The Health Benefits of Sleeping Cold

When you are trying to sleep a lot of different things can factor into how well you sleep at night.  Temperature plays a big role in how well you sleep. There is nothing worse than waking up covered in sweat, or trying to get comfortable when it is just too hot.  On the other hand though too it is awful to wake up in the middle of the night shivering because you are too cold. There is a fine line between too cold, too hot, and the perfect “Goldy Locks” temperature of just right.  It is said that sleeping in a cooler room has more health benefits to you. If you are struggling to have a good night’s sleep than you may need to adjust the thermostat. 

Sleeping cold can help you fall asleep more quickly at night.  This is because when your body is ready for sleep the brain signals to the body to cool down.  This helps your body slow down. If you room is too hot or cold it is hard for your internal thermostat to adjust to make it easy to fall asleep.   People with insomnia tend to have higher core body temperatures. This can cause the brain signals for sleep to not happen as easily. It has been shown that people with insomnia if they sleep in cooler conditions are more able to get sleep at night.  Thirty percent of people have insomnia. And when researched the most common factor in insomnia patients is the temperature in their bedrooms. Just as it is uncomfortable to sleep when it is too hot, it can be uncomfortable to sleep when it is too cold.  Too cold temperatures will cause your body to shiver, which will make it to where your body won’t allow sleep, it is keeping your body awake to use up the energy to warm your body up. 

Sleeping cold is shown to have health benefits, not only helping people with insomnia.  But what is too cold? Since there is a line between too cold and cold enough for a comfortable sleep.  The best range is to keep your bedroom between the temperatures of sixty and sixty eight degrees. Unless you have an infant, their bedroom needs to be warmer or it can lead to your baby developing hypothermia.  You can achieve this temperature by less bed covers, black out curtains to keep the sun from heating up your bedroom, or even simply keeping the blinds closed during the day. Other ways to keep your room cool is to open a window or lower the thermostat at night.  Some people who live with someone else where sleeping between sixty or sixty eight degrees is just too cold can us a cooling pad in bed. This can just cool the person laying on the cooling pad instead of the entire room. If your bed is made of memory foam this can hold a lot of heat, and isn’t breathable at night.  Using a cooling pad on top of your memory foam mattress will help keep you cool during the night so you don’t wake up extremely hot.  

Sleeping cold increases your melatonin production.  Melatonin does a lot for your body.

  • It helps regulate menstrual cycles, enhance your mood, helps with weight loss, helps promote brain health, and even produces cancer-fighting properties. 
  • Melatonin is also helpful in the anti-aging process, because extra melatonin that is produced turns into an anti-aging hormone.
  • Extra melatonin production can help you lose weight at night. This is because when your body is producing the melatonin your body will turn that extra production into stored fat, causing your body to burn calories at night. 
  • Melatonin is the precursor to serotonin, meaning you have to have melatonin to make serotonin. So if you have extra melatonin in your body, that will make extra serotonin which will make you feel happier throughout your day.
  • Melatonin helps brain health as well, it has been shown that extra melatonin can help prevent or reduce the symptoms of Alzheimers. 
  • Not only are all the benefits from melatonin worth getting a good night’s sleep, but a good night’s sleep can lead to better moods throughout the day which can lead to less daily stress. When you get a better quality of sleep your more likely to be able to handle more stress better causing you to not feel stressed at all.
  • Along with this sleeping cold can help with insulin sensitivity, lowering the risk of developing diabetes. The colder temperatures promote glucose disposal. 

There are lots of benefits that can come from sleeping in a cooler room. 

Finding what works best for you to keep your body temperature regulated at night is key to making sure you get a good night’s sleep.  The worst thing is to keep waking up because you are too hot and you have to throw off blankets, to then wake up too cold while unbundled and having to pull the blankets back on top of you. This does not make for a restful night.  Cooling blankets or cooling pads are becoming more and more popular. They are most helpful with people who have trouble regulating their body temperature, or for couples that disagree on what the optimal house temperature is for sleep.  They are usually made out of breathable fabric so they aren’t too hot to lay on to begin with. Some people like the feeling of being covered by something at night, so having a cooling blanket to cover you but not make you feel too hot can help you feel your most comfortable at night. 

The goal at night is to get the best sleep you can.  If you can fall asleep more quickly and have better quality of sleep than your whole day may be better.  If you are having trouble falling asleep look at your thermostat, it maybe that you just aren’t sleeping in the best temperature.  Thirty percent of people have insomnia and one of the most common factors of people with insomnia is their higher core body temperature, so if you are having trouble falling asleep at night try one of the ways to cool your bedroom to help your body be more prepared for a good night’s sleep.  From opening windows to eliminate clothes to using a cooling pad there are lots of ways to experiment to make you sleep better. Better sleep helps reduce daily stress. There are lots of health benefits of sleeping in a cooler room. So why not try it tonight.  


And when researched the most common factor in insomnia patients is the temperature in their bedrooms.

Sources:
webmd.com
sleepadvisor.org



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Written by HealthStatus
Medical Writer & Editor

HealthStatus has been operating since 1998 providing the best interactive health tools on the Internet, millions of visitors have used our health risk assessment, body fat and calories burned calculators. The HealthStatus editorial team has continued that commitment to excellence by providing our visitors with easy to understand high quality health content for many years.

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