Sleeping the summer nights can become a true nightmare. With the heat, you toss and turn constantly in bed, you sweat, and you don’t rest well. But what’s most curious is that even when you try to solve the problem by turning on a fan or dampening the body to cool off, people tend to make mistakes that end up doing the exact opposite: adding more heat. In fact, two renowned medical experts have taken on the task of uncovering what these terrible mistakes are through videos on their TikTok accounts, such as the classic trick of placing the fan right against the body. If you want to know the rest and how to fix them, stay tuned.
Error 1: Pointing the fan directly at your body
It’s the most common gesture of summer, but Dr. Dev Patel explains that it’s not the right approach. He notes that this way you aren’t cooling the room, as many believe, but merely moving the hot air from one side to the other. Therefore, Patel explains that the real way to cool the room and stop feeling hot is aiming the fan toward the air above you. In this manner, the air will cool, the heat from your body will escape, and it will migrate to that cooler area. What, according to him, will give you much more relief.
Error 2: Showering with water that’s too cold before bed
It seems obvious: when I’m hot, I splash cold water on myself. Yet Dr. Patel warns that this triggers a “rebound effect.” If the water is ice-cold, the body is startled, absorbs the water quickly, and closes the pores to retain internal heat. After stepping out of the shower, the sensation of heat will be worse. Therefore, it’s recommended to wash your face or apply some water at room temperature to the neck and head. If the water remains on the surface, the body will naturally cool as it evaporates.
Error 3: Opening the windows during the day
If you open the windows when the sun is at its peak, all you achieve is letting that scorching outdoor air linger inside your home. Dr. Patel is clear on this: you should keep the blinds down and the windows closed during the day, to keep as much heat out as possible. You should only open them at night, when the outside air isn’t as hot and can be vented without issue.
Error 4: forgetting to “turn off” the brain’s engine
Dr. José Manuel Felices Farías reminds us that the body operates like a machine: if your head is hot, the central nervous system remains activated in “alert” mode, making it hard to fall asleep. That’s why Dr. Felices offers an incredible tip: put the pillowcase in the fridge and take it out just before you go to bed. Resting your head on a cool surface lowers brain temperature, activates the relaxing nervous system, and helps you drift off much faster.
Error 5: not protecting the skin so the coolness lasts
Many people fall asleep feeling cool but wake up drenched in sweat in the middle of the night. This happens because the initial chill fades quickly. For that reason, Dr. Felices recommends applying a lightweight moisturizing cream all over the body before going to bed. Since it takes time to absorb, the cream preserves moisture on the skin and provides a pleasant, prolonged sensation of coolness for hours.
Error 6: sleeping curled up or hugging the pillow
Curling up for sleep or sleeping pressed against someone generates a lot of heat, as it accumulates and becomes trapped in the folds of your body. Thus, Felices offers a simple trick that hardly anyone knows: sleep like a starfish, occupying the entire bed. ‘It’s not selfish, it’s pure thermodynamics,’ he concludes.
The trick is simple: lie on your back and spread your arms and legs as far as you can. This way, the skin exposed to the air is much greater, which speeds up sweat evaporation and prevents the heat from concentrating in critical areas such as the armpits and groin.
