The summer months bring a grand opportunity for travel and visiting festive places known for sunshine, but heat can make your journey a little challenging when the time comes to hit the sack. The days can be long, and when night comes, you may be sleeping in an unfamiliar hotel bed, dealing with the sweltering heat the night can unexpectedly bring.
Sleep is supposed to make you feel refreshed and relaxed, but struggling through a sweltering evening can leave you waking up feeling uneasily tired. Tossing and turning in the bed of a sticky hotel room was not part of the itinerary you planned.
Thankfully, you can stay cool, avoid a sweaty bed, get a great night’s sleep and enjoy your trip by following a few simple tips to keep you cool no matter where you’re staying or what the temperature is outside. Let’s look at some basic tips to get the rest you need on your journey. Everything from picking the right hotel room to bringing sleep accessories may help you to sleep better while traveling.
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Pick the Best Hotel Room for a Cool Night’s Sleep
Never overlook the value of choosing the proper hotel room location when prioritizing sleep quality. Some spots are known for generating extra heat, such as a room with windows facing the sun, near the kitchen, close to the elevators or on the ground floor where the front doors are consistently opening and closing. With tall buildings, the higher floors will create concerns because heat rises.
Request a room with thick blackout curtains that can keep the sun from coming inside. Don’t wait until after you’ve paid for the room to find out if your request will be accommodated. Contact the hotel in advance and ask them for details. Moving to another room might not be an option when no additional vacancies exist.
Even if the room has an air conditioning system, you may prefer a hotel with central cooling. You likely want to adjust the temperature to your preferences. Also, the room may require you to put a key card into a slot to turn on the electricity. Ask about getting an extra key card to leave the electricity on to run the air conditioner when you are not there. This way, you can return to a cooled-off room.
Even if the temperature is not perfect, you could try to sleep through the night anyway. Can you get a restful night’s sleep? Mild heat might not be the only issue to deal with, as noise can also be a problem. If the room is close to the swimming pool or highway traffic, you may want something away from all the commotion.
Pack Your Bags Strategically for Summer Sleeping
Bringing the right things with you on your trip can help improve your sleep experience. That doesn’t mean you must lug around heavy items. Several lightweight sleep accessories can be more than enough to contend with the dog days of summer. However, you must be strategic.
Don’t rely on the hotel pillows. Bring along cooling pillows designed for travelers. They have a combination of gel-infused memory foam and breathable covers that dissipate heat, which your neck and head will appreciate. Investing in memory foam pillows can make or break time spent in your hotel room or on a plane.
Another excellent option is moisture-wicking sheets. Bringing a lightweight, breathable sheet to use rather than the hotel bedding could have a positive effect you didn’t know about. When choosing special sheets with materials like bamboo or special cotton, the sheets pull sweat away from your body. That’s a big difference from those standard sheets inside the hotel room, which are heavy and could trap heat.
Additional Things to Consider
It can be helpful to wear a sleep mask or use earplugs. You want to have a restful night’s sleep, but noise and unwanted light could make that challenging. You won’t be in a familiar environment, so coming prepared seems the best move. If needed, these items could help you fall asleep faster and stay asleep even if you’re traveling to a busy city with a lot of hustle and bustle.
A portable fan is another helpful little item that is well worth bringing. You can get a small fan powered by USB sources, and it will fit in suitcases easily. Flicking a switch gives you a cooling breeze, which can be welcome if the room’s air conditioner isn’t doing its job.
Never forget your responsibility to keep yourself cool. Overexertion to the point of heat exhaustion during the day can result in a restless night. The body’s attempts to regulate its temperature can disrupt the normal sleep cycle. If you have plans for physical activities, enjoying them early in the morning when the temperature is a little lower may prove beneficial in the evening when you hope to get some sleep.
Concerns About Jet Lag
When you travel to another time zone, your body will require time to adjust. Upended sleep patterns can take some time to even out, and jet lag combined with overly warm environments will affect sleeping patterns. Preventive steps can decrease the effects of jet lag. If you tweak your sleeping patterns a few days before the trip, you may adjust more easily and faster once you arrive at your vacation destination.
Avoiding caffeine and alcohol can be wise when trying to overcome jet lag. Actually, caffeine and alcohol may cause sleep troubles even when jet lag is not a problem.
Prepare to Make the Trip Enjoyable
Traveling in the summer can be a lot of fun, but you might find your limits tested when trying to stay cool and avoid sleepless nights. Steps you can take to sleep well on your journey include choosing the right pillow and buying the right sheets. Make proper preparations with the hotel beforehand. These and other tips can make your time on the road more enjoyable and less stressful. Bon voyage, and don’t let the thermostat’s reading give you a tough night!