Compatibility in a couple often makes sense by sameness. When you have the same sense of humor, style, and taste in music, it's a match made in heaven. But, of course, you are two different people, and sometimes even an intimately shared life can be experienced very differently.

There is nothing more intimate and comforting than sharing a bed with your special someone, and usually, the heat between the sheets is a good thing. But what can you do when your special someone becomes a hot radiator in their sleep? These are the tips you need to fall asleep when your partner overheats.

Body temperature is a biological feature, something that self-regulates and can't be changed. Especially for regular autonomic functions like sleeping. Some people freeze in their sleep and can become dangerously cold in a cold bed while others burn like the sun and turn the space between the covers into a sweltering mess. Unfortunately for loving couples that like to cuddle, both extremes can drive a partner out of bed.

Your body temperature is generally determined by how hard your cells and tissues are working inside. That's why you heat up when you exercise and may get colder when you hold still. Temperature is also somewhat determined by your metabolism, which is how quickly (and on what) you burn calories. The higher your burn rate, the higher your body temperature. You can control your body temperature during the day, to a certain extent, based on what you do and eat.

Sleep, however, is a unique physical process in which your body goes into a restorative dormancy. While your voluntary muscles stop acting, recovery functions begin. HGH (human growth hormone) and oxygen are released into your tissues to promote growth and healing and blood supply increases in the muscles. This process has a running temperature like any idling machine, but changes in your sleep process can also change our sleep temperature.

Being ill, having indigestion, the menstrual cycle, and recovering from an injury along with other physical conditions can serve to raise or lower your sleeping body temperature. In other words: you really can't help it and neither can your partner. Fortunately, couples have been solving this problem for thousands of years, and there are more than a few solutions to try with your overheating special someone.

The first step when dealing with a high body heat problem in bed is to cool the bedroom. Even "too cold" is a preferable situation where both of you get some sleep. When the more cool partner gets chilly, they can snuggle their bed-warmer and balance returns to normal. Otherwise, the cold room will only help both of you to be comfortable.

Turn the ceiling fan to it's fastest setting and adjust the house temperature to be cold at night. For a more concentrated cooling, consider a window AC just for the bedroom. It has worked for many couples in the past and has the benefit of being a white noise generator as well.

Make sure you're working with the correct weight of the blanket. Calculate for your partner's body heat when choosing a blanket, knowing that they will be a constant source of heat throughout the night. Merely making the blanket lighter or more breathable can make all the difference in balancing night time body heat. Try a few different combinations of blanket and sheet types. Knit blankets can be thick and very breathable while polyester comforters are more likely to trap more heat than either of you can stand.

Many couples find that merely keeping a variety of blankets handy is the answer. Some have two different blankets over shared sheets. Others use a layer of separate blankets as a temperature buffer to make snuggling more comfortable. If your bedroom gets cold enough, you can also keep an extra sheet for the non-blazing partner when needed.

Another important aspect of your sleeping experience is your topper or the top of your mattress. Old foam toppers and memory foam, in particular, are well known for trapping heat and unnecessarily increasing your sleep temperature. It is why the egg-crate design is so popular and used to be necessary. Today you can get toppers made out of cooling modern materials to help wick heat away from you and your overheating partner.

An excellent way to tell if your topper or the top of your mattress is a problem is merely to test what it feels like when your partner gets up. If the topper is the hottest thing in the house, it is trapping and amplifying body heat.

Sometimes, the problem isn't precisely heated so much as the sweat that results. Night sweats are perfectly normal, but they can make sleeping and snuggling less pleasant. If one or both of you tend to sweat in response to the shared body heat, many couples have found that a simple towel or cooling pajamas can be the answer. A layer of fabric that absorbs and then wicks away night sweats can make it possible to cuddle without discomfort and stop you from waking up in a puddle.

Another approach is to cool down your body temperature right before bed. It is something you can do as a couple and will make holding each other all the more enjoyable. Take a cold shower or, in the winter, step out on the porch together for a few brisk minutes. When you're sufficiently chilled, dive into bed together and let the temperature balance out. With the right blankets, this can be the solution to your bed temperature problems. However, an all-night overheat may overpower the initial cool down.

Having wildly different body temperatures can be difficult as a couple, but this is something you can overcome together. Whether this takes creativity and special blankets or just turning the fan up, the right balance is possible. For more information on how to fall asleep when your partner overheats, contact us today!