Scientists have found the trick to sleeping well in a heat wave

Can’t sleep because of the heat? you are not alone. Research has shown that how quickly a person falls asleep and how well they can stay asleep has a lot to do with their ability to thermoregulate, or keep their body cool. It hasn’t been easy in most of the Northern Hemisphere this summer, with heat wave after heat wave hitting our bodies and altering our sleep schedules.

Rising nighttime temperatures worldwide due to climate change are beginning to push the upper limits of our thermoregulation: May study Over 47,000 sleepers She found that warmer nighttime temperatures led to less sleep and more twisting and turning before bed, which is a real double whammy. The same study predicted that by the end of the century, climate change could shorten our sleep periods by 58 hours per year. horrifying!

So what can we do with this information, besides allowing it to keep us up at night while we sweat through our sheets? A new study by researchers in Europe, where this summer’s heat waves have been particularly dangerous, suggests several ways to prepare your body for successful thermoregulation.

If you have symptoms of heat exhaustion or heatstroke, a fan can be lifesaving: “The most effective and efficient way to rapidly lower body temperature, which is commonly applied in emergency services and the military, is forced ventilation,” the researchers wrote in a Thursday paper was published in Sleep Research Journal. “[A] The fan is directed over bare skin, which increases skin moisture loss by facilitating and promoting convective perspiration and evaporation.”

They added that outside of emergencies, a ceiling fan running on a low level during the night may produce some of the same benefits and help sleepers regulate heat.

During the day, the researchers recommended exercising early in the morning to maintain a regular circadian rhythm, which can be affected by sleep loss. Alcohol dehydrates you and increases the quality of your sleep, so researchers have suggested keeping drinking to a minimum and instead hydrating throughout the day.

People who aspire to sleep should take a cool or tepid shower, or a warm foot bath, just before bed to reduce heat stress. Do not layer clothing and wear cotton clothing over other materials.

Part of the problem is that sleep can be affected by both biological and psychological factors. Worrying about being able to sleep Makes it hard to sleepThis is no different during a heat wave. The researchers recommended using a bed exclusively for sleeping and creating a “reading corner” elsewhere in the house with books, magazines or comics.

“Use it when you still don’t feel sleepy before you go to bed, and when you can’t go back to sleep in the middle of the night. You don’t go back to bed until you feel sleepy,” they wrote.

The researchers stressed that the use of energy-consuming appliances, such as air conditioners, should be “viewed as a last resort” during heat waves when energy use is restricted. Additionally, an air conditioning unit can cool a room below 63 degrees, at which point sleep can also be disrupted. The authors wrote Choose an electric fan instead.

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