Sleeping cool is more important than you might think. When trying to get to sleep at night there is an optimum temperature for which your bedroom needs to be at in order to promote a good night’s sleep. The bedroom should be between 60 to 67 degrees Fahrenheit for a optimal sleeping temperature. Temperatures above 75 degrees and below 54 degrees can disrupt sleep due to uncomfortable. With summer now in full swing and across the country temperatures are starting to increase well above the 75-degree threshold. It might be time to starting thinking how this heat is affecting your sleep.
The Science Behind Body Temperature and Sleep
Our body temperature over a 24-hour period goes through cycles with peaks and declines. Generally, our body temperature is at its highest in the early afternoon and lowest in the early hours of the morning. As we start to get tired our bodies start to cool down to get ready for sleep. As we begin to wake up in the morning our bodies start to heat up giving use enough energy to start the day and this temperature will continue to rise until the late afternoon.For a normal person sleep occurs when the core temperate is dropping, over a 24-hour period the hypothalamus regulates your body temperature between 96.8 and 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit.By cooling your body to a lower temperature faster at night will encourage a deeper sleep.
4 Reason Why Sleeping Cool is Important
Boost in Your Metabolism
Sleeping cold is known to boost your metabolism by increasing the amount of good fat stored in your body. This good fat also known as brown fat works to burn more calories while you sleep. It is activated by the cold and can be found in pretty much any mammal. The main purpose of brown fat is to help regulate temperatures so our bodies can be more comfortable. Thus, when it is cold we activate this brown fat which in turns burn more calories while we sleep.
It Can Help Prevent Cancer
Sleeping cool can raise the level of melatonin in our body. By having an increased level of melatonin, it reduces the risk of tumors. It has been observed that blood with low levels of melatonin are at a higher risk of developing tumors compared to blood that is rich with melatonin. Increased melatonin also can increase your immune system helping prevent other dieses from developing such as the common cold or flu.
Higher Quality of Sleep
Sleeping in an environment that is too hot will actually be able to wake you from your sleep or you won’t be able to properly reach REM. Also sleeping hot can cause certain types of insomnia such as sleep onset insomnia. Sleep onset insomnia has been seen in people who have consistently warmer body core temperature before it is time to fall asleep. As stated before our hypothalamus regulates and has to lower body temperature before it is time for bed with sleep onset insomnia this doesn’t happen making it harder to fall asleep. This results in people waiting for a longer period of time before they fail sleep lasting up to a couple of hours.
Less Stress and Depression
When you are not getting a proper night’s sleep or staying awake due to your room being too hot can lead to increase levels of a hormone called cortisol. When there is an increase in cortisol it is known to lead depression. With improved levels of sleep is also know to lead to less stress and better brain function.
What are the Concerns?
As long as you are sleeping in a room that is between 60 to 67 degrees Fahrenheit then there isn’t that much to worry about, depending on the person some might like it a little warmer or cooler but this is a good range to aim for and should be safe for anyone as long as you are comfortable.
Infants on the other hand need a little warmer sleeping temperature of 68 degrees to 72 degrees any colder and the infant will have trouble sleeping and if it is hotter might have some over heating issues.
How to Stay Cool
If you are wondering how to cool off your bedroom check out our guide on 20 ways to cool your bedroom. This guide highlights some ways to cool of your bedroom without the need to use AC. Other ways include having proper bedding like a cooling pillow or adding a mattress topper that offers cooling benefits like a copper infused mattress topper.
