Body Temperature and Sleep Quality Pt 2
In our post last week we covered the basics of what warmer temperatures do to sleep quality, we introduced the idea of body temperatures lowering in your body naturally to prepare you for sleep, and how your brain will heat up slightly due to higher brain activity during sleep.
In this post we will cover choices in bedding to help you sleep comfortably in warmer temperatures, what is the ideal temperature for sleep.
Our first tip for sleep temperature regulation is counter-intuitive to what you might expect. Taking a warm bath before bedtime is a good thing to do for lowering your body temperature. The principle here has to do with the evaporation of water from your skin has a cooling effect on your body temperature. Allowing you an easier time to achieve a restful sleep. The optimal time for this would be within an hour of your bedtime.
Using proper bedding for temperature regulation is our second tip. Many people seek out high thread count cotton sheets, thinking that these sheets are the highest quality and best for sleep and comfort. The truth is the thicker the sheet, which is the main characteristic of higher thread count, the higher the heat retention. The best way to eliminate heat is actually through thinner fibers such as Tencel or Bamboo Rayon. These fabrics not only are lighter and easier for heat to escape, but they also have high water-wicking qualities which will keep you from feeling drenched during sleep. Try this, next opportunity you have, take swatches of cotton sheets and swatches of Tencel/bamboo sheets and try to breathe through them. You will find that the cotton sheets will not easily allow you to breathe. However, the Tencel and Bamboo will allow for easier airflow, proof that your purchase of these two fabrics will help you sleep easier.
The third tip is to seek a firmer mattress for better airflow around your body while you lay on the bed. A softer mattress will contour to your body and cause you to sink deeper into your mattress. The mattress then envelopes your body and traps heat around your body.
There are several ways to regulate sleep temperature, and these are but a few methods to help raise your sleep quality. Catch up with us next week when we finish our series on Sleep Temperature with coverage on proper mattresses for Hot Sleepers.
About the author:
Javier is the owner of the Sleep Well, a professionally trained sleep store, specializing in specific mattresses for specific needs. He lives to give. He is an active member of his community and church. His hard work and efforts pay off for him when he can help others, and give to efforts for the betterment of others.
His spare time is spent with his beautiful wife, Gretchen. They are craft beer hobbyists who enjoy making their own beers, visiting small breweries, and making new friends. Their lives revolve around four great dogs and keeping up with their home in Alamogordo NM.
