Too Hot to Sleep? Easy Tips and Tricks to Cool Down

Experts agree that your bedroom’s temperature can have a direct effect on how well and how long you sleep. While the optimal temperature for sleeping varies from person to person, in general, it’s best to keep your room between 65 and 75 degrees.

If air conditioning isn’t available, the following tactics may help you cool off so you can begin nodding off:

• Use a fan: Fans circulate the air around you, creating a wind chill that feels cooler than the actual air temperature. As an added bonus, the hum of the fan often can block out other nighttime noises, helping you stay asleep

• Add ice: If your fan isn’t quite doing the job, try placing a large amount of ice in a roasting pan and putting it directly in front of the fan. The air will flow over the ice and cool it off before reaching you.

• Take a shower: Lower your body’s temperature with a cool shower before you hit the sheets. And, instead of drying off completely, let the surrounding air evaporate any excess moisture, which will keep you cool long enough to fall asleep.

• Choose cool bedding: Fabrics will have a bearing on how cool your bed feels. Choose satin or other non-heat absorbing fabrics rather than heavier fabric such as flannel.

• Chill your pillow: If flipping your pillow over and over is getting old, you may want to invest in a water-filled pillow insert. These inserts can be stored in the fridge during the day and tucked into your pillow before bed. Alternatively, buckwheat pillows may be a good solution for hot nights because they do not retain body heat like other cotton batten or down-filled pillows.

• Apply lotions: If hot feet are keeping you awake, try slathering lotion on them. Likewise, to cool your body, try mixing your lotion with a little tea tree, eucalyptus or peppermint oil before applying.

Keeping Your Eyes Open and on the Road

You know the feeling: it is pitch black outside, you’re driving, and the rhythmic thumping of the tires on the pavement is putting you in a trance. Pretty soon, your breathing becomes shallow, and all you want to do is shut your eyes just for a moment. Don’t do it! Drowsy driving is the cause of more than 100,000 crashes each year, according to the U. S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

If you find yourself feeling drowsy while driving, safety should always be your number one priority. If possible, pull off the road into a safe area, do some stretches, and resume driving only when you feel you will be able to stay awake. If this isn’t an option, you can try one of the following tricks to help keep you awake until you reach your destination (MORE).

Keep it Down! Tips for a Quieter Hotel Stay

When traveling, for work or for pleasure, you want the place you lay your head at night to be one of peace, calm and serenity – an environment that fosters a restful night’s sleep. Unfortunately, we travel in a world where noise assaults us form every angle. Even the most upscale hotel with 600-thread count sheets and a luxurious spa can be hiding eco-chamber hallways and wafer-thin walls.

So, what can you do to ensure your hotel room is as quiet as possible? Here are some tips to keep in mind before you unpack that suitcase:

1. Before even checking in, request a room far away from the street, as high as you can possibly get and located toward the rear of the building.

2. If the hotel is not completely booked, ask for a room that does not have guests booked in rooms on either side of yours.

3. Ask the manager if any events are scheduled in the hotel where blocks of guests are grouped together, those floors inevitably will become party central. Warmer months, with spring breaks, major sports weekends and wedding season, have the most potential for partying guests.

4. Before you enter the room, survey the location and noise level. And don’t settle in until you are absolutely sure your room is as quiet as you need it to be. If it isn’t, just head back down to the front desk and request another.

5. Make sure your room is far away from vending machines and ice dispensers, as they are a source for a lot of abrupt noises. Also, be sure that it is not near an elevator, where speaking levels tend to be louder.

6. Invest in a “white noise” machine, which cancels out background noise. They are available online and through many retailers including Brookstone and Best Buy.

7. Create your own white noise by turning the room’s heating/air conditioning unit fan on low.

8. Pack earplugs or an MP3 player loaded with soothing music or nature sounds with “in-the-ear” earphones.

9. When hallway noise is the problem, use the bath mat, which is denser and sometimes has a rubber backing, to block any cracks under the doors.

10. Look for hotels that advertise “quiet zones” or use sound-deadening building materials, such as AmericInn with its SoundGuard™ construction.

Your Sleep Benefits from Your Home & Building

There are so many influencers that can cause sleepless nights. It can be anything from stress during the day to that bite of chocolate you had at dinner. But one of the most common factors that keeps us awake at night are outside noises, which can be eliminated or at least softened by a few home remedies or better insulation.

Whether you live in the city, suburbs or country, there are always noises like trucks driving by, barking dogs, road construction or noisy neighbors that wake us up in the middle of the night. There is the old trick of using heavy curtains and heavy rugs to help deaden the outside noise. You can also add soundproof windows to your existing windows, creating an extra barrier between you and the noise.

Another challenge is living in an apartment or home with pre-existing thin walls. An easy, do-it-yourself option is QUIET BARRIER™ sound blocking material, which is an extra layer of foam placed over your wall. After hanging the foam layer, apply the drywall over it and the project is complete. If you’re renting you’ll want to get your landlord’s permission first.

For those who consistently are interrupted by loud noises at night and have tried a few homemade fixes, the next step may be investing in new insulation to help quiet your home. Insulation companies, like Minnesota-based AAD Foam Insulation, LLC, use a foam that attaches itself to the inside of homeowners’ walls. The foam is sprayed into wall cavities and expands to fill any space. The foam doesn’t shrink, sag or settle, so walls are strengthened and quiets room environments. The spray foam also acts a wind and air barrier making your home more energy efficient.

Maybe noise is not a factor when you’re sleeping comfortably at home, but rather when you’re traveling and staying at a hotel. Noise made by your neighbors is out of your control, but you can try to prevent it by choosing hotels that offer a quiet stay. For example, AmericInn hotels use a patented process called AmericInn SoundGaurd™ construction that uses masonry blocks, sound deadening foam and concrete slabs to eliminate noises between the rooms.

How to Get Better Sleep While Traveling

The comfort of your own bed is a precious thing. After a few days of traveling, most of us start missing our favorite pillow, sheets, mattress and even alarm clocks. Familiarity helps make it easier to relax. Even if you travel often and are used to staying in hotels and adjusting to new settings, you’re still likely to suffer from sleep deprivation.

A 2005 British Airways and Research International survey concluded that business travelers aren’t getting enough sleep. Out of 1,000 business travelers surveyed, 25 percent admitted to falling asleep in a meeting, and 70 percent said they felt less productive after travel.

Below are five common reasons travelers suffer from sleepless nights, followed by advice from Dr. Chris Drake, a bioscientific investigator at the Henry Ford Sleep Research Center in Detroit and the sleep expert for AmericInn® Hotels. (More)

How to Create Your Own Sleep Haven

You know the feeling. You’re in bed, but you can’t fall asleep. Your mind is racing and you’re tossing and turning so you read a book or watch television until the wee hours of the morning. Getting good quality sleep is vital to our health, so it pays to create a sleep haven and improve your rest.

A recent sleep survey conducted for AmericInn® Hotels found that six in ten U.S. adults (62 percent) had trouble falling asleep at least one night per week and nearly 10 percent had a tough time sleeping every single night. That’s a total of 3.1 billion hours of sleep lost in America each week or 161 billion hours per year.

So what are the leading causes of all this lost sleep in our country? The survey found economic fears (36 percent) lead the reasons for American sleeplessness followed by high energy prices (29 percent), health and medical concerns (28 percent), stress over politics (22 percent) and concerns about war and global terrorism (12 percent). No wonder America is having a hard time sleeping. (More)