Get A Good Night’s Sleep During The Heatwave

Summer is officially here, and we’re all sweating buckets as we battle the stifling heat. Now I’m never one to complain when the sun comes out – why is it so many Brits whine all year long that we never get a summer then as soon as the mercury rises they fill Facebook with worries about how they’ll ever cool down?! – but I do find heat at nighttime a particular pain. On holiday you have aircon to cool the apartment during the day so you slip into a slumber soon after a hard days sunbathing, but here in Blighty we’re less used to such climes, and my stuffy house hardly hits a breeze even if all the windows are open. Add kids to the mix and the poor sweaty blighters might as well be used as radiators all night through. 

With temperatures set to stick around 30°C this week, and pollen forecasts very high across most of the country for most of the week, discomfort and hayfever symptoms are most people’s worst enemies, so after years of battling a bad night’s sleep during summer months, I’ve learned several tricks for making it more bearable. Here they are:

• Put  your pillowcases in the fridge an hour before bedtime so that they’re cool when your head hits the pillow! Some people swear by chilling all of their sheets, but that sounds extreme even to me!
• Shower before bed. A cool shower will help to cool you down from a day in the sun. And it will help to remove pollen from your hair and body.
• Or try a calming bath. Don’t run it too hot, and use a product like Olverum Bath Oil which can help you unwind from the days stresses and has been proven to aid a restful sleep.
• Remove all make-up before bedtime even if you don’t have time for a shower or bath. Leaving it on can cause build=ups of makeups and dirt, blocking your skin and making you sweat more.
• Sleep naked. It sounds obvious but us Brits still seem to have a hang-up about it. Kick off the covers and let your body breathe!
• Keep a drink of cool water next to the bed, and an atomiser filled with water to spray on your face and pulse points if you feel super flushed.
• Keep the house ventilated during the day. Even if it doesn’t create a huge breeze it can blow pollen out of the furniture and stop those sneezes that keep you awake!
• Apply an organic, drug-free allergen barrier balm, such as HayMax to the nostrils and around the bones of the eyes before you go to bed, to block pollen before it enters the body. HayMax has been proven to trap over one third of pollen grains before they enter the body, and it beats taking antihistamines which can make you feel drowsy at first but then affect good quality sleep later in the night.