Wondering why you have more trouble sleeping lately?

It might not just be you.

In Adelaide the Bureau of Meteorology forecast overnight minima for this summer are significantly above the historical median. 

Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick from the University of NSW says that since the mid 50”s overnight minima have been rising faster than daytime maxima.

What this means is that in most of southern Australia and in particular the Adelaide plains, the number of nights that the temperature outside doesn’t drop to sleep temperatures has increased and is likely to continue to increase.

This also means your house doesn’t cool down overnight and if the next day is also hot, the house continues to get even hotter.

​So, what should you do if it is a stinking hot night?

If you have an air conditioner, make sure it is performing as well as possible, see Help, my air conditioner isn't performing!

Tips for sleeping:

​

• Make sure you are hydrated so that your body can use evaporation to keep you cool.
• Sleep in the coolest room in the house, drag your mattress there.
• Use your air-conditioner if you have one and if you also have ceiling fans in the same room use them as well. (More on getting the best from air-conditioning in a future post.)
• If you don’t have a ceiling fan, buy a pedestal fan. They are less than $100 and cheap ones are $25 or less from Woolworths or Bunnings.
• As soon as it is cooler outside than in, open all your windows except in rooms with an air conditioner running. (If you have an evaporative cooler, you will have opened the windows sufficient to allow the air to exhaust. Note that it can feel cooler outside even if it is actually hotter. So, if you can, use actual temperature measurements, an indoor/outdoor thermometer (Bunnings sell one for under $25). Alternatively, you can use an old-style thermometer (less than $5) and compare it to your weather App. Note, use the actual temperature, not the ‘Feels Like” temperature.
• When using outside ventilation, if possible, open doors between rooms to get a cross flow of air from one side of the house to the other. This is much more effective than simply opening a window in one room. If you need to keep a pet out, consider temporarily putting a pet height barrier, so you can allow the cross ventilation. (Baby barriers sometimes work.)
• If it is hotter outside close the windows, and all blinds and curtains. If you wake up in the middle of the night, recheck the temperatures as it may have cooled down enough to allow a cooling breeze.
• Minimise heat build-up during the day. If the sun is shining on a window, shade the window, if you have external blinds pull them down, If not consider getting some shade cloth or spare fabric and fixing it outside the window to keep the heat off.
• Take a cool shower or bath before bed and if you wake up and can’t go back to sleep.
• Try a wet cloth draped over you.
• Wear minimal lightweight bedclothes.
• For the longer term consider turning a room into a heat refuge (sometimes called a cool refuge). This is a big topic and I address it in a separate post: Our house is too hot what can I do?
• Get a home energy audit to find out what is critical for your home and location.

​To keep informed of my latest posts, sign up for the Energy Saving Newsletter and as a free bonus, get  a 14 page extract from the forthcoming second edition of the book:

'House Taming, How to reduce greenhouse gases in comfort'

Sign up now to the Energy Saving Newsletter.

If you need personalised advice or you are thinking on spending some real money on the refuge, get an energy audit. I guarantee I can cost effectively save you the cost of the audit.

Feel free to leave a comment or question below.