Summer Cooling: 7 Tips to Keep a Cool Bedroom in Summer

As summer temperatures rise, so does the challenge of getting a good night’s sleep. 

A warm bedroom can significantly disrupt your sleep quality. And poor sleep quality can lead to a long list of unwanted effects, including: general fatigue; difficulty concentrating; increased anxiety and mood swings; and even reduced sex drive.

Over the years, chronic sleep deprivation can even lead to more serious chronic disease, like diabetes, dementia, and heart attacks.

That’s why it’s crucial to find effective ways to keep your bedroom cool. 

From adjusting your lifestyle to finding the best cooling mattress, there are several strategies you can employ to create a cooler sleeping environment. In this blog post, we’ll explore seven practical tips to help you beat the heat and enjoy restful sleep, even during the warmest summer nights.

1. Optimize Your Bedding

Choosing the right bedding is crucial for staying cool during warm summer nights. 

Opt for lightweight, breathable materials such as Egyptian cotton sheets or Bamboo sheets, which allow air to circulate and moisture to evaporate, keeping you cool and dry. Douglas’ breathable sheets are specifically designed to enhance airflow and comfort. 

Additionally, consider swapping your regular duvet for a lightweight down duvet, which provides insulation that’s just enough to be cozy without overheating.

2. Use the Right Mattress

If you want to sleep cool, you’ll want to choose a mattress that doesn’t trap a lot of heat. 

In recent years, certain foam mattresses have become as good (if not better) than coil/spring mattresses at sleeping cool.

If you are shopping for a foam mattress that keeps you cool during the summer nights, here are four cooling features to look for:

• A Cooling Cover: A mattress cover that uses cool-to-the-touch fabric (like Douglas’ CoolSense® Cover with CryoFusion™ Cooling Nanofibres) makes a chilling first impression as soon as you lie down. Bonus points for being machine washable.
  
• Cooling Gel Foam: Cooling gel enhances the ordinary foam you find in most mattresses by allowing the foam to dissipate more heat. That means less heat getting trapped in the mattress causing night sweats.
  
• Phase-Change Material (PCM): This innovative foam treatment keeps the temperature of the mattress within an ideal range. It pulls heat away from your body when you get warm, and releases it back to you if you get too cold. Douglas Alpine and Douglas Summit both have Polar® Temperature Balancing phase-change material infused into their top layer.
  
• A 365-Night Home Trial: This is one of the most important features for sleeping comfortably not just in the summer, but all year. Imagine buying a mattress in January and finding out later that it feels too hot in July, but by that point you can no longer return it. Or buying a mattress in June and finding out that it stiffens up and doesn’t feel comfortable in December, months after your 100-night sleep trial has expired.

A mattress with a 365-night sleep trial, like Douglas, gives you complete confidence that you’ll end up with a mattress that meets your needs every day of the year – or your money back.

3. Maximize Air Circulation

Good air circulation is key to keeping your bedroom cool. The goal is to give warmer air an escape route so that it can be replaced by cooler air.

Start by positioning fans strategically around your room. For instance, placing a fan opposite a window can help create a cross breeze that pushes hot air out and pulls cool air in. 

If you have a ceiling fan, it should be set to run counter-clockwise during the summer. This pushes cool air down towards the floor. On nights when the outdoor temperature drops, consider opening your windows to let in the cooler air.

4. Block Out the Sun

One effective way to keep your bedroom cool is to minimize heat from sunlight. It’s a lot easier to cool down your bedroom if it doesn’t get as hot in the first place.

During the day, use blackout curtains or install reflective window films to deflect the sun’s rays. These can significantly reduce the amount of heat entering through your windows. Manage your blinds by closing them during the hottest parts of the day and opening them when the sun sets to take advantage of cooler evening temperatures.

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5. Adjust Your Thermostat Strategically

Maintaining the ideal temperature for sleep is easier with the right use of your air conditioning. The recommended bedroom temperature for optimal sleep is between 15 and 19 degrees Celsius (or 60 and 67 degrees Fahrenheit). 

Use your thermostat to set this temperature about an hour before bedtime so your room will be cool when it’s time to sleep. To save energy, increase the temperature slightly when you’re not at home or consider using a programmable thermostat to manage this automatically.

6. Consider Room Enhancements to Manage Humidity

Adding indoor plants can also help reduce indoor temperatures naturally. Plants like aloe vera, rubber plants, palms, and snake plants release oxygen at night, improving air quality and potentially making your room feel cooler. 

Additionally, using a dehumidifier can help make the air in your bedroom more comfortable. It removes excess moisture, which helps your body cool itself more efficiently at night.

7. Lifestyle Adjustments

Finally, your daily habits can affect how hot or cool your bedroom feels at night. 

Try to avoid heavy meals, alcohol use, or vigorous exercise close to bedtime as these can raise your body temperature. A hot shower before bed has the surprising effect of lowering your core temperature – which signals to the body that it’s time to get ready for sleep. But you may wish to reconsider this idea if it means releasing plenty of hot, humid air near your bedroom.

Staying hydrated throughout the day also helps regulate your internal temperature. Drink plenty of water, but avoid drinking too much water before bed to minimize nighttime trips to the bathroom.

By implementing these strategies, you can transform your bedroom into a cool and comfortable oasis, even during the hottest months of the year. These tips, combined with Douglas’s cooling mattresses and bedding, will help ensure that your summer nights are filled with comfortable, refreshing sleep.