Introduction
In Switzerland, summers are getting hotter. And with the heat come three enemies of sleep that many are familiar with: heat that prevents deep sleep, evening light that delays falling asleep, and mosquitoes that fragment sleep cycles once you're finally there.
The good news: each of these three disturbances has a simple and effective solution. No need for air conditioning, chemical treatments, or medication. Just the right adjustments, at the right time.
1. Maintain the room between 16°C and 19°C
Temperature is the primary lever for summer sleep. Our body initiates sleep by lowering its internal temperature by about 1°C, a process that cannot occur properly if the room is too hot.
Above 22°C, deep sleep becomes fragmented. Above 25°C, falling asleep becomes difficult for most people. In the middle of Swiss summer, some rooms can exceed 28°C by the end of the day.
Practical solutions:
- Close shutters and curtains during the day to block heat before it enters
- Open windows in the early evening when the outside temperature drops below the inside temperature
- A quiet fan directed towards the window (not towards the bed) creates efficient air circulation without creating a direct draft
2. Adopt bedding suitable for heat
Bedding often plays an underestimated role in nocturnal thermal regulation. A cheap polyester duvet retains body heat and creates a stuffy atmosphere. Conversely, breathable natural materials like cotton, bamboo, and linen allow heat and moisture to escape.
In summer, switch to a lightweight duvet (tog rating 1 or 2) or sleep with a simple percale cotton sheet. Percale is the most breathable and coolest material to the touch: it doesn't warm you up, it thermoregulates.
The Sōmna Aura, with its 4-lobed ventilated structure in breathable foam, is particularly suitable for summer nights: air circulates between the lobes and prevents heat accumulation under the head, one of the areas where body temperature is highest during sleep.
3. Block summer light
In July in Switzerland, the sun sets around 9:30 PM and rises as early as 5:30 AM. This prolonged luminosity directly disrupts melatonin production, the hormone that triggers sleep. Your brain interprets evening light as a daytime signal and maintains a state of biological wakefulness long after bedtime.
If your shutters or curtains don't block light perfectly, total darkness can be difficult to achieve in a bedroom. A quality sleep mask solves this problem immediately and completely.
The Sōmna Sleep Mask, made of natural silk, blocks 100% of ambient light without putting pressure on the eyes. Its material is soft and cool to the touch, unlike polyester masks which can create a sensation of heat around the eyes.
4. Protect your night from insects
A single mosquito in a room is enough to fragment an entire night. Its buzzing, its bites, and the skin reaction they cause disrupt deep sleep cycles and generate repeated micro-awakenings, which we don't always remember, but which leave real fatigue the next day.
Chemical sprays and diffusers are effective but release substances whose prolonged inhalation over several hours is not harmless, especially for young children and pregnant women.
The Sōmna Night Protector works differently: its biomimetic UV light attracts insects and captures them by physical suction, without any chemicals, in total silence. It consumes 5W, is powered by USB-C, and operates passively throughout the night without intervention.
5. Take a cool (not cold) shower before bed
A cool shower at 20-22°C, 30 to 60 minutes before bedtime, helps the body initiate the drop in internal temperature that precedes sleep. The warmth of the shower dilates the blood vessels in the skin, which then release body heat, leading to a slight drop in internal temperature favorable to falling asleep.
Important: the shower should be cool, not cold. A cold shower stimulates the sympathetic nervous system and produces the opposite effect, it wakes you up.
6. Adapt your summer evening diet
In summer, evening meals tend to be later and more festive; aperitifs, barbecues, rosé. All these elements (alcohol, rich and late meals) directly disrupt sleep.
Alcohol, in particular, is a common summer trap: it facilitates falling asleep but profoundly fragments sleep in the second part of the night, reducing REM sleep and increasing nocturnal awakenings. An evening with two glasses of wine can reduce sleep quality by 25%.
To implement:
- Eat a light dinner at least 2 hours before bedtime
- If you consume alcohol, compensate with abundant hydration in the evening
- Favor fresh foods, vegetables, and light proteins for summer dinner
7. Create a summer bedtime routine
In summer, longer evenings and late activities tend to naturally shift bedtime. This gradual shift in the biological clock is one of the main causes of chronic summer fatigue.
A bedtime routine, a sequence of actions repeated in the same order every evening, is the most effective tool for conditioning the brain to prepare for sleep, regardless of external light.
An example of a Sōmna summer routine:
1. Close shutters and curtains (or prepare the Sōmna Vela)
2. Turn on the Sōmna Nox in standby mode
3. Cool shower
4. 10 minutes of reading (warm light only)
5. Lavender diffuser off, mask on, lights off
The regularity of this ritual, repeated every evening, gradually programs the brain to associate these actions with the onset of sleep, even in full summer light.
What to remember
Summer disrupts sleep systemically; heat, light, and insects simultaneously act on the same biological mechanisms. The right strategy is not to fight against a single factor but to act on all three together, with simple and coherent solutions.
At Sōmna, we have selected products that address exactly these three summer problems: the Sōmna Aura for breathability, the Sōmna Sleep Mask for total darkness, and the Sōmna Night Protector for silent protection. Because a good summer night should not be an exception.