Too hot to sleep ?

17 degrees Mollygo - that's nothing. 28 degrees upstairs here last night.

I had a lively two year old in '76, and two friends who were pregnant and desperate! The streets were filthy in London because of the lack of rain; cars, windows, shop fronts dusty and grimy, plants withered, grass like Weetabix. So hard to sleep, so hard to work in the stifling heat, and it went on and on. However, I have read posters remarking on the 'glorious summer of 76'. Frankly, enjoying that set of circumstances would surely make someone a candidate for a straight jacket.

Mollygo

It’s 17 degrees here as well. I’d join the dog on her cooling mat if there was room.

Get one for yourself. That’s what I’ve done and it’s brilliant.

I only wear pyjamas during the evening whilst watching tv and these are stripped off at bedtime. We both sleep naked with just a cotton top sheet - no duvet - after having a cooling wash before bed, both of us prefer to shower in the mornings. Neither of us have trouble sleeping despite the extreme temperature.

Who remembers 1976?
I'll never forget it!

I had a toddler and a new baby and they put stand pipes out in the road so I bought a galvanised bucket to boil the nappies on the stove! Luckily, it didn't come to that.

Saw online that a man had gone to B&M and purchased a cooling dog pad, it was about 2 ft sq and he uses it in HIS bed, he said it really helped.

MawtheMerrier , I was pregnant in 1976 - spent the last month sitting in the living room with closed curtains and my feet in a washing up bowl of cold water. At least my daughter had the decency to arrive in the small hours when it was a little cooler - on August 19th.

MissAdventure

Was it 76 when Elvis died?
We were on holiday in cornwall.

I remember 1976 as I was pregnant and had a lively 3 year old.
My lovely Dad had just died and we took my mum to the Isle of Wight at the same time as the Olympics were on and Nadia Comaneci got perfect scores. It was scorchio!
MissAdventure - Elvis died in August 1977

We have been lucky here in Blackpool. We've had nice weather but no heatwave here yet. Our flat faces the sea so we get a bit of sea breeze not all the time but it keeps us comfortable. I feel sorry for anyone who is suffering. The only thing is that we have to keep an eye out for sandflies (horrible things) then we have to close the windows and the pesky seagulls that never seem to go to bed.

It's about 20 degrees in my bedroom, no fans, windowa shut and still got a duvet, albeit a summer weight one, on my bed and still sleeping through the night. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones. sorry!!

I must be a freak, I sleep really well when it’s hot! The bedroom only gets sun in the morning so is usually relatively cool by bedtime.

Last night two big fans on, 28 degrees two big windows in our bedroom both open wide plus the little top windows nightmare, All pets on cooling mats, praying for it to cool down!

I remember '76 very well, I was pregnant for the first quarter of it, then a tiny new born for the rest of the summer... as a new mum with no mother or female relatives it was hard for me to gauge at just what temperature to keep my baby.. thankfully she came to no harm and thrived.

I remember 1976. being a hay fever sufferer it wasn`t pleasant. The weather broke when we were on holiday in September. We were on a beach in the sunshine, then it suddenly clouded over and there was a deluge! That was on the Thursday of our week away, after working through all that heat all summer.

I don’t like a fan in my bedroom, I live in the country so I’m used to silence at night. I use the cool mats designed for dogs, I put them in the fridge, get one out when I go to bed and put it on the pillow. It’s large size so I can move around to the coolest part. I find if my head’s cool I can sleep, but if I do wake up I get the other one from the fridge.

I have that same dyson fan also a dyson pedestal fan which in my bedroom. Bought them when the grandchildren were small as they are so very safe. Nice and quiet, just a gentle hum to send me to sleep

we lived in the middle of farmland in n wales in 1976, water from a tank on the hill and it dried up. No mains water and 2 toddlers. I cut bin liners up and collected drips coming down the side of the hill.

Just lying naked on the bed (on a cotton sheet) works best for me. Keeping very still & quiet, usually I cool off/drop off. (To sleep - not from bed...)

FannyCornforth

Tell me about your Dyson fan please Maw
I’ve mulled over them for years.
I’ve read mixed reviews.
The fans that I’ve got are absolutely brilliant (they have to be) but they are far from silent.
Is yours a hot and cold one, or just cold?
If I did get one I’d get it from QVC so I could send it back if need be…

m.youtube.com/watch?v=vHDK5OdLkpk

It’s this one but I don’t know if it’s still available. I bought one for D3 when she had Otis 3 years ago and then thought “Why the heck not have one for myself!”

I can't sleep in the heat anymore - never used to bother me. I've switched my day around for now and take a long siesta when it's really hot outside. Have breakfast at about 5am, prep food for the day, go for a walk or do housework until I get too hot, lunch, then settle down in our north facing sitting room for a few hours and have a nap. Up in time for dinner, open all the windows if it's breezy, do a few hours of whatever needs doing while it's cooler then bed about midnight when the bedroom is cooler. Works well for me anyway.

I’ve found the best way to sleep in hot nights is to soak a sheet in cold water, wring it out, pop it in the fridge for a few hours before going to bed, and then drape it over me. I keep a spare one in the fridge just in case the first dries too quickly. I know some people who use large bath towels or bath sheets instead, as they dry more slowly.

It hasn’t been hot enough where I am yet this year to bother, no more than 17 or 18 overnight, but I think that’s set to change from tonight.

I have a Dyson tower fan and whilst it's not silent it is certainly very quiet. I like it because it's easy to clean and no grilles for dust etc to get trapped in. I would recommend it.

1976, I remember well, my daughter was 2, we were living in a large old flat with high ceilings that was so much cooler than the modern houses nearby. I remember packing up my second hand silver cross pram and walking a couple of miles to the local lido and spending the days there with friends. Sadly it closed down not long after .I would love a dip now! My sister - in law came to stay with two small children as they had stand pipes where they lived . But everyone was really crotchety and it didn’t work out for long ! I had a miscarriage too and used to wonder if it was due to the heat .

I too remember summer of 1976. Gave birth to my first son at beginning of August. Sweltered. I was HUGE and a main memory was buying cut price nectarines and walking down the road with the sweet succulent juice spilling everywhere in the heat. ☺️

I hate winter, and I hate being cold, so I really don’t want to moan about it, but at least when you’re cold you can turn the heating up, light the fires, snuggle under a blanket, but there’s not much you can do to cool down, unless you’re lucky enough to have a swimming pool!