WHILE temperatures have mercifully dropped after a tropical few days, the heat is still making falling asleep a chore for many Brits.
If you’ve had your fan going at maximum capacity with little result, a sleep expert has shared an unlikely hack to cool you off and send you straight into the land of the nod.
A hot water bottle can actually help you stay cool at night if you fill it with cold water
Her tool of choice? A hot water bottle – but not put to its usual use.
Instead of filling it with scalding hot water from a freshly boiled kettle, Dr Hana Patel, resident sleep expert at Time4Sleep, recommended pouring cold water into your bottle.
Rather than bringing into bed with you, Dr Patel suggested tucking your cold hot water bottle between your sheets an hour before you hit the hay.
This’ll cool down your bed, ensuring it’s the optimum temperature for you to drift off in, the Mirror reported.
While some might kick this process up a notch by freezing their bottle, Dr Patel advised you stick to cold water instead.
She explained: “Rather than freezing a hot water bottle with cold water, as this could damage the hot water bottle material, fill it with very cold water and leave this in the bed for an hour before you go to sleep.
“Before drifting off be sure to remove the cold hot water bottle from the bed as contact with skin is likely to cause discomfort and at very low temperatures, possible skin damage.”
Experts have shared numerous counter-intuitive tips for how to beat the heat and get a good night’s kip, including taking a warm bath before bed and not sleeping naked.
Brits have also been warned to avoid keeping their fans running all night, especially is they suffer from hay fever.