Blog posts tagged with 'sleep cool'

New Year’s Resolution time is in full swing and everyone is trying to get their routine down. You have to make a schedule that works best for you. Some people think that morning workouts are the only way to go and that working out at night actually hurts your sleep, but that is just not true. Working out is best whenever you can do it. If you are a morning person and find it easiest to wake up and go---then do it. If you have to work out after work that’s fine too whatever is best for your schedule that you can make a part of your weekly routine.

There’s always been this myth that you cannot work out four hours before you want to go to sleep, but that isn’t true for all. Very few people are affected by this. Most people can even find it easier to fall asleep after working out. Exercise overall improves sleep and allows people to rest more efficiently.

Typically, if you have trouble falling asleep after exercising it is because of temperature. Your core body temperature tends to rise after a vigorous workout and it also rises due to our natural circadian rhythm around the time you are trying to go to sleep. Lowering the temperature to 68 degrees and making sure you have the proper sleep environment is the key to success.

The proper sleep environment includes a dark quiet room, a mattress that is breathable (preferably in this case with cooling features such as cooling gel and/or breeze technology), cooling pillows, breathable sheets and a breathable mattress protector. Keeping you cool will allow you to fall asleep quicker and stay asleep longer. When you are cool it also allows you to reach deeper stages of sleep faster as well.

So don’t worry if the only time in your schedule to work out is late at night. You can still get the proper sleep you need for your rest and recovery. Just make sure to stay cool. 

Why do we yawn? We are not the only species who yawns monkeys, dogs, cats, and even fish and babies inside the womb yawn but why? It is one of those truly unsolved mysteries, but there are some really interesting theories.

The one that seems to be the most pervasive is that it expands your lungs and brings in a ton of oxygen all at once. That oxygen goes to your brain allowing you to wake up. But is this true? It makes sense but scientists have shown that oxygen levels don’t actually rise when we yawn. So if it isn’t taking oxygen to the brain what is it doing?

It seems that there is a decent connection between yawning and temperature regulation. The hotter you are the more likely you are to yawn if you see someone else yawning. Yawns are contagious. I bet at least half of you have yawned just from seeing the picture above and I’ve yawned twice while writing this. It is that weird suggestible thing when someone even says yawn we all respond in kind, but we are less likely to yawn if you are cold.

As you lay in bed every night sleeping heat builds up throughout the night, which is why many of us immediately wake up and yawn. Your brain functions at its best when it is in a cooler environment. So we wake up and immediately cool down our brains. The circadian rhythm determines the heat of our body throughout the day. Typically the highest points are right before we fall asleep and first thing when we wake up. The average person yawns 8 times a day which seems to be a way to regulate our brains temperature.

Typically when one person yawns multiple people in a room yawn. This is more than likely an evolutionary process where one person sees another and knows that maybe they should regulate their brain too. It could also be because of empathy or mimicry. Sleeping cool could help eliminate the early morning yawns. When you keep your cool and regulate your body temperature you get deeper sleep and wake up feeling refreshed. Experiment.  See if you yawn when you wake up after a nice night’s sleep in a cool bed.