How to Sleep in a Heatwave

The UK is not built for heat. Most homes have no air conditioning, the walls absorb warmth all day, and a bedroom that felt perfectly comfortable in April can become genuinely unpleasant by the time a heatwave arrives. Poor sleep during hot weather is not just annoying. Studies consistently show that even a modest rise in core body temperature disrupts the sleep cycle, reduces time in deep sleep, and leaves you groggy the following morning.

The good news is that a few straightforward adjustments make a real difference. Here is how to sleep in a heatwave, without lying awake at 2am staring at the ceiling.

Prepare your bedroom during the day

The biggest mistake people make is waiting until bedtime to deal with the heat. By then, the walls, floors and furniture have spent eight hours absorbing warmth, and it can take hours to shift.

Close curtains or blinds on any windows that receive direct sunlight, particularly south and west-facing ones. This single step can reduce the temperature in a room by several degrees compared to leaving them open. Heavy, lined curtains do the job better than thin ones. Once the sun goes off the back of the house, open everything up again to let the evening air through.

What temperature should a bedroom be for sleep?

The NHS recommends a bedroom temperature of around 16 to 18°C for adults. During a UK heatwave, rooms can reach 25°C or more, which is significantly above the ideal range and actively disrupts the body’s natural drop in core temperature that signals it is time to sleep. Getting the room even a few degrees cooler before bed makes a measurable difference.

Switch your bedding

Heavy duvets trap heat. During a heatwave, swap yours for a single cotton sheet or a lightweight throw. Natural fibres, cotton and linen in particular, are far more breathable than synthetic alternatives and absorb moisture rather than holding it against your skin.

If you want something to pull over you later in the night when temperatures drop slightly, a light cotton or woven throw works well as a summer layer. Swyft’s soft furnishings range includes throws that are well-suited to this, sitting at the end of the bed for when you need them without adding unnecessary weight.

What bedding is best for hot weather?

Cotton and linen are the most practical fabrics for sleeping in hot weather. Both allow air to circulate and wick moisture away from the body. Avoid synthetic fabrics, including microfibre, which trap heat and make a warm night feel significantly worse.

Think about the fabric your bed is made from

This matters more than most people realise. A bed frame upholstered in velvet looks good in winter, but velvet is a dense, warm fabric that retains heat. If you sleep hot on a regular basis, a linen-upholstered bed is a more practical choice year-round. Linen is naturally breathable, tends to stay cooler to the touch, and does not hold warmth in the way velvet does.

Swyft’s upholstered beds are available in both velvet and linen. If you are choosing a new bed frame and summer sleeping is a consideration, linen is worth prioritising.

Is linen cooler than velvet for a bed frame?

Yes. Linen has a looser, more open weave than velvet, which means it does not retain heat in the same way. For year-round comfort, particularly in a bedroom that warms up in summer, a linen bed frame is the more practical option of the two.

Open your windows at the right time

This is counterintuitive for many people, but opening windows during the hottest part of the day often makes a room warmer, not cooler. Warm air from outside flows in and gets trapped.

The better approach is to keep windows closed through the day, then open them in the late evening once the outside air starts to cool. If you have windows on opposite sides of a room, opening both creates a cross breeze that moves air through properly. A fan positioned near an open window at night helps draw cooler air in from outside rather than simply recycling the warm air already in the room.

Should you open or close windows during a heatwave?

Keep windows closed during the day, especially on south and west-facing walls, to stop warm air entering. Open them in the evening once outside temperatures drop, and aim to create a cross breeze through the room if the layout allows it.

Cool your body down before bed

Your body temperature needs to drop slightly in order to fall asleep. On a normal night this happens naturally. On a hot night, you need to help it along.

A lukewarm shower in the 30 minutes before bed is one of the most effective things you can do. A cold shower can be counterproductive because it causes the body to generate heat in response. Lukewarm is the better option. Cooling the extremities helps too. Your hands, feet and face are where the body loses heat most efficiently, so running cold water over your wrists or directing a fan towards your feet in bed are both worth trying.

Does a cold shower help you sleep in a heatwave?

Not as much as you might expect. Cold water causes the body to generate warmth in response, which is the opposite of what you want before bed. A lukewarm shower is more effective because it lowers your surface temperature without triggering that reaction, which helps your core temperature drop naturally as you try to sleep.

Consider where you sleep

Heat rises, which means upper-floor rooms are almost always warmer than ground-floor ones at night. If you have a sofa bed downstairs, it can genuinely be a cooler place to sleep during a heatwave than an upstairs bedroom. It is not a permanent arrangement, but for a few nights during a prolonged hot spell it is a practical option.

Swyft sofa beds are designed to function as a proper sleeping surface, not just a stopgap. If you have guests staying during warm months, positioning a sofa bed in a cooler part of the house is worth thinking about. Sofa beds upholstered in linen will keep things more comfortable than velvet or chenille alternatives.

Keep your routine

Disrupted sleep patterns make the problem worse over time. Avoid long naps during the day, even after a rough night, as they make it harder to fall asleep in the evening and push the problem into the following day. Stick as closely as you can to your usual bedtime.

Alcohol also makes warm-weather sleep worse than it appears to. It disrupts sleep quality and raises core body temperature in the night. On heatwave nights, swapping an evening drink for water is one of the more practical changes you can make.

A note on the bedroom itself

If you are finding that your bedroom is consistently too warm, it is worth looking at the room as a whole rather than just the bed. Thick rugs hold heat in the floor. Dark curtains absorb more warmth than lighter ones. A room that is cluttered with furniture has less airflow than one that is more open. Small changes to how the room is set up can make a consistent difference beyond the few days of a heatwave.

For bedroom furniture that suits a lighter, more breathable aesthetic, Swyft’s bedroom furniture range covers beds, storage and accessories in a range of fabrics and finishes.