With a minimum of 27 expected in Sydney tonight and Canberra's daytime temperatures set to exceed 35 degrees twice this week, Australians are sweating through another January of uncomfortable summer nights.
In the spirit of the sticky season, we revisit Jenna Price's story from this time last year, revealing why waking up after a hot night can leave you feeling like you have a hangover.
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Hangover. I woke up with the worst hangover ever.
But the night before I'd had nothing to drink except for water. I put it down to a bug, something I ate.
Then it happened again. And the reason? Nights and nights – and nights – of 19 degrees and higher. Nights and nights of humidity. Weather reports always focus on the high temperatures during the day – and we are at an all time record, says the Bureau of Meteorology.
But what of the nights? Why are hot nights a problem for us?
Sleep researchers say we need cooler weather to sleep well. That's not exactly a surprise, but the impact of sleeplessness from heat is more than just a feeling you have an unexpected hangover.
To get to sleep, the temperature of your body needs to dip and you need cool air around your body to help that process. And if you don't get that opportunity to cool down, you end up in that cycle of dozing, dropping off to sleep, waking as you heat up and having no rest at all.
"For us to fall asleep, what needs to happen is a thermal or body temperature cascade has to occur. What has to happen is that you need to get rid of heat from the body ... the maximal rate of core temperate decline gives you the greatest opportunity to get to sleep," says Christopher Gordon, a research scientist in thermal biology and sleep at the Sydney Nursing School.
And if we don't get to sleep well?
We have far worse daytime performance. We cause accidents. The heat is having the same effect on us that nights and nights of insomnia have on us.
"Insomnia leads to decreased productivity, absenteeism, presenteeism, more likely to suffer from common illnesses and infections," says Gordon.
He says that the lack of sleep we experience during these high minimum temperatures is a form of acute insomnia with the instant effects of sleeplessness. This is why, right now, we are the zombie dead.
Gordon says our architecture doesn't help either. Our homes retain heat, windows are small, we don't have fans.
"Most Australian houses are bloody horrible," he says.
"When we can't adequately cool the house to get a temperature which allows me to sleep, that is likely to have a follow-on effect in the day time."
So, if you live in a house which relies on open windows and ceiling fans, you too will be feeling as if you have had no rest, even after eight hours. Waking with what seems like a hangover these past few weeks isn't the fault of a mojito or four. Our record run of high overnight minimums and high humidity has had a direct impact on the quality of our sleep.
As Gordon puts it, if you are in the very warm environment of your unairconditioned house, your body can't cool. You are already "maximally dilated".
"You can't move more amounts of heat and because it's been quite humid you are more likely to sweat and the sweat will stay on your skin because it's warm ... and then you wake up because you are uncomfortable."
Quite.
So, insomnia from higher overnight temperatures. And those long runs of high overnight minimum temperatures are coming more frequently. Agata Imielska, senior climatologist with the weather bureau, says that February had the equal fewest number of nights under 19 degrees.
And if you want to see a pattern of long stretches of hot nights, she points you to these years.
1991, then '98. Then it's 2003, 2007, 2010, and last year and this year. Getting closer together.
"[These temperatures are] tilted to more recent decades. We are much more likely to see warmer temperatures and our averages are warming up," she says.
Does that mean we should all rush out to buy airconditioners if we want to get a decent night's sleep?
Gordon is a sleep researcher so won't comment precisely on whether we can blame our sleeplessness on climate change. But he does say this: "The issue is how much are we going to have to change our environment to cope with that increase in temperature."
So some of us sleep with no clothes under a fan and some of us pump up the aircon (which may well have contributed to getting us into this situation in the first place) and sleep under doonas.
Senior research fellow at the Centre for Sleep Research Siobhan Banks suggests a two-fan solution, one for each bed occupant. Or a shower before bed. I took her advice and it worked really well, until about 3am. Somehow the impact of the shower helps your body get rid of its heat.
She also says that if you are poking your legs out from under the sheets, it may be a sign you are trying to find a way to help your body cool down.
And like Gordon, she emphasises the effect that poor sleep will have on your ability to do your job well.
"When you are constantly having restricted or impaired sleep that will lead to feeling more sleepy and less productive during the day.
"There are safety concerns in the workplace ... and everyone is going to feel a lot more exhausted."
The return to work after a long summer holiday is usually a time of good humour and high productivity in the workplace – but not this year.
We are all too bloody exhausted from the weather.
Twitter: jennaprice
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