Cheap ways to keep cool at night in the Summer
Ahhh, the great British summer. The weather forecast might be glorious, but it’s also horribly stuffy at night. These are my favourite free and affordable tips to keep cool and get a better night’s sleep.
British homes have traditionally been designed to keep us warm in winter. Unfortunately most are absolutely not built to deal with summer heat, so we need to find extra ways to deal with higher temperatures ourselves.
We get much better quality sleep if we’re in a room that’s slightly cooler at night, as the temperature drop helps the human body to rest more deeply. For most of us the ideal is around 16 to 20 degrees Celsius, usually 18 degrees, depending on personal preference.
Obviously it’s difficult to get that sort of restful temperature at night during a heatwave, so a number of interventions are necessary to get some quality slumber time.
Let’s start with the free ones, then move on to a few smart purchases that’re worth every penny.
Free ways to keep cool in a heatwave
Some of these zero-cost tips may seem counterintuitive, but do give them a try. Many originate in much hotter countries that could teach us a thing or two about beating the heat.
Shut windows & curtains during the day
While we’ve historically been told to open a window to ‘let the fresh air in’, this can actually make it worse when the temperatures rise to uncomfortable levels. That’s because you’re filling the home with hot air, and the place has probably been built to retain heat.
The important thing here is to prevent the hot air getting into your home during the day. Shut your windows in the morning. Sunlight also passes through the window panes to heat the room, so close those curtains and blinds. If you’re lucky enough to have shutters outside, close them too.
If you already own detatchable reflective thermal linings on your curtains for winter, take them down and turn them around so they’re facing outwards instead of inwards. This helps to reflect the light and heat back out.
Open windows again at night
As long as it’s not a security risk, get those windows open again at night as soon as the temperatures drop to more comfortable levels. If in doubt, check an outdoor thermometer or a weather app to make sure the air is cool enough.
It’s especially good if you can create a direct through-flow of air from the front to the back of where you live, as this creates the most effective breeze.
That might mean tucking the corner of a curtain back (use clothes pegs if you’re desperate), or raising the bottom of a blind, remembering any possible privacy issues.
Bedtime routine – cool your body
Take plenty of time to cool your own body down before going to bed. If water costs aren’t an issue, have a cool or cold shower a few minutes before you retire for the evening.
If you aren’t taking a cool shower, at least try to wash your face well in cool water, and run the insides of your wrists under the cold tap to help with body temperature. A cold flannel on the back of your neck can help too.
Hydrate. Keep a glass or bottle of water on your bedside table, maybe with some ice cubes in it for extra chill. Ideally, avoid alcohol which can dilate blood vessels in your skin and make you feel overheated.
If you have a reusable water mister bottle, use it to spritz your face and upper body. No need to buy a pricey single-use can of spring water! Give yourself a misting before lying down in a breeze or under a fan to get the biggest benefit (but never spray the water through the fan itself or get the electrics wet).
Free ideas for cooler bedding
Sleep under your lightest sheets. If you usually have a duvet, you can take the duvet out and just sleep under the duvet cover as long as the fabric isn’t too heavy.
Remember that heat rises. On desperately warm nights, consider sleeping on the floor instead of the bed, or sleeping downstairs if you usually sleep upstairs.
Make the most of your freezer
Freezers tend to run more efficiently when they’re nearly full. That’s a good excuse to make some more ice, isn’t it?
We’ve been filling our ice cube trays once or twice a day, then emptying the frozen cubes into sturdy reusable freezer bags to make more room for the next lot. You don’t need to buy bags of ice from the supermarket, and there’s the plastic waste to think of too.
Already own a hot water bottle? Fill it a third full of water and freeze it, then put it in your bed half an hour before bedtime for refreshing coolness. If you want to put it against yourself, wrap it in a clean tea towel or pillowcase so it isn’t directly touching your skin.
[Extremes of temperature might hasten the end of the bottle’s life, but the silicone ones are more resistant to this than the more perishable rubbery ones.]
Grab those reusable ice packs from cool boxes and lunch bags, freeze them up, then wrap them in a clean tea towel and pop them under your pillow. If you’re really desperate, an unopened bag of frozen peas or sweetcorn will do, but I’d keep that for emergencies in case of food waste.
If there’s room in your freezer, you could even chill down bedsheets, pillowcases or your lightest pyjamas.
Affordable ways to sleep better in hot weather
Blackout blinds are easy to fit, and very cost effective. Less sun streaming in at early hours can help light sleepers anyway, plus it cuts the overheating effect during the day.
There are multiple affordable designs at Dunelm, some fun and colourful, others nicely plain and discreet for fitting behind your usual curtains.
Insulated drinking water bottles and flasks are the perfect way to keep bedside drinks chilled for longer. Take care of them and they’ll last for many years. Robert Dyas’ picnic section (prices from £5.99) is a good place to start looking – they have multiple designs and sizes, so there’s something to suit everyone’s decor and tastes.
Cool packs are multi-use and well worth buying. Pick up a few reusable ones – I especially like the sturdy Thermos ice pack range – and stick them in the freezer.
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You don’t have to be perimenopausal to love the handy blue Boots Menopause & Me Reusable Cooling Compress, above, a very reasonable £2.29, which stays flexible when frozen. Apply to forehead, neck or chest for some refreshing cold therapy.
PGs TIP: Outside of summer and hot flushes it’s useful for headaches, fevers, and sore knees and ankles. And hangovers, but you didn’t hear that from me.
Summer types of bedlinen are always worth investing in, especially natural fibres such as cool cottons and linens. The Summer Bedding range at Marks & Spencer is particularly good, and has a lovely range of colours to choose from.
Cool bedding helps too. For example, I own a pure cotton one-tog summer duvet which has made an absolutely huge difference to sleeping on hot, muggy nights. They’re £20 – £32 depending on size at Dunelm (the store’s entire ‘cool sleep’ section is well worth a look, prices from £10).
There are some other pretty decent cooling products that absorb heat without needing to be chilled themselves. For example, the Restore by Silentnight Cooling Gel Pillow Pad, £12.00 in offer, can be put on top of or inside your pillowcase for a better night’s sleep.
It’s cool to join the fan club
Electric fans make a massive difference to the feel of a room and only cost a few pence to run all night; many newer models are both fuel efficient and whisper quiet. Use them to move warmer air out, or to get a breeze directly onto your body.
Decent fans tend to be quite expensive, so it’s best to look at them as an investment purchase. However, there are lots of mid-priced versions that perform as well as the higher priced ones.
The Levoit 20db Silent Fan (above) is a smart tower fan that’s been designed for bedrooms, with ultra quiet functioning and efficient power usage. Features: a 90° oscillating bladeless fan, remote control, 12 speeds, four modes including sleep mode, and a 12 hour timer. Currently on offer for £89.99 at Amazon.
You have plenty of other options, including tall pedestal fans, desk fans, space-saving tower fans and powerful floor fans. Robert Dyas, John Lewis and B and Q are good places to start looking.
PGs TIPS: Having two fans on the go is useful if you want to create a stronger a through draft, depending upon the size and shape of the room. You can also set your fan up to blow air over a bowl of ice to get an even cooler breeze, but you must be 100% sure that water won’t be able to drip onto anything electrical.
You might also like a compact fan to put on your bedside table and direct the airflow right onto yourself. They make a welcome difference even if they aren’t too powerful – especially useful if you run hot and share a bed with someone who feels the cold more.
The VonHaus mini handheld fan 3 in 1 shown above can be handheld, put on its upright stand that also holds a smartphone, or worn on the lanyard. It’s fairly quiet and the charge lasts for a long time. Find it for £12.50 or so at Amazon.
I have one of these, and also take it into the garden on hotter days. It comes with its own USB cable, but I use my own extra-long USB cable so it stays fully charged while in use on the bedside table at night – ready to go for daytime use too. The LED showing the speed is a little bright for nighttime, but that’s easily fixed with a sticker or piece of gaffer tape.
A little more to spend? You may also like the super-cute John Lewis ANYDAY foldable hand or desk fan, £12.00, available in five colours, or the slightly more powerful VersionTech Mini Handheld Fan, £22.99 to £25.99 depending on which colour you choose. Both have similar functions.
PGs TIP: You probably don’t want to hear me saying this right now, but you tend to find amazing out of season deals on all kinds of fans during winter months, when you have the pick of the most efficient models. Something to consider if you like to plan ahead.
Investment prices: Air conditioners
A well made portable air conditioner is also an option if the heat is absolutely unbearable for you, and nothing else has helped. However, they cost a fair amount more to buy and run than fans do, so be sure to shop around to get the best value. Read the customer reviews carefully.
Lots of patience?
And one final thing that you can do to beat the heat: plant a tree! A tree that casts shade, especially over a south-facing part of your home, can reduce the temperature by up to 10 degrees C.
Think about all those beautiful tree-lined avenues in the Southern parts of Europe – they know what they’re doing so take a leaf (oof, sorry) out of their book. It’s a natural, environmentally friendly option, especially useful in urban and suburban areas. Of course you’ll need to be patient as it grows, and not planning on moving any time soon.
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So there we have it – lots of free and cheap ways to keep cool at night in a heatwave. Time to chill.
Do you have any refreshingly cool tips of your own? Please share to help other readers.
