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Lately I wake up sweating. Sometimes I have to wake up very early and I don't like to always have to take a shower in the morning.
I tried the obvious solution which is sleeping with less clothes but if I do that I'm cold before falling asleep and it's much more difficult for me to do so.
How can I avoid sweating while sleeping?
As others have pointed out, some amount of sweating is normal, and you don't want to get too cold in your sleep. It sounds like you're saying that you're sweating excessively while you sleep and this is a recent change. Here are three things you can do to keep from overheating while you sleep:
Materials that don't breathe are typically synthetic materials. For example a blanket made out of any of these materials most likely doesn't breathe: fleece, polyester, microflannel. Materials that breathe are typically natural materials like cotton, wool, silk, and down.
If your sheets, blanket or bedspread are made from synthetic materials that don't breathe then that's the most likely culprit. Try swapping them out with all cotton sheets and a wool blanket. Or, the best solution for cold climates, use 100% cotton sheets with a quality down duvet.
A note on getting a quality down duvet: You want a down duvet that contains mostly down and only a few feathers. It is the down that breathes and maintains your body temperature so well. Feathers are often used in duvets as filler. A duvet that contains a lot of feathers won't be much better than a cheap synthetic blanket. To get the breatheability and comfort benefits from down you need a high quality duvet that is filled 90% to 95% with down and only 10% to 5% with feathers. Even the highest priced duvets sold at places like Sears, Bed Bath and Beyond, Walmart, and Cotsco most likely do not fit this bill. How do you know if the duvet contains 90% to 95% down? Most duvets available at mainstream stores in the United States do not. If the manufacturer does not advertise that the duvet contains 90% - 95% down, then it doesn't. You'll need to search the internet and learn what makes a good duvet, so you'll know what to look for in a duvet and where you can find them.
Here are a couple of links to get you started. The information on this website is excellent. Unfortunately the owner has retired and they no longer sell duvets, so you'll have to find another duvet maker who makes quality duvets. Fortunately their website is still up and the down duvet information is still accessible. If you can find another maker who makes duvets as good as this place, then you're all set:
Sleep in clothes made from breathable material: The same factors that apply to your bed sheets and blankets also apply to the clothes you wear while you sleep. Avoid synthetic materials that don't breathe; Wear clothes made only from breathable fibers. Cotton, wool, and silk are excellent material for clothes you're going to wear to sleep.
What you're eating or drinking before bed, or earlier in the day, could be affecting your metabolism and causing you to get hot at night. For example alcohol, wheat, milk, or caffeine can make some people overheat while they sleep. Investigate on the internet and conduct your own experiments by removing suspect foods from your diet temporarily to see if you notice a change. Since you mention that the sweating at night is a recent change, alcohol is a good place to start. Many people find that alcohol affects their sleep pattern and body temperature differently as they get older - it wakes them up in the middle of the night and/or makes them hot.
When those three things are all in order, and the temperature of the room you are sleeping in is reasonable, then you should find your body temperature comfortable throughout the night.
Sweat is your body's natural ventilation system. When you sweat, it means only one thing:
"Your body temperature is higher than the natural temperature and needs to be cooled down with the help of evaporation".
Either you have a slightly elevated body temperature or the air around you isn't cool enough for your body to function ideally. Try increasing the speed of your fan or lower the temperature of your Air Conditioner. If neither of that helps, you have an elevated temperature. There's not much you can do about that. Just to be on the safer side, consult a doctor, in case your body is trying to tell you something (maybe an infection or a persistent problem).
I also occasionally wake up sweating more depending on the season, and for me it is usually around the legs, while my upper body is fine. I assume the air does not "breathe" well enough farther into the covers, as other answers have mentioned.
My solution, which works for me but may bother some, is to stick my toes out the bottom of the blanket. This opens up some ventilation which allows for more circulation of air, but not so much that you lose too much heat and become cold. If the temperature gets colder again for whatever reason, you can just kick the covers back down. It is also fairly simple to accomplish, allowing me to (almost) immediately fall back asleep.
First of all, there is no need in using small amount of clothes, because you have told that you are afraid of being cold as you wake up.So use clothes as your need.
1.If you are sleeping in a room with fan or AC, switch it on and try to sleep below them. 2.If you keep a bucket full of water in your sleeping room, it would be beneficial. Because, problem here can be because of too much temperature of your living environment.So there will be less amount of water in the environment around you.Thus your body releases water in the form of sweat to balance that.Let us keep an extra bucket of water to evaporate instead of your sweat and thus balancing the humidity of your room. 3.Keeping plants in your sleeping room can also help you to control the temperature naturally.
