As temperatures soar and humidity levels rise, getting to sleep can be a bit more challenging in the heat of the Qatari summer. Adding that to the party atmosphere that surrounds the season, it can be a bit more tempting to get lax with our nightly kip.

According to the US’s National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, sleeping is so much more than the chance to wind down after revving it up for some 16 hours. Sleep helps our minds and bodies repair themselves for the next day and regulates the processes that keep them healthy.  Good sleep keeps our cognitive functions in check by allowing the brain form new pathways to keep us equipped with all the right stuff that will help us stay focused, creative and even in a good mood for the day to come.

While we rest up overnight, our hearts and blood vessels go through essential restoration processes and our immune systems gear up for another day’s fight against the germs that can make us sick. Our ability to know when we’re hungry and when we’re full is also streamlined thanks to sleep, as adequate sleep keeps our ghrelin and leptin levels – the hormones responsible for hunger and fullness respectively – in balance. With all of the benefits to reap up from a good night’s sleep, it’s no wonder that a lack of it has been linked to a host of serious conditions including heart disease, depression, and diabetes.

So now that we know just how important it is to clock out for the night, below are a few tips that can help make dozing off this summer a bit easier.

Sleep

Source: Digisok

Tips for sweet summer snoozing

1. Crank up the AC: The American Academy of Sleep Medicine’s Sleep Education website cites a room temperature of 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius) as the optimum temperature for getting good sleep. As evening temperatures can rise to almost double that amount, keeping the aircon on is essential when hitting the sack.

2. Dress cool: Wearing breathable materials can also stop us from feeling too stuffy at night, so choosing breathable materials like cotton and linens for our pyjamas and even our bedding are effective ways to help us wind down.

3. Put away your phone: In addition to keeping our minds stimulated, late-night internet browsing can also keep us awake by inhibiting the formation of melatonin, a key hormone that is released more at night and helps regulate our sleeping patterns. This is because a type of light emitted from our phones, known as blue light, has the same effect on melatonin production as sunlight, so it keeps us awake for longer. So Instagram scrolling can definitely wait until the morning!

As we live it up these vacationing months with our friends and family, let’s bear in mind that getting enough sleep and staying healthy also helps us have a good time and may just be the thing to help us stay around for many more summers to come.