One time I was desert camping in summer and even at midnight it was still in the 90s. Couldn't sleep, too hot. Finally I took a wet washcloth and wiped down my bare skin with it. That cooled me down fast, and I was able to fall asleep.

Sometimes you gotta get creative and do what you can to help yourself sleep.

My house fan just quit working, and without it, the air conditioning isn't working either.

I'm not much of a fan of summer sleeping either....

In any case, a cold bath can help. Or even just running cold water over your legs and arms. The more of your body you cool down the better. Then I'm sleeping with a ziplock bag filled with ice.(wrapped in a towel).

My sleep is chopped the heck up, but I'm sleeping...

On the plus side....it's probably darker in the basement...so you may sleep a bit longer when you finally do fall asleep. And ya know, every 5 minutes counts!

can you afford a small window AC unit? That helps a lot

Is there any way you can afford an air conditioner? We treated ourselves to one this summer...well a very warm spring by Canada's standard, and it has been a godsend!! We live in the upstairs part of a fourplex so since heat rises it gets really warm up here. We used to only rent basement suites but got tired of listening to people's footsteps all the time that when we found his upper floor suite that was affordable for us we had to take it despite the fact that we knew it would get hot up there. We never needed an air-conditioner when we lived in basement suites!! So if you can in any way afford to buy an air-conditioner you really should!! Ours only cost $300.00 at wal-mart and so it was a great deal and what made it a better deal was that it's a portable air-conditioner so if we need to move it to another room we can...that was a big selling point for me. If you can't afford a $300.00 air-conditioner there is another model for only $88.00 but it's not portable and once it's in your window that is where it must stay.

I know what you mean about not being able to sleep in the hot weather...it's so uncomfortable to sleep when you are sweating to death!!

AC is ideal, but if that's not an option, get a good fan if you don't already have one (or several) and plug them in right next to where you're sleeping. That's how I survived living in a tiny, stifling apartment. I just dragged the fans around wherever I was sitting or sleeping. It's annoying but lack of sleep and heat exhaustion are not a good combination.

I can't sleep with the heat. I sleep with the a/c and a large potent(and noisy) fan at maximum power, along with as little clothing as possible, and even so I still find it difficult to get restful sleep. Fuck this weather.

With height of summer comes heat and light...both reducers of sleep time. And 2 of the at least 4 characteristics of a good sleep environment (also quiet and comfortable). Keep experimenting with simple solutions and you'll make it!

I used to put water bottles in the freezer and then cuddle with them at night. Helped a lot.

I sometimes ditch the pillow on warm nights. Less fabric in contact with my head keeps me cooler. The trade off can be a stuff neck but not always.