How to sleep cooler as the nights start to warm up

Spring is here, the evenings are stretching out, and before long the nights will be warm again. If you are someone who runs hot in bed, you will know that warm nights are the enemy of a good sleep. The good news is that sleeping cooler is mostly about a few simple choices: your room, your bedding, and the materials you sleep in and under.

Here is where to start before summer arrives.

Cool the room first

The simplest lever is the room itself. If you have air conditioning, set it a little cooler before bed. Around 18 degrees is often cited as a comfortable sleeping temperature, though the right number is whatever feels right to you. No air con? Fans do a lot of work. Try two if you can, one facing out a window to push warm air out, and one facing in to move cool air around. You can boost the incoming fan by setting a frozen bottle of water in front of it. During the day, keep the curtains drawn and windows shut to stop the room heating up in the first place.

Sleep in and on breathable materials

What you sleep in and on has a big effect on how warm you get. Breathable fabrics let the moisture your body gives off escape, instead of trapping it against you. Naturally breathable choices include bamboo, cotton, linen and merino. Synthetics like polyester tend to trap heat, so warmth builds up under the covers with nowhere to go, and you wake up too warm.

Our bamboo bedding and weighted blanket covers are made from bamboo lyocell, which feels cool to the touch, is very breathable, and is moisture-wicking, so if you do get warm, it moves moisture to the surface to dry rather than sitting damp against you. It is also OEKO-TEX certified, which means the fabric has been tested for harmful substances.

Do not forget the mattress

Your mattress can hold heat too. Memory foam is known for it, because its dense, contouring structure traps warmth rather than letting air move through. If you are a hot sleeper shopping for a mattress, more breathable constructions will help you stay cooler through the night.

Yes, you can use a weighted blanket in summer

This sounds backwards if you overheat, but it depends entirely on how the blanket is made. We are used to pairing weight with warmth, but they do not have to go together. A Groundd weighted blanket gets its weight from glass beads, which do not trap or hold body heat, under a breathable cotton and bamboo lyocell cover. So you get the comforting, grounded feeling of a heavy blanket with a fraction of the warmth. Plenty of people who thought they would have to pack theirs away for summer end up using it year round.

When you wake up warm

If you do wake up too hot in the middle of the night, cool down fast: turn on a fan, drop the room temperature, sip some cool water, peel off a layer, and take a few slow breaths to help yourself settle back down.

Get the room, the bedding and the materials right, and warm nights stop being the thing that wakes you at 2am. Sort it now, and you will be glad you did when summer properly arrives.