You may have noticed that as the temperatures start to drop, you may be sleeping much better. And it isn’t just your imagination!
Science backs this up as a fact – your body rests better when the room temperature is lower.
1. Helps You Fall Asleep Faster And Deeper
There is a reason for this. Our bodies cool down in preparation for sleep, as its natural resting internal temperature when asleep is lower than that of when we are awake.
As a result, a cooler surrounding helps the body dissipate that heat faster, aiding in its sleep preparation.
This means with a cooler room we can fall asleep faster and deeper.
We also happen to be at our coolest at about 5 am in the morning, which is probably why we find it the most difficult time to wake up by, even with a full night’s sleep.
2. Can Help Cure Insomnia
There are other positive benefits associated with cooler bedroom temperatures as well. Among other things, lower surrounding temperatures can help with insomnia.
One of the possible risk factors for insomnia includes the inability to regulate one’s internal temperature.
A cooler room then helps to lower the body’s internal temperature, making it easier to fall asleep and stay asleep.
3. Helps Reduce Anxiety, Stress And Depression
Other health benefits also include less anxiety, stress, and depression, since cooler temperatures mean less irritation when trying to sleep.
4. Promotes Weight Loss
Lower temperatures also can help with weight loss.
This is because sleeping regularly in cold temperatures, for example, 66 degrees Fahrenheit, encourages higher metabolism rates and the increase of brown fat, also known as good fat.
5. Can Slow Down Aging!
On top of that, colder sleeping temperatures can also aid the body in the production of melatonin, the hormone responsible for sleepiness and keeping us asleep.
This hormone also doubles as an anti-aging hormone – this means that you not only sleep better in colder temperatures, but you can also slow down aging as a result.
After reading all that, your first reaction would probably be to reach for the fan switch. Not so fast! Fans can affect your health negatively in several different ways:
1. Firstly, it can trigger allergic reactions by moving about airborne allergens such as dust and pollen – usually into your face.
2. Secondly, air that is constantly circulating can dry out your skin. If you sleep with your mouth (or even eyes!) slightly open, you will also experience extreme dryness in those areas as well, which can become irritating.
3. This leads into the third point – it can irritate your sinuses by drying them out. In response, your sinuses can overproduce mucus to compensate, leaving you feeling stuffy the next morning.
4. Fourth, it can cause muscle cramps if the fan is blowing directly at you for an entire night’s sleep, as a result of cool air hitting your body directly.
With all that said and done, there isn’t too much harm in using a fan to cool down a room.
This is especially so if you would rather use a fan than turn on the air conditioner.
In the end, you might say that it doesn’t matter – the benefits of having a cooler sleeping temperature far outstrips what annoyances a fan can cause!
