This is the way
It’s found that closing your eyes and pretending to sleep (I listen to podcasts so I have more patience with this) makes you better rested than being up and about or laying in bed on a phone. If I genuinely can’t sleep, I reassure myself with that. Most nights, despite PTSD, I’ll get at least a couple hours of actual sleep this way.
The middle paragraph, translated to English:
Drinking warm water from the hot water pipe is only recommended to a limited extent. Because it has stayed in the pipes for longer due to the circulation in the hot water system. Circulation is necessary so that everything comes out of the tap hot enough to avoid legionella formation. On the other hand, depending on the cable material, substances can come loose. Even if the quantities are small, you should always use fresh water from the cold tap when preparing food.
So yes, you’re right. It’s not recommended to do.
One of the ways one can grow out of a fear is by accommodating it enough in a passive way that it’s forgotten about. Lighting up the back of a closet or under a bed for even a couple of months with a battery-powered nightlight (if there is no outlet available) could easily be enough for a kid to overcome it. Not in every situation, of course, but I think in enough that it could be worth a try.
I do agree that changing the entire space like that is too much though.