Too hot to sleep? Take a warm shower
Sleep expert Dr Karyn O'Keefe has some counterintuitive advice for Kiwis kept awake by the heat of the night.
Parts of New Zealand hit 33 degrees this week, and a weekend heat alert is in place for Napier, with Christchurch and Hastings not far behind.
If high temperatures seem to be stealing your zzzs, there are things to try, says Dr Karen O'Keefe, who researches the latest sleep science at Wellington's Sleep/Wake Research Centre.
She recommends taking a warm shower an hour or two before you hit the pillow.
Sleep researcher Karyn O'Keeffe.
Supplied
Warm up to wind down
Taking a warm shower, then cooling down again, is a way to mimic the falling body temperature that's part of the body's "falling asleep process", O'Keefe says.
The shower should be "warm" or "warmish" - not cold and not hot.
"It seems that [taking a warm shower], let's say one to two hours before you fall asleep or want to fall asleep, can be helpful."
Tips on how to cool down
Keep your bedroom cool during the day
sleep
Erwi / Unsplash
The ideal temperature of a bedroom is around 17 to 19 degrees, O'Keefe says, but anything between 15 to 23 degrees is "not too bad for sleep".
Heat pumps and fans - which some people place ice in front of - will, of course, help cool the room. But during the day, she says, unless there's hot air rushing in, it's useful to keep windows and doors open as much as possible.
"Sometimes it can help to close the curtains and keep the room cool that way."
Keep your naps snappy
Take a nap if you get the opportunity, O'Keefe says, but it's best to make it quite short, O'Keefe says.
"You're using [naps] to boost alertness to help get through the day rather than trying and have a large amount.
"Except if you've had a very short sleep, then sometimes a long nap can help… You might aim for two to three hours if you're really trying to boost your sleep quotient for the day because you've had a lot less sleep than you intended."
Don't add a couple of bad sleeps to your worry list
Long-term sleep loss day after day is really hard to catch up on, O'Keefe says, but don't fret if you've had a couple of rough nights.
"Our bodies are really good at helping us sleep if we really need it, so if you don't sleep well for a couple of nights, then your brain and body will help support you to get deeper sleep and longer sleep to catch up in the next few nights.
"[When we're underslept] we get deeper sleep, and we can sleep for a little bit longer because our brain promotes sleeping for longer. So if you give yourself a chance to, you'll catch up."
