Yesterday, we spoke about sleep cycles. But, to get a good night’s rest, there is another consideration. The temperature of the bedroom. (No, I am not talking about THAT temperature. Although, that helps, too!)
First, we must consider some anatomy. Contrary to what you probably learned as a youngster, humans have brown fat (adipose). And, this fat – as opposed to “white fat” is good; it is metabolically active, using blood sugar for caloric intake and maintaining our core body temperatures.
And, if we sleep in bedrooms with the temperature controlled at around 66 (19 C), our brown fat stores are pretty optimal. And, our sensitivity to insulin is dramatically augmented (which means we control our blood sugar more effectively). This was demonstrated with a study of five normal healthy males. Drs. Lee, Smith, Linderman, Courville, Brychta, Dieckmann, Werner, Chen, and Celi of the National Institutes of Health reported these results in the journal, Diabetes.
Moreover, the colder temperature increases our growth hormone and melatonin levels. (This is sometimes called the anti-aging or youth hormone.) And, wearing clothes impedes their secretion. (Yes, that means one should sleep naked.)
So, this means we can augment our health by sleeping in a colder room. (And, as alluded to above, it gives one better chances to heat things up under the top sheet (or, perhaps in your case, under the covers. Especially if you are both buck naked!) With better health, we can be assured of better sleep and a more alert awake time.
I am not even going to think about you sleeping buck naked.
I prefer to be clothed wherever I am sleeping
I do want to address the idea of a cool room. I know I sleep better when it’s cold in the house, but getting it that cold in the summer is not an option even if the AC could keep up. Plus I have an old style tempurpedic that thinks I want to be as hot as my 101 degree dalmations (a mini schnauzer and a min-pin) who sleep with me. I usually don’t fall asleep in the summer until 1 a.m. when we all adjust.
Life doesn’t always adapt to our bodies.
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You could consider using a fan in your bedroom, which could force convective cooling to occur. While the temperature may be higher than optimum, the localized cooling on your skin could make that difference, Ann.
Of course, your clothing would preclude a great deal of that process from occurring….
I have a ceiling fan that always is counter clockwise. In our previous home we also had floor fans. They did not make the move. In the summer I sleep with in my very light under gaments and a light pair of men’s pj bottoms. It’s either that or a light nightgown. I prefer the bottoms. I still can’t go to sleep until around 12 – 1.
I am trying you suggestion of the sleep cycle software. You wil get an update in 4 more days.
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Well, Ann, we just solved a problem for you.
First- reverse the fan direction in the summer. It should be counterclockwise when it’s hot outside.
And, then, you can drop the clothes and do even better…
I was thinking about reversing the fans. I just didn’t want the cold air to turn into hot air. I never said I was a rocket scientist.
And as for your second suggestion, if I weren’t a year older than you, I’d call you a dirty old man. 🙂
Ann recently posted..7 Tactics to Optimize LinkedIn for Business
Interesting. I’ve been having such a horrible time trying to get decent sleep lately. I do keep my bedroom fairly warm.
Anecdotally, a warm bedroom should make you fall asleep faster- but not better or longer. The coolness of the room has to do with your long-term health, which does affect one’s ability to sleep.
Lots of choices there, Jeffrey.
Thanks for the visit- and the comment.