Are you hot at night, cold during the day? Or experiencing sweating at night? Don’t worry, it’s more common than you might believe and in most cases something you can address by making a few easy, changes to your life.
A UK study showed that up to third of people complained of night sweats when visiting their local doctor.
WHY DO I GET HOT WHEN I SLEEP?
There is a close link between temperature and sleep, to be able to fall asleep our core temperature needs to drop and our skin temperature rises. When we sleep our temperature equalizes over the whole body, meaning that our hands and feet have the same temperature as our torso. So what can cause our temperature to rise during the night?
- Food: if we have been eating heavy or spicy food before going to bed our metabolism is still working hard to digest it which can cause our body temperature to rise. It’s better to have heavier meals around lunchtime and have a lighter dinner instead.
- Nicotine, caffeine and alcohol have a stimulating effect that can take several hours to wear off. This can also cause our body temperature to rise. If you want to have a glass of wine or a coffee best to have it a few hours before going to bed.
- Metabolism: if you are doing a lot of sports your metabolism is usually higher which is why sportspeople tend to get warm during the night. Men also on average have a metabolism than is over 20% higher than that of women, which can contribute to excessive sweating at night.
- Hormones: there are periods during a woman’s life where hormonal changes can lead to increase body temperature and sleep difficulties. This include menstruation, pregnancy and menopause.
- Choose the right time for sports: exercising is great for our sleep quality but you want to avoid doing sports just before sleep as elevates our temperature.
- Sharing a bed: sometimes it’s difficult to agree on what the ideal sleeping temperature is and a crowded bed, with pets and kids as well, often makes sleeping a very hot experience. Make sure that the size of your bed fits the people who regularly sleep in it J.
- Hot summer nights: as temperature rises a high ambient temperature can make it very difficult to keep cool during the night.
WHAT’S THE STORY BEHIND NIGHT SWEATS?
Night sweats are totally normal and an essential part of our natural thermoregulation process, as the moisture evaporates from our skin it cools us down.
Our body is made of water, 60% is actually water. We have over 4 million sweat glands that enable us to regulate our temperature. We actually sweat constantly, even when we are inactive and even if the ambient temperature isn’t high. We loose up to 2.5 liters of fluid each day and during one night we sweat on average a full cup of perspiration.
We don’t want to stop to sweat entirely but excessive sweating at night can lead to sleep disturbances. There are measures we can take to sleep better.
KEEP THE BEST TEMPERATURE FOR SLEEP
If you are hot at night, cold during day or just tend to overheat all the time there are actions we can take to cool down. This way we can combat excessive sweating at night and enjoy a better sleep. Temperature fluctuations impact in particular our deep sleep phases so keeping the best temperature for sleep is vital in having a high quality sleep. Apart from reviewing your lifestyle (food, drinks, sports etc) we can also achieve a cool sleep comfort by:
- Ice down. If you tend to get warm during the night you can keep a glass of ice water next to your bed and have a cold facecloth available in case you wake up feeling overheated.
- Cool down your bedroom: breathing in cold air supports our sleep as it helps to reduce our core body temperature. Keeping our bedrooms below 18 C/ 64 F also helps to avoid night sweats.
- Wearing the best nightwear for night sweats: by helping to regulate moisture and releasing excess heat the best pajamas for night sweats can alleviate the effects and support a better sleep.
THE BEST NIGHTWEAR FOR NIGHT SWEATS
Dagsmejan sleepwear is developed for sleep, pairing the finest natural fibres with the latest textile innovation for a better sleep comfort. Scientifically proven.
If you tend to get hot when sleeping or suffer from sweating at night the right sleepwear can make a huge difference. Unlike other moisture wicking pajamas Dagsmejan doesn’t only work with wicking to keep you dry but also with evaporative cooling to actively cool you down. It’s 6x more breathable than cotton so any excess heat is quickly released from the skin.
Discover what the best pajamas for night sweats can do for your night comfort: