Sweet Dreams: A Sleep Expert’s Guide to Avoiding Night Sweats

One of the struggles that come with living in this great Sunburnt Country is that sleeping in summer is not exactly an easy feat. In fact, research from Koala indicated that some 77 per cent of Aussies (from a 1,000-person sample) deal with a lack of sleep due to overheating, and a further 85 per cent of us lose sleep or cannot sleep in warmer weather.

That’s a lot of restless nights.

Off the back of that data emerging, and the fact that old mate El Niño is set to bring us a lot of hot, dry weather this year, we decided to chat with sleep specialist Dr David Cunnington about the impact of heat on sleep and how to best counter them.

Reflecting on the trends that emerged in Koala’s heat and sleep survey, Dr Cunnington shared that the truth is, most of us see some kind of disruption to our nightly snooze when the weather warms up.

“Academic research shows a strong link between insomnia and elevated core body temperature, so for Australians living in warmer temperatures, sleep disruption and deprivation affects almost all of us,” he said over email.

And while the odd restless night may be annoying to many of us, “when sleep deprivation starts to occur night after night, this is when prolonged sleep deprivation becomes an issue”.

“With the warmer, humid weather predicted to continue well beyond summer, this period of sleepless nights may extend to weeks at a time,” he continued.

In Koala’s survey specifically, the most common side effects of disrupted sleep due to heat included physical fatigue, irritability and grogginess. But studies have connected insomnia and sleep disruptions to far more serious health issues when they continue over a long period of time.

While there are loads of things that may be behind your crappy night’s sleep, heat is a particularly common one.

Dr Cunnington shared that “Temperature is one of the most important factors that can affect sleep. Exposure to extreme heat during the night increases wakefulness and can decrease slow-wave and rapid-eye-movement sleep. Heightened humidity is a separate, but equally nasty, culprit, which can exacerbate night sweats amongst other symptoms.”

So, how do you fight against heat when it comes time to hit the hay? Dr Cunnington shared his top tips.

How to get a good sleep with it’s hot as hell in bed

All below quotes on managing feeling hot in bed can be attributed to Dr Cunnington.

• Airflow is key. Moving air with the help of a fan or an open window, if there’s a slight breeze, can significantly reduce the impact of hot temperatures and humidity.
• Reducing unnecessary blankets or clothing might sound obvious but is an easy and effective way to bring your temperature down quickly. Sleeping with as little clothing as possible, and removing any heavy duvets will make all the difference.
• While it sounds counterintuitive, warm showers or a bath prior to bed has also [been] proven to help people fall asleep faster, improve sleep quality and may even help speed body cooling.
• Additionally, limiting alcohol and caffeine at night can help regulate sleep and body temperature.
• A unique thing about sleep is that our bodies carefully regulate internal body temperature. This, together with our bedding, what we wear to bed and our mattress produces our own individual ‘microclimate’ during sleep. We don’t all share the same microclimate preferences, but understanding your preference and matching your bedding, bed attire and mattress to that can be helpful.

On the topic of mattresses and feeling hot in bed, Rory Costello, Chief Commercial Officer at Koala, shared in a statement that your choice of mattress has a huge role in managing temperature.

“…old-sagging mattresses, cheap foam mattresses or even outdated ‘memory foam’ mattresses sleep hot because you tend to get sucked in and engulfed as you sleep, meaning poor airflow and breathability,’ he shared.

With that considered, you want to make sure you’re getting yourself a mattress that helps keep you cool on those warm Aussie nights.