top of the bed - no covers on you at all.

If you have a fan on, make sure it's not blowing directly onto you, but is instead blowing the air about a foot above you, and that it oscillates - that way you won't wake up with frozen shoulder.

The PJs have the effect of regulating your body temperature so your skin doesn't get too cold, and once you fall asleep, you'll sleep much better than if you're naked but under a sheet (which you'll throw off in your sleep anyway).

I don't know if there's any scientific basis to this, but it's always worked for me, on those rare times we actually get weather hot enough to disturb sleep in this country. (75F today, lovely.)

post by: essexjan at: 11:39 | 14 comments

We've moved to the basement bedroom. It's cooler and if we get hit with a tornado, safer.

posted by arse_hat 09 June | 12:29

Feet are the retractable carbon rods of night-time cooling. As long as they're stuck out from the bottom of my duvet, I find I can sleep in any temperature.

posted by seanyboy 09 June | 12:43

I stick my feet out from the bottom of the covers, too. I can't sleep without the weight of a sheet, preferably a duvet. It keeps me cool in all but the hottest weather.

posted by kiripin 09 June | 13:36

Same here with needing a sheet (never figured out what a duvet was) but it has to be untucked so that my giant feet stick out.

posted by octothorpe 09 June | 13:55

Agreed on the duvet thing. It doesn't matter if it's one knee that's under it, there's gotta be a duvet.

posted by Quentin 09 June | 15:28

We have a bunch of cold packs in the freezer: I put one under my neck the other night when I went to bed and passed out within 5 delicious minutes.

I'm also in the "feet must be free" camp.

posted by eamondaly 09 June | 15:29

OK, I'm a little confused. Is a duvet more like a quilt or a sleeping bag? From the wikipedia article:

Duvets reduce the complexity of making a bed, as it is a single covering instead of the combination of sheets, blankets, and quilts or other bed covers, which is traditional in many parts of the world. The cover is called a "duvet cover" or a "quilt cover".

How does that work? What if you just want a light sheet? Can you just use part of the duvet? What if, as my wife and I do, you need different numbers of layers on either side of the bed. My wife needs more blankets than I do. Can any Europeans explain?

posted by octothorpe 09 June | 15:53

A duvet is a comforter isn't it? ::confused::

posted by gaspode 09 June | 16:05

A duvet is a comforter in the US, I think. If you just want a light sheet you can use just, well, a sheet, or the duvet cover, which is a rectangular cotton bag with snaps on one end that the duvet fits into.

If one of you wanted a lighter duvet than the other, then you could always have two single duvets, each of different togs. You couldn't have two single duvets in the same cover though.

posted by essexjan 09 June | 16:07

A duvet isn't a comforter, exactly- it's a comforter cover (it appears Wikipedia notes that in the US, the term "duvet" and "duvet cover" are often used to mean the same thing). It's made of sheet material and shaped like a sleeping bag- you stuff the comforter inside it.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 09 June | 16:16

In Canada at least, a duvet is down-filled, whereas a comforter is thinner and filled with some sort of batting material (I think usually polyster, though sometimes wool). The duvet cover goes over the duvet. I prefer a duvet myself, as it keeps me at pretty much the right temperature, except in summer heat. Then I'll just use the cover.

posted by elizard 09 June | 16:22

(PS ej, that's just crazy talk ;)

posted by elizard 09 June | 16:24

I always thought a duvet was a type of comforter with a removable cover, so it could serve as both a sheet and a comforter. At least, that's the impression that I get from reading British fiction and visiting EU countries. Maybe I'm confusing a "duvet" and a "duvet cover".

I loved sleeping on the slat beds in Sweden, with a big fluffy duvet that hadn't been smooshed by a washing machine. Duvets seem to have a magical quality - they're cool when it's warm out and warm when it's cool out.

posted by muddgirl 09 June | 16:47

Oh you silly foreigners... 'duvet' is just another word for a doona.

posted by pompomtom 09 June | 23:55

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