When you live in the UK, you spend approximately 10 months of the year waiting for the summer.

It's that rare moment in the calendar when you can unashamedly tuck into a Fab lolly for breakfast and sunbathe topless in the garden before the inevitable sprint inside at the sound of the postman.

For Brits more accustomed to rain showers than sunshine, we love nothing more than welcoming the slightest hint of Mediterranean heat that so rarely comes our way.

However, over the weekend the Met Office issued a new weather warning for thunderstorms and rain. According to the organisation, almost a month’s rain could fall over parts of the UK in the next 12 hours. However, the country will still be hotter than Monaco.

Temperatures fell just short of 2023's record high of 32.2C, which was reached on Saturday. And let's just say that we are not prepared for this heat just yet.

After just five minutes of outdoor heat, our SPF50-smothered skin turns rouge and a sweaty upper lip becomes a permanent fixture.

how to sleep in summer
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Basically, we think we like heat but in reality, we're miserable people who survive better in the winter. Winter, we can do. Summer, we try, fail and sweat at.

As this week and countless Twitter memes suggests, what we're really bad at doing is sleeping in the heat. Is there anything worse than lying in a bed drenched with sweat as you fan yourself with a bank statement while sucking on an ice cube?

As a result, we've rounded up the 27 stages of a night's sleep in British summertime.*

1. Enjoy an ice-cold shower before bedtime

2. Ditch the fleece pyjamas for the summery satin alternatives

3. Climb into bed and throw the duvet on the floor in a huff

4. Strip out of pyjamas horizontally – there's no way you're risking getting hotter by standing up

5. Turn on lamp. Immediately Turn off lamp. The last thing you want to see a river of sweat trickling down your stomach

6. Get up to open the window

how to sleep in summer
AleksandarNakic//Getty Images

7. Face-plant back onto the bed

8. Hear the faint buzz of an insect

9. Frantically dart your eyes the dark room in search of the bug

10. Silence

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11. Close eyes but convince yourself the insect is deadly and on a mission to kill you

12. Google 'can a fly kill you?'

13. Hear buzzing again and climb out of the bed to open window wider

14. Furiously climb back into bed

15. Lie awake, staring at the ceiling. Grab phone and scroll through Instagram Stories

16. Realise you've wasted 40 minutes on a deep dive into a former Made in Chelsea star's account and accidentally purchased their 'must-have'/advertised shampoo

how to sleep in summer
mikroman6//Getty Images

17. Get up to have a second shower

18. Flop back into bed

19. Get up to down a glass of water, subsequently feel sick and starfish across the mattress

20. Close eyes as you take a deep breath

21. Scream at your significant other when their foot accidentally grazes your calf

22. Finally fall asleep

how to sleep in summer
Emmanuel Faure//Getty Images

23. Wake up shivering at 4am and scramble to find the duvet cover

24. Fall back to sleep

25. Wake up 30 minutes before alarm goes off with one foot hanging off the side of the bed

26. Lie awake until alarm goes off

27. Pray for winter

*Warning: By the time you're reading this it'll probably be freezing and you'll be wrapped up in about four layers of knitwear in search of the nearest mug of hot chocolate*

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Katie O'Malley
Deputy Digital Editor
Katie O’Malley is the Deputy Digital Editor, at ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find her managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and social media content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals, implementing new digital strategies and compiling endless data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. Since joining in 2016, Katie has written features on everything from sex addiction, and the use of tear gas during protests to virtual cuddling, ‘friendship fade’ and access to contraception post Brexit. Her list of interviewees over the years include those with Oprah Winfrey, Benedict Cumberbatch, Reese Witherspoon, Emma Stone, Zoe Kravitz etc.