Last weekend, as I was walking the dog by a neighbor's house in the early morning hours, I noticed that the residents were sleeping in the back yard. Later that day I asked if they'd had a camping night for their kids and they explained that instead they had decided to sleep outside to escape the heat in the house and take advantage of the breeze outdoors. Would you sleep outdoors to escape the heat?
If you have a hammock you have an easy way to sleep outdoors when it's hot, but if you don't have an obvious place on your deck or in your backyard what would you do?
My neighbor suggested pulling out your air mattress, getting some mosquito netting to drape from a nearby tree and to get ready for an early morning when the sun comes up. He also mentioned that they had tried using a tent in the past but since they were out there for the breeze the tent wasn't the best solution.
This seems like a great way to get outdoors, escape the heat and have a fun adventure with your family.
Will you try it out?
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I subscribe to the "Reign of Fire" method of beating the heat: "Dig hard, dig deep, go for shelter, and never look back."
When it's hot out, I can't sleep. I've tried camping in the heat, and it's tough. When the temp drops at night, I can see that working, but when it's humid and 85 at night like it was here a week or so ago, I'd rather get to the northwest corner of my basement with a light blanket and a box fan and stay there until the heat breaks.
Some of the houses in our Philly neighborhood (c. 1900) have small "sleeping porches" off bedrooms on their 2nd or 3rd floors. I think people would pull cots out there and sleep when is was hot. If we had one, I'd try it.
Man, it would be so awesome to live in a place where sleeping outside would be a relief! Dallas is unfortunately way too hot at night to do this. Average evening temps in August is in the 80s. There is no relief to the heat. If you live in a place that is nice out in the evenings, try it!! We southerners are jealous and cheering you on!
I never thought of this... my air mattress is being dragged out of the closet as we speak....
Up here it gets a bit too cold at night for me outside. When I'm really camping it's fine for me, but I'd rather sleep in my bed.
The old houses with the sleeping porches sound very interesting.
It's too hot in Baltimore (it was 80 last night), I'm in the city (hello target on my head...), and I don't have a fence around my back yard.
Oh, and we have horribad mosquitoes.
If I lived someplace where these issues weren't, I would sleep outside quite happily.
Sleeping porches seem to be common in my borough (Jenkintown, nestled in the little crook of Northeast Philly's arm), where most of the homes date to about 1880-1920. They're usually on the second floor, outside the master bedroom. Since AC is so common, most of the ones that I have seen have been converted into a office or bathroom spaces.
I wish my house had one, as I can think of nothing better than sleeping on a hammock in a mosquito-netted enclosure.
As an aside, if you're ever in nearby Bryn Athyn, visit the Glencairn museum. Its a castle built by the Pitcairns. They have a sleeping porch too, but I can't imagine their house ever got hot considering its all vaulted stone.
I used to sleep on my very urban porch all the time in hot weather. When my roomies took to the idea it became a bit of a circus act to go to the bathroom, but man did it make a difference. I really miss that porch sometimes.
I used to go camping all the time and I miss it. I would definitely try sleeping outside (if I didn't get to scared). I think pulling out a folding bed like the kind they have at pools to lay on. They are pretty cheap at Walmart.
I WISH!! I have to laugh at this kind of post, and at facebook friends in cooler climes who "caved and turned on their air conditioners" just last week! It is going to get up to 103 degrees here in Little Rock today, 109 tomorrow, with a low of about 81 at night (which will actually feel more like 91). So, no, sleeping outside would not be an option. Maybe in late October...
We live in Northeastern PA and have been "camping" in the yard most of the summer. We don't have air conditioning, so even when it's been hot-hot at night it's still cooler than the bedroom. We have Clark Jungle Hammocks that are actually tents (just google hammock camping) which helps when the bugs are bad.
I'd *love* for it to be hot enough to need to sleep outside, (although I'd want to fix my fence and get some earplugs first). In 4 years, it's never been hot enough to be able to leave windows open at night.
Um, what? I totally have a giant screened-in porch with a fireplace and a stone floor. Might have to try this some night!
What a great idea. For city dwellers or anyone else who does not have the option, opening all the windows for a cross-breeze is the best alternative. But a chaise lounge on a front porch does nicely too.
Sleeping outside is different than sleeping indoors. Outside, I trade a solid night's sleep for a night of waking to more natural rhythms: the birds chirping at 3:30 a.m., the college kid arriving home next door at 1:30 a.m. and the sunrise before 6:00 a.m. I find that I awake a tad less refreshed and much more connected to the day before it even begins.
Where we live there are usually fewer than ten days a year when the heat is intolerable (95 degrees plus for me). We have already experienced more than a week of bed-time temperatures of 88 degrees plus inside the house. On those nights I have slept on our screened-in front porch in an urban neighborhood. So far it has been a refreshing and rewarding experience.
I have slept outdoors. Once on a third floor back porch of an apt, again on a concrete porch behind a rental house with a long extension cord connected to a fan. When I was a kid we slept in the basement. If my mom added a fan a blanket was needed.
We used to do this on the enclosed front porch all the time. But summers have turned cold on the southern cal coast for the past few years and i cannot even remember what it feels like to be hot
If I lived in a safer area, I would totally do this. I love to sit outside in the evenings, but I sleep like a rock and live in a pretty urban area, so it could be a great way to get robbed/mugged/whatever.
I have to second the basement idea. Mine is significantly cooler than upstairs - I'm actually working on setting up the spare bed down there this weekend!
I'm in Philly and in the past I've hung my hammock in the basement when it's been too hot. But this year's not been too bad, and I've slept downstairs just two nights so far. Excellent cross-breezes cool off my house at night so no A/C here.