Sleep is something that eludes me at times. These last few nights, with the sunny days and warm nights, rest has been particularly tricky for me to find. Looking through a journal, I noticed that around this time last year, I had also danced with a bout of insomnia. And the year before. I couldn't quite mark where the pattern began. I wondered, do other people have this pattern?

The answer is yes.

A study utilizing an actigraph, a sort of watch that measures activity and sleep patterns with 97 participants living with episodic migraines found that warmer weather was associated with lower sleep efficacy (Li et al., 2020). Another study of 216 participants found a correlation between shorter sleep duration and longer days in spring and summer (Mattingly et al., 2021). Finally, a systemic review of five studies noted a correlation between warmer weather and poorer sleep quality (Chevance et al., 2024), and individuals with a tendency toward insomnia are particularly susceptible.

As well, these sleep changes may underlie some of the links between spring and summer months and mania in bipolar disorder. Lack of sleep can be a powerful trigger for mental health symptoms.

As we fall asleep, our temperature naturally drops. Warm temperatures can interfere with this process, making it harder to fall asleep and interfering with sleep quality.

Outside of planning a trip to Antarctica, what can you do? Here are three ideas:

Warmer weather can decrease sleep quality. Still, by taking steps to stay cool, being active during the day, and keeping consistent with sleep timing, it is possible to stack the odds more in favor of a good night's sleep.

References

Chevance, G., Minor, K., Vielma, C., Campi, E., O’Callaghan-Gordo, C., Basagaña, X., & Bernard, P. (2024). A systematic review of ambient heat and sleep in a warming climate. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 101915.

Goldberg, M., Pairot de Fontenay, B., Blache, Y., & Debarnot, U. (2024). Effects of morning and evening physical exercise on subjective and objective sleep quality: an ecological study. Journal of Sleep Research, 33(1), e13996.

Li, W., Bertisch, S. M., Mostofsky, E., Vgontzas, A., & Mittleman, M. A. (2020). Associations of daily weather and ambient air pollution with objectively assessed sleep duration and fragmentation: a prospective cohort study. Sleep Medicine, 75, 181–187.

Mattingly, S. M., Grover, T., Martinez, G. J., Aledavood, T., Robles-Granda, P., Nies, K., & Mark, G. (2021). The effects of seasons and weather on sleep patterns measured through longitudinal multimodal sensing. NPJ Digital Medicine, 4(1), 76.