In order to stay happy and healthy, every person needs a good night’s sleep. Sadly, when the weather is uncomfortably hot at night, it’s not always easy to relax and get the sleep that you need. But, this doesn’t have to be the case, and you can make your sleeping experience better even if the weather is very hot. In this article, we will look at some ways that you can use your thermostat, humidifiers, dehumidifiers, and fans to get a refreshing night’s sleep.

The Importance of Experimentation

The following tips all work to make your sleeping more comfortable during the hotter summer months. But, it’s important to realize that everyone lives in a different home, they often have different cooling equipment, and there may be other local factors that affect their home cooling. So, one or all of these techniques may work for you, and some may work better than others. To achieve the ideal cooling solution to meet your sleeping needs, you may need to experiment a little. Once you know what works, you can set up a nighttime routine that you can use every night to get the best possible sleep.

Promoting Natural Cooling

Our bodies are actually designed to help us sleep soundly by lowering our temperature naturally. As we begin to feel tired and ready for sleep, our temperature will drop to make us more relaxed and prepared to rest. So, if your bedroom is also cool before you go to sleep, you will receive increased benefits from this natural body cooling process.

The National Sleep Foundation has conducted studies to find the best bedroom temperature for sleeping. For optimal sleep, the bedroom temperature should be between 60-67ºF. Many people have slightly different ideal temperatures in this range, and men often feel cooler than women. It may take a little tweaking to find the best temperature for a couple sharing a bedroom or a blanket could be used if it’s too cold for one of the sleepers.

Maintaining a bedroom temperature of 60-67ºF is simple during the winter months, and this will save money on your home heating bills. But, reaching and maintaining this temperature in summer using your air conditioning system will be expensive. People seeking a cooler night for summer sleeping may want to try using fans rather than their HVAC systems.

Zone Controlled Air Conditioning

A possible alternative may be to use a zone controllable air conditioning system. This will allow the homeowner to set up specific zones for cooling at certain times of the day. When you’re sleeping, you can set a lower temperature in your occupied bedrooms and ignore the rest of the home if it’s not being used. This will allow you to get a very cool and comfortable night’s sleep compared to using a traditional AC system. Using a timer or smart thermostat will wake up the home and restore cooling to the rest of the home, so it’s comfortable when you wake.

Consider the Humidity Levels

When people feel uncomfortable at night, the temperature may not be the only deciding factor. The humidity level in any room can drastically alter how a person feels, and this is especially noticeable at night when they are trying to sleep.

If the humidity is too high in a bedroom, the air can feel thicker and muggy, and this can make it hard to breathe easily and relax into a deeper sleep. A bedroom that’s too humid will be more attractive to insects that can distract you from sleeping. Finally, a humid room will promote the growth of mold and mildew, mold spores can be breathed in, and this will irritate your respiratory system. As a result, you may feel ill and have trouble sleeping because you cannot breathe freely.

At the opposite end of the scale is a bedroom that’s too dry with next to no humidity present. A bedroom like this can feel to dry to catch your breath for relaxed sleeping. During the night, you may be forced to rise and get a glass of water because your throat is dry and sore. During the night, your eyes, throat, and nasal passages may feel scratchy and cracked, and this is not a great recipe for a good night’s sleep.

If you want to get a good night’s sleep, it’s important to get the humidity right. A digital hygrometer is inexpensive, and you can find them in many good hardware stores. This device will allow you to check the humidity in your bedroom and other rooms in your home. For a great night’s sleep look for a humidity level in the 40-50% range, and you will feel far more relaxed. If your figure is way above the 50% range, you may want to invest in a dehumidifier to make the air less humid. If your bedroom is below 40%, a humidifier can give you that extra air moisture that you need to be comfortable.

Create a Breeze

If the heat isn’t too bad, you can create a nighttime breeze by opening a bedroom window. But, if the temperature is oppressive or you’re concerned about opening window for security reasons you will need to use a fan.

A ceiling fan downdraft can create a wonderful cooling effect all night long and running a fan isn’t too cost prohibitive. If you’re also running your HVAC system to keep a room cool, you can use a fan at the same time and shave a few degrees off the temperature to save money on your energy bills. A ceiling or standing fan will distribute the treated air throughout the bedroom and make it feel cooler and you will use less energy.

Another benefit to using a fan in your bedroom is that it has an ambient noise that many people find restful. The fan will almost act like a white noise generator or noise canceling headphones to cancel out other sounds. A fan running all night will insulate you from other louder noises from outside that could wake you up and disturb your night’s sleep.