Right Room Temperature Important To Sleep

According to Dr. Phyllis Zee, a neurologist and director of the Sleep Disorder Center at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, there is a science to striking that right sleep temperature:

Go for a room temperature of between 65 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit, because the human body finds a cool (but not cold) state conducive to sleep. It even tries to regulate the thermostat itself; the body naturally lowers its temperature by 1 degree Centigrade when sleeping. It’s a natural rhythm, controlled by a clock in the hypothalamus in the brain.

Body temperature starts to drop around midnight, hitting the coldest point around 4 to 6 a.m., which is why people wake up in the morning feeling chilled or with all their covers on.

Body temperature then starts to rise and remains high throughout the rest of the day, which is why almost no one can sleep more than two or three hours during daytime. The high body temperature just won’t allow it, even if the room is dark, even if a person has been up all night.

And yes, humans tend to sleep longer (or want to sleep longer), maybe a half hour or hour, during the winter months. It has to do with the body’s response to light.