If you like to sleep in a warmer room, we have some bad news for you- sleeping in a colder room is so much healthier for you!
Namely, Christopher Winter, medical director at Charlottesville Neurology & Sleep Medicine points out that we should keep the temperature in our bedrooms between 60 to 67 degrees Fahrenheit while sleeping to ensure we stay healthy.
Why is this so?
Why Sleeping in Colder Room Is Healthier for Us?
The analysis of Dr. Winter suggests that if the temperature in the bedroom drops or rises above the previously mentioned range, our chances of tossing and turning and waking up during the night is much higher.
Our bodies have a natural 24-hour cycle during which there’s a temperature peak in the late afternoon and the lowest point is around 5 am.
It’s easier to fall asleep naturally when our body temperature starts lowering down. Therefore, it could be helpful to maintain a colder room temperature so that we speed up the falling asleep.
Another research from the University of South Australia points out that a colder bedroom will help us enjoy a calmer sleep. They’ve associated insufficient body temperature regulation with some types of insomnia.
When we sleep in a colder room, the Australian research further claim, we’re also reaping benefits like looking younger due to the improvement of the melatonin release that happens when we sleep in a room that’s not warmer than 70 degrees.
Natasha Turner, naturopathic doctor explains that healthy sleeping patterns and a temperature drop encourages the secretion of a growth hormone that helps lower the stress, which could also be helpful for weight loss.
Moreover, a different study points out that sleeping in colder rooms will help us decrease the chances of metabolic illnesses such as diabetes.
During the study, the participants burned higher amount of calories when they were awake and they doubled their amount of brown or good fat that helps the body store fewer calories.
What Happens when We Sleep in Warmer Rooms?
When the temperature in our room is outside the recommended range, it can mess with our REM stage- a crucial, restorative sleep phase during which our brain is processing a lot of our experiences.
If we’re not in deep sleep in this phase and wake up from it, we’ll feel groggy and tired, more than usually.
When your environment is overly warm while you’re trying to sleep, your body will try to regulate its temperature and you’ll therefore waste energy. Consequently, the chances of staying awake are higher and the chances of falling asleep easy are lower.
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