Why Turning Down the Thermostat Can Greatly Improve Your Sleep
The reasons that people can’t get a good night’s sleep are plentiful. From poor sleep hygiene to conditions like insomnia, around one in every three people have at least brief symptoms of insomnia, and around 10% of the population has a chronic insomnia disorder.
Solutions can be challenging and frustrating as many people go through a trial-and-error process, but studies show one simple way to adjust your sleeping environment may pay big dividends.
Centers Health Care has a look at why sleeping in a colder bedroom can greatly improve your sleep.
Study Involved Varying Sleep Temperatures
The study involved five healthy men that saw them sleeping in a number of different temperatures for a week at a time. The participants slept at 75 degrees for a month, then 66, 75, and finally at 81.
The men had the same diet throughout the course of the study.
Change in Metabolism
The amount of brown fat, or so-called good fat, in each individual was measured at the end of each period. It was discovered that in the month following the bedroom temperature being set at 66 led to the most brown-fat activity.
Brown fat is more active and is believed to take sugar out of the bloodstream to maintain the body’s core temperature. Because of this, the metabolic rate of the five men all improved from colder sleeping conditions.
Can It Improve Sleep?
Research shows that your body temperatures drops by a degree or two just before you fall asleep, so going into a colder room to sleep could help aid in that process. Sleep experts believe that dropping the temperature to 70 or just below will help you fall asleep and give you a better chance of staying asleep throughout the night.
