Did you know that your body and room temperature play a pivotal role in helping you fall asleep?
Your core body temperature naturally fluctuates during the day, reaching its highest point in the late afternoon, before it starts to cool down and prepare your body for sleep.
This cooldown in temperature signals to your brain that it’s time to get ready for bed and kickstart melatonin production, the hormone responsible for regulating your sleep. It’s no coincidence that the nightly drop in body temperature starts after sunset, as our sleep-wake cycle is dictated by our circadian rhythms – the 24-hour internal body clock that revolves around the sun (“circa” = around, and “dies” = day).
Maintaining a consistently cool bedroom temperature is essential for facilitating your body’s natural cooling process and ensuring an uninterrupted night of restful sleep.
The best temperature for sleeping is 60 to 67 degrees Fahrenheit (or 15 to 19 degrees Celsius)
The best temperature for sleeping babies and toddlers is a bit higher, between 65 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit (18 to 21 Celsius).
Best temperature for sleep by age:
Fahrenheit | Celsius | |
---|---|---|
Adults | 60 to 67 degrees | 15 to 19 degrees |
Babies and toddlers | 65 to 70 degrees | 18 to 21 degrees |
It’s important to get your bedroom temperature just right. A cooler temperature helps your body maintain a consistent temperature, preventing night sweats and related insomnia. But if it’s too cold, your body has to expend more energy warming you up, so you’ll have a harder time falling asleep.
What’s too hot or too cold? Experts agree that temperatures above 75 or below 54 degrees can both interfere with sleep quality.
How do you find the perfect sleep temperature for you? Adjust your temperature within the recommended range to see what makes you comfortable enough to sleep.
Things that might affect your ideal sleep temperature include:
Sleeping at the recommended cool temperature can help you fall asleep faster, enjoy more restful sleep, prevent certain types of insomnia, and improve your metabolism.
Cool temperatures facilitate better-quality REM and deep sleep, both of which are critical to healthy daytime functioning. During REM sleep, you experience dreams, while your brain processes learnings and consolidates memories. In deep sleep, your body restores and repairs your muscles and tissue. Keeping your body cooler can lead to more time spent in deep sleep, while a too-hot environment can actually reduce the time spent in deep sleep and result in less sleep overall.
In order to keep your bedroom temperature consistent during the night, following these tips:
Darkness and coolness are two of the most important factors for a good night’s sleep, but much more can make an impact on your sleep, from the colors you paint your bedroom to the mattress you choose. For more tips like these, check out our guide to creating the perfect environment for sleep.