A fan. An open window. Different sheets. A cooling pillow. A gel topper.
Some of it helped. Some of it was money I would not spend again.
The part I wish I'd understood sooner was how different the same night can feel 10 minutes apart. First you're too hot. Then you're soaked. Then you're cold.
I kept buying for the first part.
1 - A fan beside the bed
The fan was the first thing I tried.
It still sits beside the bed.
If the room is warm or stuffy, I like having air moving. The frustrating nights were the ones when the bedroom already felt cool, the fan was pointed straight at me, and I still woke up sweating.
Then the hot flash would pass.
Now my clothes were damp, the fan was still blowing, and suddenly I wanted it off.
I'd pull something over myself and try to get back to sleep.
I still use the fan. I just stopped expecting it to be enough on its own.
2 - Sleeping with the window open in winter
Then I started making the whole room colder.
Thermostat down. Window open. Even in winter.
I remember lying there thinking the bedroom could not realistically get much colder unless I started sleeping outside.
It still happened.
That was what drove me mad. The room could be cold and I could still wake up hot.
I still prefer a cooler bedroom. I just stopped expecting a cold bedroom to guarantee a night without a hot flash.
3 - A cooling pillow and pillowcase
The pillow was easy to like at first.
You get into bed, put your head down, and it feels nice.
Great.
The problem was that I wasn't struggling with the first few minutes after getting into bed. I was waking up hours later.
Mine ended up being something I liked at bedtime rather than something that changed much about the part of the night I was buying it for.
That doesn't make cooling pillows pointless. If you like how one feels, that's a perfectly good reason to own one.
I had just expected more from it.
4 - Bamboo and Tencel sheets
I still like these.
The bed felt better to me, and I preferred sleeping on them.
I also still had night sweats.
There were nights when the sheets were changed, the window was open, the fan was running, and I still got out of bed because my pyjamas were soaked.
Eventually I stopped blaming the sheets for that.
They were nicer sheets. I had expected them to do more than that.
5 - The expensive cooling mattress pad
This was the option I took most seriously.
It was also the point where the problem started getting expensive.
Active cooling mattress systems genuinely help some people. If you want that kind of setup and the cost makes sense for you, I would not dismiss them.
But several hundred dollars is a very different decision from buying another pillowcase.
You're also adding equipment to the bed rather than simply changing the bedding.
For some people, that will be completely worth it.
For me, the price made one question harder to ignore: how would I know it was right for me before I'd actually slept on it?
By then I had already bought enough things because the description sounded convincing.
6 - A cooling gel topper
The gel topper also made a good first impression.
At the beginning of the night, I thought I might finally have found something.
Later, I was noticing the bed again.
After that, I stopped caring quite so much about how good something felt when I first got into bed.
I wasn't losing sleep at 10pm.
I was losing it at 2am and 3am.
That was the part I wanted to know about.
7 - Moisture-wicking pyjamas
The pyjamas were different.
I never expected them to stop the hot flash. I bought them because waking up drenched is miserable.
That was a much easier job to understand.
I could still wake up sweating, but I was choosing what I wore partly on the assumption that it might get wet.
The bigger surprise was how cold I could get afterwards.
You wake up hot. You throw the covers off. Then the flash passes and your clothes and skin are damp.
Suddenly you want something over you again.
That happened to me over and over.
What I'd do differently now
I'd keep the fan.
I'd keep the sheets I like.
And I'd pay more attention to what was actually on the bed.
After throwing the covers off, I usually wanted them back once I got cold. The problem was going from nothing straight back to the heavier bedding I'd just pushed away.
If I were starting again, I'd make sure I had a lighter layer available instead.
Not because a lighter blanket stops a hot flash.
Because I still wanted something over me.
Where this page stops
This page describes what women report about night sweats and the things they try. It cannot tell you what is happening in your own body.
If night sweats are disrupting your sleep, talk with a doctor. There are causes, and treatments, that a page about bedding cannot identify.
A note from Abri
Abri is a light, summer-weight blanket weighing about 1,180 g.
It is machine washable, comes in Sky Blue, and is available in 3 sizes:
150 x 200 cm
180 x 220 cm
200 x 230 cm
The smooth ice-silk surface gives the blanket its clean, soft finish.
A smooth surface and a light, summer-weight build give you an easy layer to settle under. Choose your size and try Abri in your own bed for 30 nights.
If what you want is a lighter blanket on the bed, Abri is one option to try.
It is currently $79, down from $149 - 47% off.
Shipping is free, and delivery usually takes 1-2 weeks.
Every blanket comes with a 30-night sleep trial. Sleep under it in your own bed. If it isn't right for you, send it back for a full refund.
If you're curious about it, the trial means you can decide after sleeping under it instead of deciding from another product description.
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