To fall asleep, your body needs to cool down a little. When the bedroom stays in the twenties (°C) all night, that drop never quite comes and you lie there tossing and turning. It isn’t that you’re bad at summer: it’s physiology.
Did you know? Spain’s state weather agency (AEMET) calls a night that doesn’t drop below 20°C a ‘tropical night’ — the UK’s Met Office uses the same term — and one that stays at 25°C or above a ‘torrid night’. If your bedroom is there, it isn’t that you sleep badly: your body is up against it.
What helps most is a shower before bed — but lukewarm, not cold. Ice-cold water narrows the blood vessels in your skin and your body responds by producing heat — that rebound is exactly the opposite of what you want. Lukewarm water widens them and helps you shed the heat from inside.
The rest is down to the house: air it in the small hours and at dawn, and by mid-morning close the windows and draw the blinds. A fan works better angled across the room, moving the air around, than pointed straight at you all night. Cotton or linen sheets. And light pyjamas beat sleeping with nothing on, because the fabric soaks up sweat instead of leaving it stuck to your skin.
Start today: a lukewarm shower before bed and the window open at dawn. Two small steps, not a penny spent.