What is the best temp for deep quality sleep?
The temperature of your room can have an impact on the quality of your sleep. If the body is too hot or too cold it has to divert energy to thermoregulate itself while you sleep. Thermoregulation would be either sweating if you are too hot and shivering if you are too cold. These actions disrupt the body from cycling through deep sleep and REM sleep cycles.
Ideal Sleep Temp
The ideal temperature to sleep in, is between 60-68 degrees. You will need to play around with what temp you sleep best at. A cool bedroom plays two roles with sleep. One, as the body prepares for rest your core body temp starts to drop which brings on sleep. Having a cool room helps facilitate this, while a warm or hot room would counteract this. Two, when the body does not have to thermoregulate itself through the night, you are able to get a higher quality sleep. You won’t be waking up to kick off the covers or add a blanket if too cold. Interruptions like this affect the sleep cycle and you could end up spending most of your night in a light sleep which leaves you feeling tired in the morning. Can you recall trying to sleep on a hot summer night? It’s a rough night of sleep.
Insomnia and Body Temp
There is a study out there that for people that have insomnia tend to have a higher core temp before bed which is delaying sleep. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18603220)
How to cool down for sleep
- Set your thermostat to 60-68F. It is a good idea to have a thermometer in the room to confirm the temp. A lot of houses have uneven heating and cooling.
- Wear the right clothing to bed. Wear breathable cotton or go naked. Wearing a bunch of layers to bed traps too much heat and you end up waking up sweating at night.
- Use a breathable duvet or comforter and cotton sheets or high performance sheets like Sheex. As your body produces heat you want it to be able to escape and not be trapped under the blankets.
- Purchase a Chilipad or Perfect SleepPad. This device circulates cooled or heated water through a blanket at a set temperature. This is great for couples who disagree on the temperature of a room and blankets. (https://www.perfectsleeppad.com).Place a cool washcloth on your head before going to bed to bring your body temp down.
- Avoid strenuous exercise 2-3 hours before bed. Exercise increases your core temp and can take a bit to come down.
- Take a cool or warm shower. Either will elicit that temp drop. Avoid taking a long hot shower or bath as these may increase your body temp too much.
- Pets are awesome, but not in bed. This is added heat you do not need.
- No A/C. Place a fan blowing across a bowl of ice to help cool the air.
- Purchase an ice vest and wear it before bed to cool your core. (https://www.icevests.com/#/)
- Ditch your foam mattress. Foam while at first feels cool, but after your body heat is absorbed it heats up and has poor ventilation so it stays hot.
If you find yourself waking up in the middle of the night often, many times it can be because you have gotten too hot. Experiment and see if you have find that happy medium.
My name is Jason Piper and I am a certified sleep coach from Detroit,MI. I help people and businesses to rebuild their sleep for more energy, concentration, and creativity. Join my Sleep Quest to improve your sleep tonight.