How to Sleep on a Hot Summer Night Without Air Conditioning or a Fan: The Egyptian Secret
Wetting a sheet or placing a mattress on the floor can help you fall asleep on those difficult summer nights, even without air conditioning.
There’s nothing better than falling asleep in bed after a long day! Waking up not knowing where you are, what time it is, or who you are is proof you had a great night’s sleep! Everyone needs about 8 hours of sleep a night, and not getting those hours can affect your mood, productivity, and even your physical appearance. But when you get enough rest, you feel great! And when you feel great, you’re more productive and more attractive!
Therefore, it not only benefits us, but also makes us more tolerable to those around us during the day, be it family, friends or colleagues.
Restful sleep is a key pillar of health, comparable to a balanced diet and regular exercise. Studies have shown that lack of sleep increases the risk of health problems such as heart disease, diabetes and depression. In addition, adequate rest boosts the immune system, improves memory and increases decision-making ability, which is vital for dealing with everyday challenges.
Good sleep, a rarity today
In a world where modern life requires us to be constantly active and alert, prioritising rest may seem like a luxury, but it is a non-negotiable necessity. Investing in a good mattress, establishing a sleep routine and avoiding technological distractions before bedtime are simple measures that can make a big difference to our quality of life. Not only will we face the day with more energy, but we will be more ready to enjoy the little pleasures life has to offer.
This task, that of proper sleep, becomes much more difficult to accomplish when the warm summer nights arrive. The sweat, the mosquitoes, the noise of the air conditioner or fan… All of these make it difficult to sleep. The most common ways to relieve the heat range from opening the window to using air conditioners or fans, but even these practices have their weaknesses.
The main one is noise, as mentioned above, either from the air conditioner/fan or noise from the street if you choose to open the window. In addition, using fans can dry out the vents and spread dirt or allergens that may be present in the room.
How can I sleep better?
It’s true that ventilating the bedroom at certain times of the day, as well as going to bed lightly dressed, helps your body to reduce its body temperature and makes it easier to sleep, but it doesn’t guarantee that either. Avoiding heavy or hot meals (cooked food, for example) is also advisable, as is not using televisions or consoles (which give off heat) before bedtime.
All generations have suffered from this problem and have had to find ways to solve it, each one more rustic as you look back. Well, looking way back, specifically to Ancient Egypt, we find a trick to combat the heat at night.
The Egyptians were ahead of their time
This trick consists in slightly moistening the sheet with which we will cover ourselves to sleep. We can do this by hand or we can also wash it and take it out of the washing machine just before we use it. The moisture in the sheet will reduce our body temperature and help us sleep and not wake up too many times because of the heat. Of course, it won’t take long for the sheet to dry if it’s too hot, but hopefully we’ll have already slept and it won’t affect us.
Another idea, this time from Japan, is to place a mattress on the floor, as low to the ground as possible. This is because heat rises and builds up in the ceiling, so sleeping as close to the floor as possible can help keep the heat away.
