Hot Weather · 30 minutes · Basic
Sleep Through a Heat Wave Without Power
How to dump the day's heat out of the house and get through the night when the fan and AC are dead.
This is for educational purposes only. Not professional medical, electrical, or safety advice.
- 01
Seal the house at dawn
Close windows, shutters and curtains before the sun heats the walls. Everything opens at dusk. A house that stays 80°F all day is a house you can sleep in.
- 02
Flush it at night
Open low windows on the windward side and high windows on the other side — warm air leaves high, cool air comes in low. Cross-breeze beats one open window.
- 03
Block sun before it enters
White sheets, cardboard or foil on the outside of sun-facing windows stop heat before it's inside your room. Inside curtains only slow it down.
- 04
Sleep low and off the mattress
Heat rises — the floor of the lowest room is several degrees cooler. Foam pad or sheet on the floor beats a bed that holds your body heat all night.
- 05
Damp sheet plus a fan
Sleep under a wrung-out cotton sheet with a battery fan blowing across it, and re-wet it as it dries. A frozen water jug in front of the fan buys an hour or two of real cool air.
- 06
Cool the pulse points first
Five minutes of cool (not icy) water on wrists, neck and ankles before bed drops your skin temperature fast and helps you fall asleep.
- 07
Watch the vulnerable
Babies, older people and anyone on medication are the ones who die in heat waves, usually overnight. Check on them — and on themselves — before bed.