I live in a building with no air conditioning — here’s how I get a good night’s sleep in summer

A woman stands by a window of a sunlit bedroom in the summer

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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Summer is officially here and the sun is out to brighten my day — and ruin my sleep at night.

While many people are turning to their air conditioning to keep their bedrooms cool and fresh at night, unfortunately I do not have that luxury.

Read more: I test mattresses for a living — my all-time favorite is now $400 off in 4th of July sales

Why it's hard to sleep in the heat

We all have a core body temperature, which can fluctuate throughout the day. It’s at its lowest before we wake up in the morning, and then rises throughout the day until it reaches its peak in the evening.

After it peaks, our body temperature then cools down to signal to the body that it’s time to sleep. (That’s why many of the best mattresses on the market use cooling materials.) A hot, stuffy bedroom interferes with the sleep-inducing cooling process, making it difficult to nod off.

Meanwhile, our bodies are confused by the high temperature that’s usually associated with the daytime when you need to be awake, so it doesn’t send us the sleepy signals needed to feel drowsy.

That’s why the best temperature for sleeping is between 68 and 77 F (20 and 25 °C.. However, when your home doesn’t have air-con and a heatwave is sweeping your town, it can be difficult to keep it within this temperature range. That’s why I have a few cooling tricks up my sleeve…

5 tips on how to sleep in the summer without air conditioning

1. Keep blinds and windows shut during the day...

A glass wall with blackout blinds being lowered on to it to block out all the light — (Image credit: Getty Images)

When trying to cool their bedroom, people almost automatically open a window to let some refreshing air inside. However, on a very warm day, you're actually increasing the room's temperature by allowing hot air to enter.

Instead, I keep my windows closed throughout the day if I know that the outdoor temperature is higher than the indoor temperature (typically 68°F-77°F). I also keep my room dark by keeping the blinds closed, too.

I know that this may be difficult when you want to let the cheerful sunshine in to brighten your room but darker is better during a heatwave.

2. ...and open them as soon as the temperature drops

Someone opening a window — (Image credit: Shutterstock)

Temperatures tend to drop in the early evening, so that's when I know it's time to open my blinds (luckily, the sun is often still out thanks to longer summer days) and windows.

I usually close the blinds when it's time to sleep due to light pollution, but I keep the window open throughout the night and close it a couple of hours after I wake up.

Opening your window throughout the evening, night, and early morning allows the cooler air to circulate the room, dropping the room temperature for a better sleep.

3. Freeze an eye pillow

A tropical-patterned eye pillow in a freezer bag on a wooden table. — My eye pillow in a zip-lock bag ready for the freezer (Image credit: Future)

Yes, that's right, an eye pillow is indeed a thing. They are small weighted masks that act like hot and cold compresses, and they're often stuffed with lavender and flaxseed for a soothing scent.

While you can heat up these pillows in the microwave as a hot compress, you can also put them in the freezer and use them as a cooling weighted eye mask.

I put mine in a freezer-safe zip-lock bag and then place it in the freezer for about 30 minutes to an hour before I go to bed. It instantly cools me down and helps me to fall asleep. Plus, they're easy to find; you can buy two lavender eye pillows for $15.99 at Amazon.

4. Invest in cooling bedding

A hand feels the Brooklyn Bedding Luxury Cooling Mattress Protector to test its temperature control — (Image credit: Brooklyn Bedding)

There's plenty of bedding you can buy that is designed specifically to cool down your bed, from mattress toppers with heat-dissipating covers to pillows for those who sleep hot (a member of my team started sleeping better as soon as she switched to a cooler pillow.)

I love the Brooklyn Bedding Luxury Cooling Mattress Protector, and I rank it as one of the best mattress protectors for keeping your mattress cool.

It's made using heat-dissipating GlacioTex, a high-tech cooling fabric used in some of the best cooling mattresses on the market.

And consider the layers of bedding you use as well. A lightweight duvet might help you stay cozy and cool or you can try sleeping with just a top sheet to keep the heat at bay.

5. Get yourself a fan

Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S inside of home. — (Image credit: Tom's Guide / John Velasco)

There are more obscure ways to stay cool at night, like sleeping in wool socks in summer or placing your mattress on the floor. But sometimes you just can't beat a hack that really works.

Fans circulates air around the room during days (and even nights) when it's too warm to open a window, keeping you cooler and feeling less stuffy.

You can find out more about optimizing your fan use in hot weather with our 7 pro tips for cooling with fans, which includes ideal fan placements and how to create DIY aircon.

There are a lot of different fans to choose from, too, from floor fans to tabletop fans. You can even get app-controlled smart fans, such as the Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S for customized cooling that won't break the bank.

Frances Daniels is a PPA-accredited journalist and Sleep Staff Writer at Tom's Guide with an MA in Magazine Journalism from Cardiff University. Her role includes covering mattress and sleep news and writing sleep product reviews and buyer's guides, including our Best Hybrid Mattress 2025 guide. She is interested in the relationship between sleep and health, interviewing an array of experts to create in-depth articles about topics such as nutrition, sleep disorders, sleep hygiene, and mattress care. She is also our specialist on mattress toppers — producing bed topper reviews and taking care of our Best Mattress Toppers 2025 guide — and leads content relating to fiberglass-free beds for a non-toxic sleep. Outside of Tom's Guide, she has written for Ideal Home and Marie Claire.

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