Recently, I came across the knowledge that the body drops in temperature before sleep and remains low until we wake up in the morning. A way to help this biological process is to be in a room that has a lower temperature instead of one that is one. Amerisleep’s article “Ask Science: Is Cold Weather Good For Sleep” shows that some studies are finding connections between a colder temperature promoting deeper sleep and warmer temperature leading to more restless sleep. In a Huffington Post article, professor Michael Decker with a Ph.D. said that our bodies acclimate to the room temperature as we sleep instead of remaining at a colder temperature that would make sleep more restorative. The perfect temperature for deep sleep seems to range between 60 to 67 Fahrenheit or 15.6 to 19.4 Celsius.
I have found that sleeping at lower temperatures allows me to remain asleep longer, fall asleep faster, and feel more restored when I wake up. The method I use to reach this temperature is having a thermostat for the air conditioner unit in my house. Since I am in Vegas, it isn’t easy to remain at a cool temperature, so the temperature of my house is at about 69.8 Fahrenheit or 21 Celsius. Due to this, having a thermostat may not be the most helpful technique to lowering the temperature of an environment. However, even with a slight difference in the coldness of my room, I do notice a difference. At some point, I would like to try a lower temperature to see if that could make my sleep even better.
Another less effective strategy is to have a cold shower before going to bed. This will help your body lower its temperature before falling asleep, but it will not be practical to keep you at a cold temperature for the rest of the night. Remaining hydrated and drinking a cold glass of water before sleeping can help reduce body temperature. Again, this is not effective as having a cold sleeping environment for the whole night, but it may help slightly improve your ability to sleep. I have found that ensuring I am wearing breathable clothing or remaining on bare skin prevents the clothing from trapping heat and helps me remain cooler throughout the night.
The most effective way to keep your body at a lower temperature, which I have yet to try but have heard many good recommendations for, is something called Chilisleep. Chilisleep is a mattress pad that allows you to regulate the mattress’s temperature and, thus, your body. This is more effective than trying to reduce the entire house’s temperature, which is why I want to try this product. Tons of research supports this device’s effectiveness, it is used for pro athletes, and there are many happy reviews for this product. Since this device would help me create a lower temperature, and a lower temperature is associated with deeper sleep, it makes sense that this product would be an effective sleep aid.
Many studies and my personal experience have shown that having a lower temperature can enhance sleep quality. It would help if you tried doing anything you can to help make your sleep environment cooler. For all the solutions given, I would recommend purchasing the Chilisleep product because it seems like the only thing that could help me reach the coldness required to reap the benefits of sleeping at a cooler temperature. Discounting things that can keep you cool for the entire night (thermostat and Chilisleep), there are other steps listed above that may help you reduce your temperature before sleeping. Hopefully, this advice will help enhance your sleep quality and keep you feeling refreshed and energized each day.
