Low Temperatures/High-Quality Sleep
Sleeping comfortably can be a tricky thing. What works for one person may not work for another. For example, a room that feels too cold for one person might feel too hot for another. Or you might get in bed and feel too hot with a blanket on but then too cold when you take it off. No universal magic formula works for everybody when it comes to getting a good night’s sleep. But whatever your ideal temperature setting is when it comes to bedtime, sleeping in a cold room is known to have its health benefits.
The human body’s internal temperature is usually highest in the early afternoon and lowest in the early morning hours. Body temperatures fluctuate throughout the day. But keeping your body temperature cool is known to help you sleep better. When we sleep, our bodies cool off naturally. And if you’ve seen enough sci-fi movies, you know that characters are often “kept on ice” in cryogenic states when they need to be dormant but alive for long periods of time. So it makes sense that in real life, the colder your body temperature, the better you sleep.
Benefits of sleeping in a cold room
Super Heat & Air is an air conditioning company, so you know we’re all about keeping things cold! With that in mind, here are some benefits of sleeping in a cold room:
1. Sleep Faster
We’re no doctors or scientists here, but we know this: sleep is good for you. And unless sleeping in a furnace is your thing, if your room feels too hot you will probably sweat in bed and not be able to get comfortable. The same could be said about falling asleep in a freezing room: you probably won’t be able to get comfortable. But in a room that’s just cold enough? Ahhhhhh, now that feels good, doesn’t it? In a cold room, your body won’t waste energy trying to regulate its temperature by trying to adjust, which means you can fall asleep fast! So it makes sense that the faster you fall asleep, the more sleep you get, right? (BRILLIANT!)
2. Sleep Better
Remember that thing you just read about falling asleep fast because your body isn’t trying to regulate its temperature? Alright! That also means you will not only fall asleep faster but also sleep better too! A cold room temperature will help you fall into a deeper, uninterrupted sleep, which means no tossing and turning all night. And consistently sleeping well will also save you money if you rely on prescription drugs or over-the-counter sleeping aids. (You’ll probably save money on coffee and energy drinks too!)
3. Age Better
Insomniacs are often told to take melatonin to sleep better. That’s because melatonin is a known anti-aging hormone. According to mercola.com, sleeping in temperatures between 60-68 degrees will allow your body to release more melatonin. So it not only helps you sleep better, but helps you age better too. And let’s keep it real here: people who don’t consistently sleep well tend to age horribly. Dark circles and bags under the eyes from lack of sleep alone can make a 30-year-old look 50!
4. Other Benefits
Some studies have shown that sleeping in a cold room can improve your metabolism and even help prevent diabetes. But again, we’re not doctors or scientists here, so we won’t touch on the specifics of that research (if you really want to know, click here).
However, we are Trane Comfort Specialists, which means we’re comfort experts! So we’ll stick to what we know best … keeping you cool! Here are some ways to keep cool at night:
5. Get Naked!
No clothes, no heat! The fewer clothes you sleep in, the less insulation there is on your body. Pretty simple, huh? So if you go to sleep with zero clothes on your body… you get the point!
6. Fan Up
Become a fan of your fan. Fans are designed to help cool rooms, not people. So use a ceiling or floor fan to circulate air around your room. You’ll love your fan in no time once it helps you fall asleep!
7. Cuddle Up with a Cold Pillow
Pillow talk. Do you have an extra pillow you don’t need for your head? Leave one pillow under the covers and let it get nice and cold. And when it’s sleepy time, grab that cold pillow and snuggle up with it to help cool your body down. Temperatures at around 65-68 degrees will help cool your room and all of your pillows, including the ones that will go behind your head to help cool it down.
8. Cuddle Up with a Partner
Snuggle up, buttercup! A cold pillow is nice, but a warm partner is even better! We’ve already established that a cold room is good for you. But keeping comfortable can be challenging, especially if you share a room with somebody whose idea of “cold” vastly differs from yours. Having another person’s body heat in the bed can keep you nice, warm, and cozy in a room that feels too cold for you or your partner. And cuddling is also known to relieve stress. So the less stressed you are, the better you sleep! Awww.
9. Get a Bigger Bed
“We’re going to need a bigger bed!” Not a cuddler, but your partner is? This is where the opposite of cuddling comes into play. If you can’t fall asleep or stay asleep while snuggling with a partner, a larger bed is a great way to break away from cuddling when you want to get some Zs. And a larger bed is beneficial when you have a partner who does fall asleep while cuddling but you can’t.
A happy medium can be had when you have a partner who wants to cuddle all night and you don’t. That’s because when you have a larger bed with more personal space, you can slowly break away once your partner zonks out and sleep on YOUR side of the bed without disrupting each other. And if your definition of cold differs from your partner’s, keep two separate bed covers of varying thicknesses for your personal space.
10. Let the Right One In
“You put your right foot in; you put your left foot out.” Leaving certain body parts exposed during sleep can help keep you cool. So if you like to stay wrapped up in your blanket all night but it makes you too warm, try sticking one foot outside of the covers to help you stay cool.
11. Adjust the Thermostat
Take your temperature. Regarding comfort, the perfect thermostat setting for sleep is subjective. You do want to consider saving money on energy bills by not setting it too low all night. But if you share a home with central air conditioning, not everyone may agree on what the thermostat should be set at. If 65 degrees is too cold, try keeping it in the lower 70s for a comfortable cool. And if you constantly battle with your housemates over what the thermostat setting should be at night, consider a ductless mini-split air conditioning system, allowing different thermostats in each room.
Now that you know sleeping in a cold room has many benefits, you can sleep in a cold room all year. Call us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at (813) 355-0288!
