I sleep in a seriously hot south-facing loft bedroom - these are the 4 things I do to stop it overheating in summer

When I bought my Victorian terraced cottage in 2014, it only had one bedroom, so I created a second bedroom in the loft. The project went well, and by spring 2015, I was enjoying extra space and beautiful views of the local heath and woodland from my bedroom windows.

Come summer, and my first heatwave up there, I soon realised the big mistake I'd made by installing two large rooflights on a southwest-facing roof. It was hot. Seriously, hot. I don’t sleep well at the best of times, but that summer was unbearable – and marred by insomnia.

One summer, I even got heat exhaustion and had to move back to my old bedroom on the lower floor. It’s not ideal to have a room you can’t use for three months of the year.

I hunted out all the advice I could about keeping a bedroom cool, but I had the added complications of being at the top of the house where the hot air rises, plus those rooflights that are hard to shield or vent even the best portable air conditioner through.

However, over the last decade, I have found a number of products and practices that have taken my room from the high thirties on the hottest summer days to a far more comfortable mid-twenties. It's still not the ideal temperature to sleep in, but I've managed to get it low enough to finally get some kip. If you are suffering a similar problem, they make a world of difference.

1. Block the summer sun with blinds and window films

My first big purchase was the external awning blinds, specially designed for Velux rooflights. Other versions are available that start from around £50, but they come in quite pricey for much larger windows.

These were super simple to fit as you fix them to the top of the window frame, and they roll out to attach to the bottom of the window panel. They block a lot of sun and therefore a lot of heat. Limiting the sunlight penetrating the glass is important, as once it is through, so is the heat.

I also have blackout blinds on the windows, and the last thing I added to my windows was a UV solar control film from Amazon, which is around £70 a roll. They're super simple to fit – just dampen the window and smooth it on.

These three window additions combined are essential for limiting the amount of heat entering the room in the first place and cost far less than installing triple-glazing. They also cut the light, which, as a light sleeper, is a real bonus through summer when the sun rises way before I'm ready to.

2. Keep the windows closed and vent tactically

Although the loft is much cooler with my adapted windows, their presence doesn’t prevent the issue of hot air rising from the rest of my home. Throughout summer, I keep all the windows and blinds shut throughout the home to prevent solar gain elsewhere, and reduce cooking with too much heat, but a stuffy atmosphere by bedtime is inevitable.

When I wake up, if the outdoor temperature is lower than inside, I will throw the rooflights open vertically, creating a chimney effect. I discovered that the little hole at the bottom of a rooflight is to lock your window in place, fully open.

I then open the other windows for about half an hour to get a good breeze through the house and let as much hot air as possible escape. I do this before the outdoor temperature increases, as it would mean letting more hot air back in.

Being southwest-facing, the loft gets the full impact of the evening sun too, and on nights where it sets around 9pm there isn’t much chance to cool the room before bed. So I will often open the windows again, last thing before bed, as I blast my fan to shift some heat. On that note…

3. Invest in a quality fan

I replaced my noisy old tower fan with the Shark Flexbreeze fan, which is currently £169 at Shark, and it's been a game-changer. It is a quiet fan with good oscillation, remote operation, and it's cordless, so I can easily move it around the house with me.

I have also invested in a portable air con, but I need to buy a rooflight adapter to get it to vent and work properly. In the meantime, the fan is doing a really good job of pushing the hot air out along with my pre-bed chimney window method.

The bonus of the fan is that the 24-hour battery life means I can not only take it around the house but also out into the garden with me on particularly warm and still summer days.

4. Get your bedding right

Once I had sussed out controlling the climate of my room, I didn’t stop there. All of that effort would have been pointless if my sleep environment wasn’t optimised too, with the right bedding. My mattress (the Simba Hybrid Luxe) is fairly breathable, so I didn’t need to swap it out or add a cooling mattress topper, but what you sleep under makes a big difference. I have a 3.5 tog duvet as part of the Simba Hybrid 3-in-1 duvet, which is great on all but the hottest nights, where you want the coolest of coverings.

Most people would recommend just sleeping under a top sheet on those heatwave nights, but I'm not a fan of the barely-there weight. However, The Linen & Cotton Throw from Bedfolk solved that problem, offering just enough weight to feel like you are sleeping under something so you feel less exposed, but with cooling and moisture-wicking linen.

It is an investment buy, but well worth it (or look for equivalents). I bought a second one so I can rotate between washes through the summer. It also suits the messy-bed aesthetic I go for because I can’t be bothered with making my bed every day.

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A combination of these smart buys and adds-on to my routine are a lifesaver during the summer months. Are there any tricks you use to keep your bedroom from overheating when the temperature rises?