Getting through an "incredibly hot" night

Blowing a fan on your feet is one way of keeping cool while sleeping.

Kiwis tucking into bed tonight will find it harder to fall asleep thanks to soaring temperatures,

MetService has forecast an 'incredibly warm' and muggy night across much of the country.

Heat alerts have been issued for the lower North Island today with Upper Hutt reaching a maximum temperature of 29 degrees while the overnight temperature in Auckland is not forecast to drop below 17c for the next ten days.

Sleep expert Leigh Signal, a professor in fatigue management and sleep health at Massey University, says a while there is no magic solution, there are several things that can be done to help.

"Keeping your room cool during the day by pulling blinds and opening windows if you can, to create a new flow, if you can't, maybe go and buy a cheap fan. Or if you have the luxury of it, turn the heat pump on to the cool cycle.

"You need to think about your bed, your bedding and your nightwear. So, cotton sheets, natural fabrics, so that they can breathe."

Leigh says our body temperature varies naturally across the 24-hour period, and it drops during that window that we normally have for sleep, and that's why sleep becomes disturbed when our environment is too hot.

"Just remember you're not alone. Everyone is struggling at this time of the year to get some sleep.

So, if you are getting frustrated and stressed and, finding it difficult to sleep and you're lying there for a long period of time, get out of bed, do something quiet, listen to a podcast and then when you feel sleepy go back to bed and try again."

-RNZ.

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