Heat wave and sleep: 5 tips for sleeping well when it's too hot: Femme Actuelle Le MAG

Is the night heat preventing you from sleeping? Nothing more normal since to sleep your body must cool down. So instead of going to spend the night in your fridge, adopt a few reflexes to regulate your body temperature quickly sink into the arms of Morpheus.

⋙ 9 tips for sleeping well during the heat wave

Moisten sheets and the room

Sleeping without sheets on you overnight can be a mistake since your body doesn't regulate its temperature. Better to moisten the sheets with a mist because by evaporating, the humidity creates cold. So your body will be in cold sheets and you will fall asleep more easily. If you do not like to sleep without a duvet or sheets, we advise you to take out one foot so that your body temperature is regulated. On the other hand, opening the window turns out to be a bad idea since it is the best way to bring in the hot air. So we prefer to close the shutters completely and slightly open the windows slightly to let in a little air.

Also, there are duvets and pillows specially designed to regulate body temperature. How it works ? The Dacron brand, for example, offers fillings suitable for hot weather. Some fibers are made up of thermoregulated microcapsules which balance temperature variations throughout the night. Other fibers, breathable this time, absorb or evacuate body moisture (on average, 1l of perspiration per night!).

Hydrate with warm herbal teas

Exit the glass of fresh water coming out of the fridge. This reflex will only make your body spend a lot of energy which will try to warm up, causing a rise in temperature and a loss of water leading to dehydration. Thus, a warm drink, mainly herbal teas, will regulate the body temperature. In addition, we favor herbal teas that promote sleep such as chamomile and verbena. this advice is also valid for the shower. We will rather choose to shower in lukewarm water rather than in cold water since at that time your body will tend to warm up. You can also drink a glass of milk with a little honey, because the milk releases tryptophan and makes it easier to fall asleep.

Keep your usual rituals before going to bed

Brushing your teeth, closing the shutters, reading a book… Every gesture is almost mechanical. And these little habits are actually beneficial for your sleep. In some ways, they allow you to psychologically prepare yourself for going to bed and sleep since when you repeat these gestures, you will assimilate them to sleep and thus fall asleep more quickly.

Go for a light dinner

Large meals in the evening, fatty food and alcohol make sleep restless. Because these heavy dinners require much more work from our digestive system and increase the temperature of our body. So avoid protein like meat and eggs as much as possible, as well as fatty food. However we eat a meal all the same consisting to avoid snacking at night and delay our sleep. We also avoid acidic drinks like lemon juice or orange juice, as well as carbonated drinks.

Sleep during a heat wave: wellness tips

To make it easier to fall asleep, whether it's hot or not, we use natural tricks such as essential oils of lavender and lemongrass that we spray on our sheets or on pillows. We can also bet on the foot reflexology by massaging his solar plexus or under his big toes. This area is associated with the brain, so it is massaged by making circular movements and pressing a little hard.

Thank you to Doctor Yves Victor Kamami, Orl and specialist in snoring and sleep apnea at the hospital of the 4 cities in Saint-Cloud.

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