“Sleep becomes more fragmented, and we wake up feeling unrefreshed.” Higher temperaturesĬombined with longer daylight hours, higher temperatures can also play a part in disrupting sleep. “While alcohol can help us to get to sleep, it disrupts sleep in the second half of the night,” she says. According to Lederle, this doesn’t help our sleep in the long term. “However, our busy social calendars also take away time from sleep.”Īs Tait mentioned, staying up longer socializing may also mean more alcohol intake. “We make the most of the longer daylight and the warm weather,” she says. “This can have an adverse effect on our general sleeping pattern, causing frequent nighttime waking or potential overtiredness in the daytime,” she says. Tait also notes that our sleeping hours may be reduced, as it’s common to go to bed later and wake with the earlier morning sun. “With the summertime lifestyle being more social, we may find we’re eating later and drinking more alcohol.” “Because the days are longer, we generally do more, and also find our socializing increases,” Tait says. “Hormones and chemicals play a huge role in our ability to maintain balance and homeostasis,” Tait says.įor example, the hormonal changes of menopause or the adrenal and chemical imbalances from anxiety and stress “will have a huge impact on our ability to release melatonin effectively and ultimately switch off,” she says. Hypnotherapist and sleep expert Dipti Tait says sleep may be further disrupted if you’re stressed or have a lot on your mind.

“This is one reason why you might wake up earlier and sleep a little less in summer.” Stress “Due to the longer daylight hours in summer, the time of melatonin secretion is shorter than in winter,” Lederle says.

As the sun comes up, melatonin secretion stops so the body can prepare for the day. When it gets dark, our body clock signals that it’s time to sleep with the release of the hormone melatonin. “The longer we ‘see’ light, the longer the body clock will tell the body it’s daytime and it needs to stay awake.” Delayed melatonin release “Your body clock, which is located in your brain, uses light and darkness as signals for day and night,” she says. Lederle is a sleep scientist, chronobiologist, and head of sleep at Somnia. “The longer daylight hours and the higher, sometimes humid, temperatures make it difficult to sleep well,” says Kat Lederle, PhD, MSc. The same study identifies light as the single most important external factor affecting circadian rhythm, the body’s internal clock that controls our sleep-wake cycle. This is a sleep phase that contributes to feelings of restfulness. Increased daylight hoursĪ 2019 study notes that exposure to light later in the day contributes to more episodes of waking during the night and less slow-wave or delta sleep. Here are some reasons you may not be sleeping as well during summer. Researchers found that waking times were earlier in the summer, while sleep issues such as insomnia and fatigue were less common in winter (although people can still have sleep issues in winter). According to a 2011 study, seasonal variations can affect how well we sleep.

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