How to Sleep in the Summer Heat

June 1, 2026 Chloe Hulme

Summer is in full swing! For most of us this means BBQ’s in the sun and trips to the beach but there is no getting around it...Warm nights can make sleep genuinely difficult. Your body needs to drop its core temperature to fall and stay asleep, and when the bedroom stays warm after sunset, that process gets disrupted.

The good news is there are practical things you can do, most of them involving the bedding and environment you already have. Here are our tips for staying cool and sleeping well through the warmer months.

Start with your bedroom temperature

Before we get into bedding, it is worth knowing what you are actually aiming for. The ideal bedroom temperature for sleep is between 16 and 18 degrees Celsius. Above that, most people will find it harder to fall asleep and more likely to wake during the night.

During the day, keep curtains or blinds closed on any windows that catch direct sun. This sounds counterintuitive in summer, but it stops the room building up heat through the afternoon. Open the windows in the evening once the outside temperature has dropped below the temperature inside the room. On particularly warm nights, a through-breeze created by opening windows on opposite sides of the house is more effective than opening one window alone.

Cooling Sheets

Cotton sheets are the best option when the weather is warm and humid. Cotton is lightweight and breathable, which allows better air circulation around the body rather than trapping warmth close to the skin. Look for sheets made with a natural cotton or cotton-Lyocell blend, as Lyocell (sometimes sold as Tencel) is particularly effective at drawing moisture away from the body and helping regulate temperature through the night.

Thread count matters less than fibre type when it comes to sleeping cool. A 200-thread count cotton sheet will generally feel cooler than a 400-thread count polyester blend, regardless of what the label says about softness. Our cotton bed sheets range covers single through to super-king in breathable cotton and cotton-mix fabrics.

Avoid synthetic fibres in warm weather if you can. They trap heat and moisture rather than releasing it, which makes a warm night feel significantly worse.

Summer Duvet

The tog rating of a duvet indicates how effective it is at trapping heat. The higher the tog, the warmer you will be. Tog ratings run from 1 to 15, with low togs being best for summer and 10.5 and above being more suitable for winter.

Most people find a 4.5 tog or 7.5 tog duvet works well in summer. If your bedroom stays particularly warm or you naturally sleep hot, a 4.5 tog is worth trying. Some people ditch the duvet altogether on especially hot nights and use a crisp cotton flat sheet instead, which is a completely reasonable approach.

Fill type matters as well as tog. A natural filling such as cotton or bamboo-blend microfibre tends to be more breathable than a dense synthetic fill at the same tog rating. This can make a noticeable difference on a warm night even if the numbers look the same on the label.

If you regularly find yourself throwing the duvet off during the night regardless of the season, you may simply run warmer than average. Hot sleepers often do better with a lower tog than general recommendations suggest and a breathable natural fill rather than a synthetic one. Browse our summer duvets range for 4.5 and 7.5 tog options. For a full guide to tog ratings across all seasons, see our duvet tog guide.

Invest in a fan

A fan in the bedroom helps in two ways: it creates air movement across the skin, which aids the body's natural cooling process, and the white noise it produces helps some people stay asleep through the night. If you would rather not open windows due to noise outside or security reasons, a fan is a good alternative for keeping air circulating.

For maximum effect, position the fan so it draws cooler air from outside (near a window if possible) rather than just recirculating the warm air already in the room. A bowl of ice or a damp towel placed in front of the fan can cool the air it pushes out, though this only works on particularly still, hot nights when outside air is not much cooler than inside.

Shut Out The Sun

Our blackout curtains have a thermal coating that helps regulate heat distribution. In winter this keeps warmth in; in summer it works the other way, stopping solar heat from passing through the fabric and warming the room. If your bedroom catches the sun for much of the day, keeping the curtains closed during daylight hours makes a real difference to how warm the room feels by the time you go to bed.

This is particularly worth doing in rooms that face south or west, which tend to hold the most heat into the evening. Paired with opening the windows after dark, keeping curtains closed during the day is one of the most effective things you can do to keep a bedroom comfortable overnight without any additional equipment.

Roller blinds provide an additional option for blocking light without covering the full window, which can help with ventilation during the day. Take a look at our roller blinds range if you want to combine light control with some airflow.

Invest in a new pillow

Your pillow has more impact on how warm you sleep than most people realise. A pillow that traps heat around your head will make a warm night feel worse, while a pillow designed to stay cool can make a meaningful difference. Particularly in the first part of the night when you are trying to fall asleep.

The Silentnight Wellbeing Cool Touch Pillow is designed specifically for this, with a fabric cover that stays cool to the touch and a fill that allows air to move through it rather than trapping warmth. It is a good option for anyone who tends to flip their pillow over to find the cool side during the night.

More broadly, if you are a hot sleeper, it is worth looking at your pillow fill as well as your duvet. Memory foam pillows retain more heat than hollowfibre or natural fills, so if you currently use a memory foam pillow and find yourself warm at night, switching to a different fill type is worth trying. Browse our full pillows range for alternatives, including our memory foam pillows if you still want the support but in a cooler format.

A few more things that help

What you wear to bed makes a difference. Lightweight cotton or bamboo pyjamas are significantly better than synthetic fabrics in warm weather. If you prefer to sleep without much on, a very light cotton top is still worth having to absorb any moisture rather than letting it sit on the skin.

A cool shower before bed helps lower your core body temperature before you get into bed, rather than relying on the room and bedding to do all the work. It does not need to be cold, just noticeably cooler than body temperature.

Keeping water nearby is worth doing year-round but particularly in summer. Waking up thirsty and having to get up for a drink disrupts sleep more than most people account for.

Avoiding alcohol in the evening is another one worth knowing about. Alcohol raises your core body temperature, which is the opposite of what you need for sleep in warm weather. A drink or two might feel like it helps you wind down, but it tends to result in lighter, more disrupted sleep later in the night when the temperature effects kick in.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best duvet for sleeping in summer? A 4.5 to 7.5 tog duvet with a breathable natural fill is the best choice for most people in summer. If you run particularly warm, go for the lower end of that range or use a flat sheet on very hot nights.

What temperature should a bedroom be for sleep? Between 16 and 18 degrees Celsius is the generally recommended range for sleep. Above this, most people find it harder to fall asleep and stay asleep through the night.

Do blackout curtains keep a room cool? A good quality blackout curtain with a thermal coating will help reduce the amount of heat entering the room through windows during the day. Keeping curtains closed while the sun is on the window, then opening them at night for ventilation, is one of the most effective ways to keep a bedroom cool in summer.

What type of pillow is best for hot sleepers? A pillow with a breathable fill and a cool-to-touch cover works best for people who sleep warm. Hollowfibre and natural fills tend to sleep cooler than memory foam. The Silentnight Cool Touch Pillow is a good option specifically designed for this purpose.

Is it better to sleep with windows open or closed in summer? Open windows at night when the outside air temperature has dropped below the indoor temperature, which is usually from early evening onwards in the UK. During the day, keeping windows closed and curtains drawn on sun-facing rooms will keep the room cooler than leaving windows open in direct heat.

Does tog rating matter if I sleep hot? Yes. If you are a hot sleeper, choosing a lower tog than the general recommendation for your season is sensible. A 4.5 tog duvet with a breathable fill will sleep noticeably cooler than a 7.5 tog synthetic duvet, even if both are marketed as summer weight.

Written by Chloe Hulme, Julian Charles Home

For more on choosing the right duvet for every season, see our duvet tog guide. If you are shopping for summer bedding, our summer duvets, cotton bed sheets, and cooling pillows are the best places to start!

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