Sleeping in the Cold: Good for Your Health
By Sara Butler
If you like to sleep in a cold, dark room at night, then you’re on the right track. It turns out that the temperature of your bedroom can make a huge difference in your quality of sleep at night. Even if the promise of a great night’s sleep isn’t enough to get you to turn down your thermostat, here are a few other reasons you may want to consider it.
What’s the Ideal Temperature?
Research from the National Sleep Council has concluded that a bedroom between 60 and 67 degrees Fahrenheit make for the best night’s sleep. Temperatures above 75 and below 54 degrees Fahrenheit will cause sleep trouble, either because you’re too hot or too cold.
More Restful Sleep
Researchers at the University of South Australia discovered that some forms of insomnia can be blamed on poor body temperature regulation. Difficulty falling asleep at night due to this can be remedied with a cool sleeping environment that helps your body to cool down enough for you to nod off.
Helps You Look Young
Why pay for expensive creams when you can simply sleep in a cool room to get the job done? When you sleep in a room with a temperature over 70, your body will not release melatonin. And melatonin just so happens to be one of the best anti-aging hormones around.
Helps You Maintain a Healthy Weight
When your body temperature drops as you sleep, your body releases a growth hormone as it decreases the stress hormone cortisol. If you don’t get enough sleep at night, then you can wake up with higher levels of stress hormones and that can throw off the hormones that control your appetite, causing weight gain.
May Lower Your Risk of Diabetes
One study out of the National Institutes of Health found that a room set to 66 degrees Fahrenheit may just help to prevent certain metabolic diseases such as diabetes. The participants of the study burned more calories when they were awake and doubled the amount of good fat (also called brown fat) in their body. This type of fat stores fewer calories and over time more of it can help reduce the risk for certain diseases such as diabetes.
Keep your room cold. It helps you sleep better and may bring you better health!
To learn more about your health and wellness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Mission Viejo, Calif.