Quality sleep is just as important, and just as achievable in the summer as it is any other time of year.
It’s strange how a season built around leisure can leave you feeling so tired. But when the air turns heavy and the nights stay warm, even sleep, the most basic form of rest, becomes harder to come by.
REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep is a critical stage of the sleep cycle associated with vivid dreaming, memory consolidation, emotional processing, and overall brain restoration. To fall asleep, your body needs to cool down, but hot weather can interfere with this process by making it harder to lower your core temperature. As a result, sleep onset is delayed, and you’re more likely to experience restlessness throughout the night. Heat can also disrupt both deep sleep and REM sleep, leaving you feeling groggy and unrefreshed even after a full night in bed.
Summer’s sometimes muggy weather, leading to high humidity, can also make it harder for your body to cool down by slowing sweat evaporation, leading to overheating and nighttime discomfort. Humid air can also make breathing feel heavier, which can be especially challenging for people with allergies or asthma.
Longer daylight hours in the summer can delay your body’s natural release of melatonin, the hormone that signals it’s time to sleep. When it stays light out later in the evening, your brain stays alert longer, making it harder to feel sleepy at your usual bedtime. This can shift your sleep schedule later and reduce overall sleep time, especially if you still need to wake up early.
Last, but not least, social routine changes in summer, like late dinners, weekend trips, and spontaneous evenings out, can disrupt your sleep schedule and throw off your circadian rhythm. When your bedtime and wake-up time vary from day to day, your body struggles to maintain a consistent sleep-wake cycle.
By mid-summer, many people find themselves sleep-deprived without realizing how they got there. Left unchecked, the summertime months can rewrite your sleep habits, unless you learn how to keep it in check.
All material copyright MediResource Inc. 1996 – 2025. Terms and conditions of use. The contents herein are for informational purposes only. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Source: www.medbroadcast.com/healthfeature/gethealthfeature/Sleep-and-Sunshine-How-Longer-Days-Can-Disrupt-Rest