If you are having trouble focusing during the day, falling asleep, and staying asleep, the problem might be in the air quality of your home, mainly its temperature. Of course, in the daytime, you might be working in an office with air conditioning installed or you’re constantly on the go, catching fresh air here and there. But when you don’t have any cooling appliances around the house, does that mean you need to invest in an AC straight away?
Looking for AC alternatives?
Before you make a big investment, let’s find out how to cool down without AC. In this article, you will find five working tips on how to make living in a warmed up home more comfortable and why you should be concerned about the quality of your sleep in the summertime.
Content:
- How Does Heat Affect Your Sleep Quality?
- 5 Tips on How to Cool Down Without AC
- What Sets Evaporative Coolers Apart from Other Air Coolers?
- Wrap Up
How Does Heat Affect Your Sleep Quality?
A 2017 study published by Science Advances shows that a high ambient temperature has a significant impact on your sleep quality. Hot temperatures make it harder for you to get those six to eight hours of quality shut-eye. It has to do with the physiology of falling asleep — your core temperature needs to go down for your body to relax and fall into a sleep cycle. It’s a slight change, but your body will struggle to do that in a hot, stuffy room.
And you need to be getting adequate sleep time and quality for proper bodily function and management. Imagine a restless night and how groggy and tired you feel all day after. Or you might have a lot of energy at first and crash in the afternoon. In any case, it’s no use feeling like you’re hungover if you didn’t have any fun last night.
Which brings us to the next section — how to manage during the day or night.
5 Tips on How to Cool Down Without AC
An AC unit can really increase your home expenses, and this is not ideal for a lot of people. If you are trying to cut back costs you may be tempted to simply sleep in your warm bedroom. But as we now know, then you might be sacrificing a good night, and a day in a stuffy room isn’t much pleasure either.
Cooling an entire room isn’t always necessary, especially if you’re the only person living there. The first three things you should focus on cooling are your body, your bed, and your personal space. Here’s how you can get it done without the use of an AC unit. Read also: Choosing the Best Fan for Your Bedroom
1. Maintain a Healthy Body Water Balance
As we mentioned before, you want to get your body temperature down, and there are more ways to do this than by aiming to cool the entire room. The first way is to ensure that you drink enough water.
A healthy water balance means you are ingesting just the right amount of fluids for your body. The general recommendation is 15 cups for men and 11 cups for women, but this includes beverages and food other than water. You don’t want to be consuming too much water, and, of course, you don’t want to be consuming too little. How can you achieve the right balance?
Since there are many variables that go into your daily liquid intake, here are a few notes on the matter:
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Drink adequate fluids and do so at regular intervals.
While water is the most recommended fluid to help regulate body temperature and water content, you can have other fluids as well. Aim for options that do not contain a lot of sugar. Choose 100% fruit juices and unsweetened teas as much as possible. Always have a water bottle on hand so you can sip some water every so often. This is a better way to get your water in, instead of drinking too much at once.
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Note the word “adequate” — you might need a different amount of water each day.
Do you exercise? Do you sweat a lot? Do you pee a lot? To ensure adequate water intake you have to take note of how your body loses water. If you sweat easily and have an active lifestyle you may need more water than the average person who has a sedentary lifestyle.
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Avoid foods that are high in sodium, caffeine, and alcohol.
These promote water retention, which can show up as swollen legs and a lot of overall bloating. This can make regular day-to-day activities uncomfortable, to say the least. Water retention is especially serious for people who have a history of heart trouble.
Aside from that, caffeine is known for its ability to interrupt sleep patterns, so this will only make your sleep issues worse. Try to limit your caffeine intake, and if you must have coffee try not to have it outside of morning hours.
2. Take Lukewarm Baths and Showers
You don’t want to have drastic temperature changes. This can affect your immune system. So instead of having a hot bath or a cold bath you should instead have your bath or shower water as close to room temperature as you can manage.
Try taking a shower that is just a couple degrees lower than your body temperature. Since your body might be overheated already, a stark contrast will only shock you. That is stressful for your body and not good for falling asleep either.
3. Block the Sun from Heating up Your Home
If your room gets a lot of sun at any point of the day, your bed and bedding can soak up that heat and carry it into the night. You can block the sun with the use of blackout curtains and blinds. If you have the option to open a window, do so after the sun has gone down and let some cool, fresh air inside.
Opening windows is also good for air circulation, but if there’s no wind in the daytime, you might just be welcoming more hot air into your home.
4. Opt for Cooling Bed Sheets and Pillowcases
A lot of mattress models have a side specifically reserved for summers, but you should also look into cooling bed sheets. There’s a variety of materials that are better at staying cool and absorbing sweat. Sometimes bedding that is advertised as cooling costs a lot more than you would expect, so googling them might make your eyes pop.
Thus, when shopping for bed sheets, simply look for natural and synthetically made fabrics, such as cotton, linen, bamboo, and Tencel.
You can find complete bedding sets as well as you can simply opt for some pillowcases based on how much you heat up at night and where your body seems to hold the most heat. It would be wise to invest in a good set or two.
5. How to Cool Down a Room without AC: Consider Buying an Evaporative Cooler
If tips on how to cool down naturally aren’t your thing, consider evaporative technology. Coolers with this technology are cost-effective across the board, and you can find a small and affordable one to make your immediate space feel like an oasis and not a desert. Though they work best if your indoor humidity is usually less than sixty percent.
If you live in a dry climate, this might be the best option for you. Aside from their cooling properties, they also purify and inject moisture into the air. How that alleviates your breathing and helps your skin glow is a topic on its own.
What Sets Evapolar Apart from Other Evaporative Coolers?
Evapolar offers a foolproof way to chill your immediate surroundings. You can place it near your bed or on your work table and enjoy the:
- Efficacy. It works in up to 33 feet2 of space, which is more than the arm span of an average human — about the size of your personal bubble.
- Tiny Footprint. Evapolar is relatively small and can easily fit on almost any surface.
- Silent Operation. Our units create a small amount of white noise that helps with relaxation and falling asleep.
- Timed Operation. With a built-in timer you can set this to shut off in the late night or early morning when you know it gets cooler naturally.
Wrap Up
Cooler temperatures mean a better quality of sleep. When your body is at an ideal temperature to fall asleep, it will do so easier and rest all throughout the night. Multiple studies have shown that this is, in fact, true for people at all stages of life. Maybe all you need for a better night’s sleep is a cooler environment.
But AC can be costly, and we are all looking for ways to conserve. There are natural methods that have to do with changing your habits, or you can purchase Evapolar and chill your personal bubble. Better yet, use it in conjunction with the other four tips.
