Cool Sleepwear for Hot Summer Nights?

Have you noticed it’s hot? Even at night it barely gets below 20 degrees and the air doesn’t move so there is no helpful breeze. On nights like this you need cool sleepwear or, more likely, you will go naked as the day you were born. Research has shown that there is a preferred temperature for helping sleep and if the temperature is too high, it takes longer to fall asleep, and once sleep is achieved, it may be poor quality fragmented sleep with less of the beneficial dream sleep. Trouble is, by now the shops are probably sold out of fans and mobile AC units. If you order on line by the time you get it the British summer will have gone in a flash (of lightening). So here are some more tips on how to stay cool on these humid summer nights: how about using a cold water bottle – take your hot water bottle but fill it with iced water. Or if you want more hard core (and hard sheets) you could wrap your sheets up in a bin bag and put them in the freezer. Make sure the bed clothes are made of cotton which is breathable and ideal for ventilation in the bedroom. If you have a live-in partner you might want to consider sleeping apart on hot summer nights. Save the summer lovin’ for cooler mornings when you are happy to get sweaty together. Nothing warms you up like a bit of body to body contact.

The Sleep Council has more good advice on cool sleepwear. According to them, you should wear light cotton nightwear. They claim this is actually better than wearing nothing at all as natural fabric will absorb any perspiration. Luckily we have just produced our Zooland funzee which is unhooded, and unfooted, made from 100% cotton and has penguins on it so you can try and fool yourself you are in the Antarctic. Down under they know a bit about heat waves and favourite Australian, Elle (the body) Macpherson has been preaching the benefits of a good night’s sleep but she shuns cool sleepwear. ‘I really believe women can do it all, but they can’t do it all at the expense of their health, their sleep, and their sense of well-being’ she posted. And she has revealed she uses ‘nature’s Valium’ to help her kip. Unsurprisingly, you can now buy her special recipe tea to assist at bedtime. The super ingredient in the tea is Valerian root, a common herbal remedy for insomnia, which Elle refers to as ‘nature’s Valium’.  Is that also what they use to make Valerian steel for the swords in Game of Thrones?