While we all have our own preferences it seems there could be a lot to gain from sleeping in a cold bedroom at night. If you’re struggling to sleep through the night and find yourself tossing and turning a lot perhaps lowering your room temperature could help.
I recently came across a posting on the topic of insomnia present on the website for the University of South Australia. This posting covered how serious insomnia is regarding how many people face it and what things could be driving it depending on the person. The research mentioned within it touts that body temperature is very important in regards to getting a good night’s sleep which is something most people do not stop to consider.
The University of South Australia reported as follows in regards:
“Temperature regulation is a significant factor in each of the two types of insomnia. The difference is when the insomnia occurs. People with sleep onset insomnia have difficulty initiating sleep at the beginning of the night, taking two to four hours each night in the worst cases; while people with sleep maintenance insomnia fall asleep easily but have trouble staying asleep, waking up multiple times during the night. Sleep onset insomnia is most common in the 20-30 year age range whereas sleep maintenance insomnia affects mostly retirees and the elderly. In both types of insomnia, sleep is not restful and sufferers are tired during the day.
“Studies of sleep onset insomniacs show that they consistently have a warmer core body temperature immediately before initiating sleep when compared with normal healthy adults. This results in a state of heightened arousal that prevents them from falling asleep when they go to bed, probably because they have to wait for their bodies to lose the heat that’s keeping them awake. We’re only talking about a half to one degree but that small temperature change can result in significant differences in arousal between insomniacs and people without sleeping problems,” Dr. Van den Heuvel says.
“While sleeping tablets are effective in some people some of the time, many insomniacs have impaired thermo-regulatory systems that limit their ability to lose heat and affect their responses to commonly prescribed drugs that would normally increase sleepiness.
“When used by healthy young adults these drugs cause them to lose heat, become sleepier and fall asleep. This temperature change is important for the drugs to work successfully and is consistent across a range of drugs that we’ve investigated.
“To drop the core temperature, the body needs to act like a radiator, with heat from the central core transferring to areas such as the hands, face, and feet, causing the peripheral skin temperature to rise and then lose heat to the surrounding environment,” Dr. Van den Heuvel says.
In a significant breakthrough, UniSA researchers have discovered that the failure by insomniacs to regulate their core temperature sufficiently can be narrowed down to an inability to lose heat from their periphery.
Now when it comes to regulating core temperatures, the temperature of the room has to be adjusted to make things work. If you’re sleeping in a room that is over seventy degrees you could be preventing your body from emitting the melatonin you need to get a good night’s rest. This leaving you up and unable to sleep all the while building more and more stress within your body. That being said, if the room is between 60-65 degrees you’re going to be able to get exactly what you need out of your body to get some decent sleep.
According to Sleep Advisor, if you sleep in a cold room you are going to be able to fall asleep much quicker, sleep better, improve melatonin levels, and even prevent metabolic disease. When you’ve had a stressful day and your brain is refusing to settle down lowering the temperature in your room is a great idea. The hotter our bodies usually run the more of a difference we need to make in the atmosphere around us.
The better sleep you get the less stressed you will be overall moving through your everyday life. The more regular your healthy levels of sleep become the more you will reap the benefits. For more on this topic please take the time to check out the video below. If you’re struggling, this kind of change needs to be something you’re aware of.