Science Proves We Sleep Better In A Cool Room

Scientific studies show that we typically sleep better in a cool bedroom

And better sleep offers a variety of benefits, including improved physical, mental and emotional health and well-being. Before bedtime tonight, let’s turn the thermostat down, invest in a cool gel memory foam mattress and wear lightweight pyjamas. Here’s why.

The Temperature-Sleep Connection

A cool bedroom environment helps our bodies prepare to slow down, relax and sleep. Our body temperature fluctuates throughout the day and normally peaks in the early afternoon and reaches its lowest point around 5 a.m. This temperature change induces a feeling of tiredness at least 60 to 90 minutes before we head to bed and helps us sleep well all night.

We also need a cool bedroom for healthy sleep cycles, which include REM (rapid eye movement) and non-REM stages. If the environment becomes too hot, we will wake up and disrupt the healthy cycles that prompt restorative rest.

It’s true that individual preferences can vary when it comes to choosing the right sleeping temperature. However, experts recommend a range of 60 to 67 degrees Fahrenheit.

Proven Benefits Of a Cool Room

Now that we understand the temperature-sleep connection, let’s explore seven top benefits we gain from a cool nighttime environment.

1. Fall Asleep More Quickly

We cooperate with our body’s natural temperature drop and instinct to sleep when we create a cool bedroom. If the room is too hot, we’ll waste valuable time and energy trying to regulate our temperature, and we won’t rest well.

2. Experience Less Insomnia

Insomnia prevents us from falling asleep or wakes us up overnight. Because certain types of insomnia are related to our core temperature, a cooler environment supports regenerative rest.

3. Decrease Certain Health Risks

The human body secretes growth hormone during restful slumber. Valuable for cell regeneration and muscle growth, this hormone also reduces our cardiovascular disease risk and could lower anxiety and depression.

Our body releases the hormone melatonin, too, as we sleep. In addition to helping us fall asleep, melatonin may improve brain health and prevent brain ageing, reduce inflammation, and fight cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer’s.

4. Maintain a Healthy Weight

Cool temperatures prompt an increase in our metabolism and the development of more brown fat, a good fat that burns calories and disposes of excess blood sugar. Thus, we could fight obesity and reduce our risk of developing diabetes, high cholesterol and heart disease thanks to lower overnight temperatures.

5. Improve our Appearance

Sleep deprivation can cause wrinkles, fine lines and dark under-eye circles. Alternatively, adequate rest prompts our body to eliminate toxins and release the anti-ageing hormone melatonin, which can prevent UV damage to our skin.

6. Promote Safety

Our brain and body need rejuvenating and adequate rest to function properly. A cool nighttime environment could improve our ability to make decisions, react quickly and think clearly during the day, which can keep us safer as we drive, work and perform other daily activities.

7. Boost Physical Performance

Whether we walk a lot at work, play professional sports or chase toddlers around the house all day, we need sleep. Our energy levels, hand-eye coordination, reaction time, stress levels, and physical recovery after workouts can all improve when we rest well.

The Best Ways To Keep Cool

To promote better rest, we can regulate our bedroom temperature in 17 effective ways:

1. Program the thermostat to a lower temperature at night.
2. Turn on a fan to circulate air and evaporate body sweat overnight.
3. Invest in a cooling mattress that disperses body heat and increases all-night rest and comfort.
4. Use a cooling pillow to draw heat away from the body and keep us cool.
5. Freeze our top sheet and pillowcase, then make the bed immediately before bedtime.
6. Buy cooling sheets made from breathable cotton or bamboo material and not heat-trapping flannel or synthetic materials.
7. Drink water before bed to cool our body and decrease core temperature as we rest.
8. Tuck a frozen stuffed animal between our knees.
9. Uncover one or both of our feet because our bodies release heat through our feet so we stay cool all night.
10. Ditch clothing to maintain our core body temperature.
11. Open the window at night to circulate air and reduce carbon dioxide levels, a trick that helps us sleep more deeply and wake up less often.
12. Close blinds and windows during the day to prevent hot air from heating up the bedroom.
13. Hang blackout curtains to boost melatonin levels and keep the room cooler all day and night.
14. Replace incandescent light bulbs with LED bulbs since they generate less heat.
15. Keep hot lights turned off during the night.
16. Place the bed on a lower floor since heat rises.
17. Use adjoining beds to prevent a high-temperature partner from disrupting our rest.

Science proves that restful sleep provides physical, mental and emotional benefits. For these reasons, let’s create a cooler room and invest in our well-being.