There’s nothing quite as stubborn as a hot room at midnight. If you’ve ever tossed the duvet off one minute and pulled it back the next, you already know the mental chaos that comes with trying to sleep in the heat.
Summer nights can feel like endurance events, especially when the air feels thick and movement just generates more warmth. And yet, people do sleep—eventually. The question is: how can you get there faster, with less frustration and more rest?
As with most things, it’s not about one silver bullet. It’s about a strategy. A mix of biology, common sense, and, if you’re lucky, a fan that doesn’t sound like a jet engine.
Here’s how to sleep when it’s too hot—even when your sheets feel like a sauna and the air is still.
1. Chill your pulse points
If you can’t cool the room, cool you. Applying something cold to your pulse points—like wrists, neck, ankles or behind your knees—can signal your body to begin its cooling process. A flannel with cool water from the tap will do in a pinch. For extra effect, chill a gel eye mask and wear it to bed.
2. Take a lukewarm shower, not a cold one
It sounds counterintuitive, but an icy shower before bed can actually fire up your body’s heat-retention instinct. A lukewarm or slightly cool shower brings your core temperature down more gently, which supports the natural drop in temperature that happens as you drift off.
3. Use breathable bedding
Cotton, linen, or moisture-wicking bamboo sheets are your best friend in high heat. Ditch the memory foam pillows and synthetic duvet—these trap heat and hold it hostage. Lighter, breathable materials help you sweat less and cool down faster.
4. Create a DIY cross-breeze
If you have two fans, position one near a window pulling air in and another pushing it out. If you’ve only got one, place it across the room facing you and hang a cold, damp towel in front of it. It mimics the effect of air conditioning and will circulate cool air.
5. Sleep low or solo
Heat rises. If you’re able, sleep on the lowest floor in your home or even set up a floor mattress for the night. Sharing a bed can double the heat output, so if you’re desperate, one of you might need to crash elsewhere to cool down.
6. Freeze your sheets or pyjamas
It’s a short-lived solution, but putting your pillowcase, pyjamas, or even your top sheet in a plastic bag and popping it in the freezer for 15 minutes before bed can give you a cooling head start.
7. Stay hydrated—strategically
Drink cool (not ice-cold) water throughout the day and keep a glass by your bed. But avoid chugging large amounts right before sleep, or you’ll be up sweating and making midnight bathroom trips.
8. Limit electronics in the bedroom
Screens generate heat, even in standby mode. If you’re not using it, unplug it. Your phone, laptop, and charger bricks all radiate warmth that your body doesn’t need nearby.
9. Switch sleeping positions
Try sleeping starfish-style: limbs spread wide to maximise surface area and air exposure. It might not look elegant, but you’ll feel less sticky than if you curl up tightly.
10. Accept it—and relax
Sometimes, fighting the heat makes it worse. If sleep won’t come, get up, read in a dim room, or do some light stretching. You’re more likely to fall asleep if you stop trying to force it.
Hot nights will come and go, but sleepless ones don’t have to be inevitable. By combining a few of these tricks, you can give your body the best possible chance at rest—even when the room feels like a furnace.
Sleep may not come quickly, but with the right approach, it will come. And when it does, you’ll be grateful for every blissful, airless second of it.
