I’m hot. All the time, and summers are nigh unbearable for me. I would sell my firstborn for a cooling blanket if it existed.
I’m thinking of getting a Chillow, basically a water filled plastic insert you stuff into your pillow, but the reviews I’ve read are definitely mixed, ranging from “It saved my sanity” to “Uncomfortable and prone to leaks”.
My home-made version is keeping two of those little quilted looking picnic basket cooling things (each smaller than a pillowcase, sold in the “Summertime FUN!!!” displays in a drugstore) in the freezer. When I’m about to die of heat stroke, I put one behind my back and one on my chest, and in about 10 minutes I feel much better.
There are such cooling blankets available. They are used in medical situations, for cooling of patients suffering from hyperthermia, heat stroke, after some surgeries, or patients with severe burns.
Search for “patient cooling blankets” to find them. Some brand names are EmCool, Medi-Therm, CoolMedics.
These are designed for medical use, they are pretty expensive.
Living in an extremely hot climate (100+ at night) with no AC, I’ve been pretty successful with the “wet sheets and a fan” method. A good variation is to drape wet sheets like a tent- I put them over my mosquito net- and then point a fan at that tent, creating a cool little chamber.
I agree with this. That bed fan looks awful, because I can’t stand having drafts coming in under my covers. I would just cool the bedroom with a window unit, leaving the house A/C off at night.
As for hypothermia - it’s deceptive. I remember seeing an “I survived” story about someone who got dumped out of a kayak or something, off the coast of Hawaii. He could float without any problem, but the problem was hypothermia. You think “Hawaii - nice and hot, great for swimming, not a problem like falling into a frozen lake.” But spend enough time in 80 degree water, and you will get hypothermia.
I’d love one:D
Then I can sleep in Summer with no noisy air con whirring.
I’m fine until it gets around 38 or 40 degrees ( for my American friends that is 100-104 ) then it gets uncomfortable.
It’s 30 / 86 today and cool as a cucumber. Hot but dry. Desert heat is much better than humid heat I have to say.
I hate humidity.
Invent something and sell it here;)
I also like to be cool when I sleep. I have had the misfortune of sleeping on a water bed when the heating element died and it isn’t a good feeling to be that chilled to the bones cold. Or cold and clammy cold. Has anyone ever had a water bed element go out? I have a water pillow because of my neck problems and so far I have not gotten that feeling from it as it has insulation over the water.
I keep my room cool with an AC in an opposite window so it’s not blowing directly on me. It shuts of at 65 degrees which is my year round temperature for my home. I’m always hot too. Have you tried a light summer weight down comforter? They really keep me warm but cool and breathe. I can’t stand blankets but love my duvet. It’s puffy and soft and with good linens easy to keep the duvet cover clean. Good Luck
Wondering when you switch your air cons on?
What temp?
What setting do you use when it is on?
Here in Cairo we switch on when it gets to 38/100 and set it at around 28-30, damn it hang on I’ll convert… 82-86 degrees.
When we are in our Sinai house because we are right on the Red Sea we switch on at 38 but keep it at 26 or so because we have a bit of humidity being almost on the beach. We have a great breeze year round there so it’s great for kite surfing but it does get a bit humid:(
My husband and I just spent the first winter in our flat together and we had ours set to 58 degrees (14C). This is because it has no insulation and it was really expensive to heat. We just bundled up.
Honestly, I’m quite uncomfortable at night if it is below 68 F (20 C) and I don’t have fans. In fact, all winter, my roommates wanted the heat on (fair enough, since it was 38-45 F at night), but I was so miserable with the heater set to 68 F that I slept with my windows open.
So, needless to say, the summer here is an ongoing battle. During the day, it’s 110-120 (43-48 C) and at night, it rarely drops below 100 F. So, my AC is constantly on but I try to be somewhat reasonable and set it at 72. Sooooo hot though.
As a kid, I wanted to die because my dad NEVER turns his AC on, so I never could sleep, had constant migraines, and was generally miserable due to lack of sleep.
For me, it isn’t just a cool room thing, it’s a cool bed thing, too. Plus, it just seems like it would be cheaper to cool a bed instead of an entire room.
I’ll third or 4th the waterbed will chill you down good just being at ambient room temp. Its not as good as having the air in the room nice and chilly, but even an 80 degree waterbed will suck the heat out of you quite well. Most people I know who have waterbeds have to run the heaters in them even in mid summer so the water doesnt get “too cold”.
I think I’d rather a cooling mattress. A blanket would likely have to be stiffer than I like if it had any sort of cooling system in it. And it would have to be plugged in and I just move around too much when I sleep for that to work.
I make due with 3-5 ice packs wrapped in towels in my bed when it’s else wise too hot to sleep.
I keep my A/C unit set to 62 degrees in the summer in the evening. I can stand heat all day but at night I like it cold, and I only use a sheet. Freezes my SO but he loves me enough to wrap up without complaining.
I would love a way to keep cooler without wasting so much electricity. I’ve always been this way, even as a kid I remember putting my feet on the wall to cool them off at night and I never used a blanket.
Absolutely. One of us needs to start a creative cooling solutions thread! I think the idea of wrapped up ice packs is a neat one I hadn’t thought of before.
Wow, that’s a great idea! I wish I would have known about this method when I lived in Spain. The inconvenience of rigging the tent would have so been worth it. I don’t think I slept all summer from the heat.
Yuck! Where do you live in California? The climate is why I stick to the city in Los Angeles, and I will never, ever move to the Valley.
What I do during the summer since I don’t have air-conditioning is get my eye-cooling pack and lay with it behind my neck at night. Mine is filled with rice and holds heat or cold really well. (Plus it smells pleasantly rice-y.) Cooling the neck region really helps bring down the body temperature.
I wouldn’t buy one. I’m comfortable sleeping in temps up to 80F, and here it’s rarely warmer than that at night; I think there were two nights last summer when it got to be around 90F in my bedroom and I had trouble sleeping. I find it much more difficult sleeping when it’s cold than hot, which is why I have two comforters on my bed during the winter.
58 is too cold for me but I like 65 year round. I’m just always warm no matter what season. Humidity bothers me more then the heat. Most people like it warmer then 65.
