For many residents at Timber Market in Accra, nighttime no longer brings relief from the heat.
Even after 11pm, families remain awake outside their rooms, sitting on benches, lying on mats or trying to catch a breeze under mosquito nets in open spaces because their rooms have become too hot to sleep in. What used to be occasional discomfort is now becoming a nightly struggle tied to rising temperatures and worsening heat conditions.
This story documents how extreme heat is quietly reshaping everyday life – affecting sleep, productivity, family relationships and even intimacy.
At Timber Market in Accra, Stella Atuotanga has just returned from taking her third bath of the night. But even that offers little relief.
“Especially when the lights go off, it becomes very difficult. Sometimes we just have to manage through the night because the heat is too much,” she said.
Inside the small wooden room she shares with her fiancé, heat trapped from the day lingers through the night. She often leaves the room repeatedly because she cannot stay inside for long.
Around her, the situation is similar.
“Sometimes people even leave their rooms and sleep outside. If you go around at night, you will see people sleeping outside. It is not because they do not have rooms. They do. The heat is just too much,” Stella explained.
But beyond discomfort and sleepless nights, residents say the heat is beginning to affect personal relationships.
“Yes, it is true that the heat affects intimacy. When the weather is too hot, you are not comfortable in your own body because you are sweating too much,” Stella said.
“Personally, when there is too much heat, I do not allow my partner to come close to me for sex,” she added.
Just metres away, another resident, Josephine Abagri, is also battling through another sleepless night.
“There’s too much heat in the room. That is why you see me out here at this time,” she said while sitting outside her room late at night.
For her, the heat has made even basic rest difficult.
“How can you have sex in this heat? You can’t sleep, let alone have sex,” she said.
Her mother, Janet, says conditions were not always this severe.
“In the olden days, the heat was down. But now the sun is really shining. Even when you put on the fan, it blows heat,” she recalled.
The report also found children studying outdoors at night because indoor rooms remained unbearably hot. Others struggled to sleep entirely.
Researchers at the University of Ghana say such experiences are becoming increasingly common as temperatures rise.
Prof. Ebenezer Amankwaa says the research, conducted in Accra and Tamale, examined how housing conditions and rising temperatures are affecting daily life.
“One issue that emerged strongly was intimacy within marriages. Some men complained that the extreme heat at night affected intimacy with their spouses,” Prof. Amankwaa said.
According to the researchers, housing structures are worsening the problem.
Sensors installed in homes found that cement buildings roofed with metal sheets trapped significantly more heat than traditional mud houses with thatched roofing.
The impact, researchers say, goes beyond relationships.
“Another issue was that children were unable to sleep because of the heat. When children cannot sleep, mothers also stay awake trying to keep them cool,” Prof. Amankwaa explained.
He warned that prolonged sleep disruption can eventually affect economic productivity.
“When people do not sleep well because of heat, they become less productive during the day. Reduced productivity affects income,” he added.
The effects of rising temperatures are not limited to urban communities.
Hundreds of kilometres away in Gbrumo, prolonged heat and declining rainfall are drying up the community’s main dam – the only reliable water source for residents and nearby villages. Women now walk long distances in search of water.
The chief of the community, Alhassan Mussah, says the water crisis is creating additional strain on households.
“If you have sex, where is the water to shower?” he asked.
“Some children here have still not taken their bath because there is no water,” he added.
Climate experts warn that such experiences show how climate change is increasingly affecting ordinary routines in ways that often receive little public attention.
Across many communities, nights that once offered rest are now becoming another extension of the day’s discomfort. Families stay awake long after midnight. Fans continue to run, but the heat remains trapped indoors.
For many residents, climate change is no longer only about rising temperatures or dry dams. It is affecting sleep, health, relationships and productivity.
This Climate Evidence report is brought to you by JoyNews in partnership with CDKN Ghana, University of Ghana Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Studies, Legon with funding from CLARE R4I Opportunities Fund.
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