Can body temperature affect sleep?

Can body temperature affect sleep?

In bed, many of us are no stranger to flipping the pillow over and over again to feel the relaxing coolness of the other side...until it quickly warms up again, moving the cycle forward. An extended period of pillow-flipping is often the result of feeling too hot to sleep properly, whether it’s due to the temperature of our room or our bodies. Even if the blankets and pillows are at the right amount of fluff, too much or too little heat often impedes our ability to fall asleep. Since your body is typically cooler than usual while you’re sleeping, a heightened body temperature is subconsciously associated with being awake and alert. That’s because on a normal day, your hypothalamus drives up your body temperature by a subtle 2 degrees Fahrenheit in the hours after you wake up. Too much heat doesn’t just keep you tossing and turning, but also influences how long you spend in different stages of sleep. A higher body temperature has been linked to lower quantities of restorative slow-wave sleep. Here’s some ways you can keep your body temperature at the right level for falling asleep when you need to:

1. Don’t exercise too close to bedtime.

Exercise obviously raises body temperature. If the kind of exercise in your life leaves you warmed up for quite a while after you’re done, you might want to keep your sessions away from your bedtime.

2. Experiment with your thermostat, A/C, or fans.

Keeping the surroundings at the right temperature can influence your body temperature. It’s said that the optimal room temperature to sleep at is about 65 degrees Fahrenheit, but it’s going to vary between everyone. So give 65 degrees a try and see how it is.

3. Take a bath or shower before bed.

Even if you like your showers sauna hot, you always feel cool when you step out of the bathroom as the water evaporates. That’s one of the reasons why swimming is such a treat on blazing days: it’s not just the coolness of the water, but the coolness you feel when you step out of the water.

4. Sleep with breathable, high-quality mattresses and bedding.

Some bedding can trap more heat than others and some don’t trap enough heat. This depends on its thickness, material, and quality. Different fabrics have different heat-retaining properties, with fleece and down being popular materials for retaining warmth. Lull’s pillows, sheets, and mattresses are all made with high-quality, breathable microfibers that were crafted for all year-round comfort no matter what climate you live in. The memory foam mattress especially stands out -- it’s got a gel top layer to keep you warm. Yes, we know that memory foam mattresses tend to retain heat and had to balance it out somehow. If you’re about to move to a city that regularly reaches 100 degrees and you’re really not sure if Lull will be able to handle it, you have 100 nights to try the products out. So if your bedtime body temperature’s been holding you back, let’s see if Lull’s high-quality construction can make a difference.
Back to blog