8 Clever Ways to Cool Down Your Bedroom in the Summer Heat

Getting a good night's sleep during the hottest summer months seems impossible at times. Sometimes, even the air conditioning doesn't help, and you end up rolling from side to side and sweating like a sinner in church all night long. But even if it does, having the AC running all night for months seems like a waste of your hard-earned money, doesn't it?

To save yourself some cash and still sleep well all summer, irrespective of the heat, there are many things you can do, like proper insulation, ceiling fans, and other general tips to consider to keep your entire house cool.  But insulating your attic and installing ceiling fans are long-term projects that require professional help, a lot of time and possibly money, and chances are, you need some quick fixes to cool off and sleep well right away. So here are 8 clever and easy tricks that are sure to keep your bedroom cool and fresh all night, and require little time and even less money on your part.

1. Bring in some indoor plants

Turning your bedroom into a jungle full of greenery and fresh air is an excellent idea! Not only will the plants help you sleep better all night by providing you with fresh oxygen, but large leafy plants will also block out the sun and make sure the bedroom is in shade and hence a cooler place in your house. Planting shrubs and trees outside of the bedroom window is also a good idea, if possible.

In addition, some plants are natural coolants, and they provide lots of fresh oxygen and cool down the air in the room. Such indoor plants include aloe, snake plant, ficus plants, spider plant, Boston fern, pathos, and the Areca palm tree, and they will look great in your bedroom!

2. Make your windows reflective

Most of the heat gets into your bedroom with the light that shines through the windows, and so blocking or filtering out some light might really help reduce the heat in the bedroom. To do so, you can cover your windows in a special reflective film, which is available in most hardware stores and online and is easy to install on your own. The nearly transparent film acts as a filter that will let in only 47% of the sun's rays through, just enough to bring in some light into the room without overheating it.

In a pinch, you can also use regular tin foil or foam sheets with a foil backing to cover your bedroom windows that will basically have the same effect. The downside of this trick, however, is that the foil will block most of the light and doesn't look particularly appealing, but it works!

3. Choose the right curtains and blinds

Lightweight sheer curtains are not suitable for bedrooms, as they will let in too much light. Another great way to block out the sun's rays and keep your bedroom cool apart from the reflective film are blackout curtains or blinds, which you would ideally close throughout the day to keep the room fresh. Blackout curtains especially can block nearly 100% of the light and also have some noise-canceling properties and help trap heat in during the winter, which makes them an excellent choice for sensitive sleepers year-round.

4. Opt for light-colored furniture and accessories 

Even such a seemingly-minor detail as color can make a big difference in terms of trapping in unwanted heat. We recommend you choose light-colors like white, off-white, beige, or greige in your bedroom during the summer. To understand why you must remember a bit of color theory: dark colors, such as black, navy, and dark brown absorb light, whereas light ones reflect it. Thus, light-colored accessories, furniture, textiles, and bedding will not absorb much light and subsequently heat, too, so they're a much better choice for the warm months. 

5. Choose the right fabric for your bedding

In a previous article on staying cool at night without air conditioning, we've mentioned that cotton bedding is superior to polyester and satin in the summer. We'd like to specify that a bit more, as it's not just cotton, but also linen fabrics that are excellent for the summer months. Both of these fabrics are woven from natural fibers and thus are very breathable, which is key for losing heat. 

Linen, in particular, has natural cooling properties, and it's also antimicrobial and moisture-wicking. Both cotton and linen are natural insulators, which means they will help you cool off in the summer and keep you warm in the winter. Textile experts also suggest a percale weave for the summer, which is an especially closely-knit weaving technique that results in a cooling and smooth-feeling fabric.

6. Get a carpet for your bedroom

Insulation is key to effective and efficient climate control year-round, and not just in the summer, which is why experts always advise homeowners and renters alike to insulate their attic, windows, and any other cracks and gaps from where air may escape. However, few people actually know that one of the easiest ways to insulate the floor is by using a carpet. The carpet fibers will help fill in any insulation gaps in the floor that may otherwise be pricey and effortful to repair.

7. Air out the room

Don't want to use the air conditioner at night? In that case, opening the bedroom door may actually prove beneficial, as simple as that. An open door will increase the ventilation in the room and promote the circulation of fresh, cool air from other rooms into your bedroom. Be wary of drafts, however, and always use door stoppers to prevent the door from slamming shut in the middle of the night.

8. Change the lightbulbs

If you're still using old-fashioned incandescent lightbulbs in your home, it's definitely time for a change. These lightbulbs are significantly less efficient than LEDs and CFL bulbs and gobble up to 80% more energy. They also let out about 90% of the energy they use as heat, which means that they will increase the temperature in your bedroom, unlike fluorescent and LED lightbulbs.

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     

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Having a TV in the bedroom could be linked to childhood obesity

Girls who have televisions in their bedrooms are more likely than boys to become overweight, research has found.

Seven-year-old girls with TVs in their rooms have a 30 per cent higher risk of being overweight by the time they are 11 than children without their own television set.

For boys with a TV in their room the risk of becoming overweight goes up 20 per cent, the team discovered.

The researchers, who tracked more than 12,500 children, found more than half had TVs in their bedroom at age seven, reported.

Researcher, whose findings are published in a journal, said: "Childhood obesity is a major public health problem," she said.

"In a country, about one third of all 11 year olds are overweight and one in five are obese.

"Our study shows that there is a clear link between having a TV in the bedroom as a young child and being overweight a few years later."

The children, who had all been of a healthy weight at the age of three, were more likely to have higher overall body weight and an increased percentage of fat in their body.

But the impact was significantly greater for girls than boys.
The more TV girls watched, the more weight they put on - although the same was not found to be true for boys, who seemed to just put weight on if they had a TV in their bedroom and then stay the same weight no matter how much they watched.

Dr. thinks this is because young girls tend to be far less physically active than boys.

"If you watch children watching TV boys tend to jump around and bounce on the sofa and not sit still. They move around. Girls don't do that."

Lack of sleep to blame

Dr. said keeping a television in the living room allows parents to supervise how much their children are watching.

She added: "I strongly suspect that lack of sleep might play a role in this.

"If they have a TV in the bedroom it might be that they could watch it until late at night and don't get enough sleep.

"Other research suggests a link between lack of sleep duration and obesity."

Encourages snacking and less exercise
Other possible theories for the link include children snacking more while they watch TV, seeing more junk food adverts and simply sitting around more.

The researchers tried to take the amount of exercise children did into account - but admitted this was a "crude" calculation and did not include informal play and running around.

Nevertheless, they are convinced bedroom televisions independently raise the risk of a child being overweight, no matter how much exercise they did.

Dr. said: "We found that having a TV in the child's bedroom was an independent risk factor for being overweight and increased body fatness in this nationally representative sample of  children.

"Childhood obesity prevention strategies should consider TVs in children's bedrooms as a risk factor for obesity."

Implications for childhood obesity.

Dr. admitted far more research is need on the exact link - especially in a digital age in which children may watch television shows on smartphones, tablets and laptops in their rooms, not just on old-fashioned TVs.

"The causes of overweight and obesity are complex and multiple," she said.

"Screen time is part of the bigger picture and further research is needed among older children and adolescents, as the use of screen-based media including computers, mobile phones and tablets increases with age."

Health experts are desperate to reduce the burden of child obesity, which they think will lead to booming numbers of people with cancer, diabetes and heart disease in years to come.

Professor said last night:

"We know that high levels of screen time expose children to increased risks of being overweight on a number of fronts, creating a damaging combination of a more sedentary lifestyle, increased exposure to junk food advertising, disruption to sleep and poorer ability to regulate eating habits when watching TV.

"As the study indicates, more research is needed to fully understand this complex area, but this is a high quality study covering a very large and nationally representative sample and provides a reasonably strong basis to think that the links shown here are real.

"It highlights that having a TV in the bedroom from seven years increases the risk of being overweight four years later, regardless of the child's weight in earlier childhood.

"As such the findings must be taken very seriously."

 this is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.   
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https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
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Don't bring your smartphone to the bedroom

Sleep researchers have advised people to keep their smartphones far away from their bed, as they have led to a rise in sleep-related problems. Sure, you can flip your phone to quiet mode. But the draw to roam in the early hours is powerful. 

Sleep researchers say this isn't good for you. You might as well get up and drink a shot of espresso. A Dr. of the Sleep Disorders Centre , has said that it's a very slippery slope, as once you've picked up your phone to see what time it is, it leads to checking your email and to lying awake with anxiety. He said that when one wakes up in the middle of the night and checks his phone, he will inevitably get frustrated and worried by something he has seen, leading the body to tense up.

Then you find yourself tossing and turning, thinking about an email, a text or a meeting in six hours. Dr. said smartphones in the bedroom had led to a rise in sleep-related complaints from his patients. He said that for people in their 20s and 30s, the phone is becoming a more common contributing factor to insomnia, he  reported. Sleep researchers say that looking at a blue light, which is produced by smartphone and tablet screens, sets off brain receptors that are intended to keep us awake and interferes with circadian sleep patterns.

Experimental research has found that if people use a tablet for up to two hours before bed, it takes an extra hour to fall asleep. A neuroscientist and assistant professor in the division of sleep medicine, said the phone in the bedroom could set off what he called "threat vigilance", which is a type of anxiety that keeps you awake.

ps- this is only for information, always consult you physician before having any particular food/ medication/exercise/other remedies.

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