Bedrooms become furnaces: Rising nighttime temperatures plague Indian cities

For many residents in Indian cities, the onset of summer means abandoning their beds for cooler outdoor spaces, as nighttime temperatures soar to unbearable levels.

Durga Devi, a 45-year-old from Delhi, and her two teenage daughters have spent recent summers sleeping on their terrace. Their one-room flat's bedroom becomes an "oven" on hot nights, making sleep impossible even with an air cooler. "But on days when it gets too hot, we can’t even sleep there," Devi said. "The air from the cooler feels hot; it is as if the cooler is not working at all."

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But on days when it gets too hot, we can’t even sleep there. The air from the cooler feels hot; it is as if the cooler is not working at all.

This lack of adequate sleep takes a toll on Devi's health and work. She struggles to stay alert at her sari-making job, experiencing restlessness, dizziness, and low blood pressure by midday. Her experience highlights a critical, often overlooked aspect of the heat crisis: the debilitating impact of warm nights on working-class families.

A 2025 report by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water revealed that 35 out of 36 Indian states and union territories have recorded rising nighttime temperatures. The study also found that nearly 70% of Indian districts experienced at least five additional very warm nights annually between 2012 and 2022.

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The rise in nighttime temperatures is a grave issue and should be treated at par with daytime temperatures.

Delhi recorded its warmest May night in nearly 14 years on May 25, 2026, with an overnight low of 32.4°C. While monsoons typically bring relief by July, high humidity can make warm nights feel oppressive. Kartiki Negi of Climate Trends stressed the severity of the issue, stating, "The rise in nighttime temperatures is a grave issue and should be treated at par with daytime temperatures."

Devi's 18-year-old son, Abhishek, who sleeps inside to guard their belongings, gets minimal sleep due to his bed heating up. He participates in a Greenpeace India initiative to document heat stress, using a thermal camera to record indoor temperatures exceeding the mid-30s Celsius around midnight. He resorts to splashing his face with water for temporary relief.

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The bed heats up so much that I cannot sleep.