At Naturelle, we understand how frustrating it can be to fall asleep when you’re feeling too warm. Whether it’s due to rising summer temperatures or materials that trap heat, many people find themselves tossing and turning throughout the night, unable to cool down. But what can be done to sleep cooler at night?
It’s quite simple. The best way to sleep cooler is by sleeping on and under natural materials, like organic latex and pure wool, which naturally regulate your temperature. These materials transfer heat away from the body by promoting airflow and improving air circulation while wicking moisture away from the body, allowing it to evaporate to keep you dry and regulate your temperature.
By making a few adjustments to your sleep environment, and choosing the right mattress and bedding, it’s entirely possible to enjoy a cooler, more comfortable night’s sleep.
In this post, we’ll explore how small changes can make a big difference to your sleep. But first of all, let’s explore why you may experience heat fluctuations during the night.
Why Do We Get Hot While We Sleep?
Understanding the biological reasons why you get hot during sleep can significantly improve your sleep quality by enabling you to make more informed choices about your sleep environment and habits.
There are several reasons why you might feel hot as you sleep, and it’s not just about the room temperature (although the recommended room temperature for optimal sleep is 18-20°C).
Here are some common factors that contribute to overheating at night:
Biological Reasons for Overheating During Sleep
- Body’s Natural Sleep Cycle: As part of your circadian rhythm, your core temperature naturally drops when you prepare for sleep. However, during the deeper stages of sleep, particularly during REM sleep, your body becomes less efficient at regulating temperature, which can cause you to feel warmer.
- Hormonal Changes: Hormones play a key role in regulating body temperature. Fluctuations due to conditions like menopause, pregnancy, or even stress can cause night sweats or an increase in body temperature during sleep.
- Medications: Certain medications, such as antidepressants, blood sugar medications, or hormone therapy, can interfere with your body’s ability to regulate temperature, making you feel hotter at night.
While you may not be able to manage the biological changes that cause temperature fluctuations, you can improve your sleep environment by investing in bedding that enhances airflow and circulation while you sleep.
How Your Bedding Makes You Hot
Your choice of bedding and mattress materials plays a major role in regulating heat during the night. Synthetic materials often exacerbate the problem of overheating. Here’s how:
- Synthetic fabrics, like polyester, don’t allow moisture to evaporate effectively, trapping heat and causing you to overheat. They also don’t allow air to circulate effectively, and restricted airflow traps heat around your body. Some synthetic fabrics are even treated with chemicals or finishes that create a barrier and reduce their breathing ability.
Bedding made from these materials can make it difficult for your body to regulate its temperature, especially if you’re prone to night sweats.
- Heat-Retaining Mattresses: Traditional mattresses like memory foam have a dense cellular structure that lacks the open spaces necessary for air to circulate, restricting airflow and causing heat to build up around you instead of dissipating. Poor breathability makes it difficult for body heat to escape, causing you to feel warmer as the night progresses.
Additionally, memory foam tends to retain moisture, which can lead to an uncomfortably sticky feeling, especially if you sweat at night. The material also lacks responsiveness, meaning it can feel slow to return to its original shape when you shift positions. This can create a “sinking” feeling that makes movement more difficult, further contributing to discomfort and overheating.
For more information about how memory foam causes night sweats, refer to our post: Night Sweats and Your Mattress: What You Need to Know
Thankfully, there are ways to combat this heat and make your sleep environment cooler and more breathable, starting with your choice of mattress and bedding.
How Does Sleeping Cooler Help You Sleep Deeper?
Sleeping cooler can improve the quality and depth of sleep because our bodies need to drop in temperature to initiate and maintain restful sleep. Here’s how a cooler sleep environment promotes deeper sleep:
- Facilitates Sleep Onset: Our core body temperature naturally dips in the evening as part of our circadian rhythm, signalling that it’s time for rest. A cooler sleep environment supports this natural drop, helping us fall asleep faster.
- Promotes Deeper Sleep Stages: Cooler body temperatures can enhance the amount of time spent in deep sleep, specifically slow-wave sleep (SWS), which is the restorative stage where memory consolidation, cell repair, and immune strengthening occur.
- Prevents Nighttime Wakefulness: When we’re too warm, we’re more likely to experience frequent awakenings as the body tries to regulate temperature, leading to interrupted sleep cycles. A cooler setting can minimise disruptions and promote uninterrupted, high-quality sleep.
- Improves Melatonin Production: A cooler sleep environment supports melatonin release. Known as the “sleep hormone,” melatonin helps regulate the sleep-wake cycle and enhances overall sleep quality.
- Encourages Comfort and Relaxation: A cooler environment is often more comfortable, reducing tossing and turning and enabling the body to relax fully.
Finding the right temperature balance can make a significant difference, and products like breathable, temperature-regulating mattresses can help maintain an optimal sleep climate.
The Cooling Power of Organic Latex
One of the easiest ways to cool down your nights is by sleeping on organic latex.
Organic latex is a naturally breathable material that allows for better airflow compared to conventional mattresses made from memory foam or synthetic materials.
Latex has an open-cell structure, which is key to its natural ability to promote airflow and prevent heat from getting trapped. This open-cell design allows air to move freely through the mattress, ensuring that excess body heat doesn’t accumulate under or around you.
Instead of holding onto warmth like dense memory foam, latex disperses heat efficiently, allowing for continuous cooling throughout the night. This natural ventilation not only helps excess body heat escape but also helps regulate your body temperature, making it easier to maintain a stable, cooler environment while you sleep.
Additionally, latex responds quickly to body movement, which keeps the airflow active whenever you shift positions. Unlike memory foam, which conforms too tightly and creates heat pockets, organic latex offers a balance of support and breathability. It cradles your body gently without restricting airflow, ensuring that your body stays cool and comfortable. This cooling effect is further enhanced by latex’s moisture-wicking properties, as it helps dissipate sweat and humidity that can contribute to overheating, creating a truly temperature-neutral and refreshing sleep surface.
Cooling Pillows
The head is one of the primary areas of the body where heat is released during sleep, as it remains uncovered and exposed to the surrounding environment.
This natural process helps regulate body temperature, but if your pillow traps heat, it can hinder cooling and make you feel warmer than necessary.
Latex pillows, with their open-cell structure, are designed to promote airflow and prevent heat buildup around the head and neck. Unlike traditional foam pillows that retain heat, latex pillows allow air to circulate freely, helping dissipate heat and moisture. This continuous airflow keeps your head cooler, preventing overheating and ensuring a more comfortable, refreshing sleep experience. Additionally, latex’s moisture-wicking properties help reduce any sweat buildup, further enhancing your ability to stay cool throughout the night.
The Benefits of Wool for Sleeping Cooler
In addition to organic latex, our products incorporate pure wool, another natural material with fantastic temperature-regulating properties.
Wool has long been known for its ability to adapt to changing temperatures, making it an ideal material for year-round comfort. In fact, a study published in the National Library of Medicine (2016) found that wool sleepwear and bedding improved sleep efficiency, with participants spending more time in deeper sleep compared to other fabrics.
What makes wool duvets so special is their ability to wick away moisture. When you sweat during the night, wool fibres absorb that moisture and allow it to evaporate, keeping your body dry and cool. This moisture-wicking ability helps regulate body temperature, making sure you don’t wake up drenched in sweat during warmer nights.
Wool is also naturally breathable, allowing air to circulate through your bedding and creating a cooler sleep environment. Moreover, wool is hypoallergenic and resistant to dust mites, adding extra health benefits for people with allergies or sensitivities.
At Naturelle, we use pure wool in our mattresses, futons, toppers, pillows, and duvets to enhance your sleep experience. These products work together to create a sleep environment that feels cool, fresh, and comfortable, even on the hottest nights.
Temperature Regulating Duvets
Naturelle’s pure wool duvets are a game-changer when it comes to regulating your body temperature during sleep. Wool is a natural insulator, meaning it adapts to your body’s needs. It keeps you cool in the summer and warm in the winter. This makes wool an ideal choice for year-round comfort, especially if you tend to overheat at night.
Additional Tips for Sleeping Cooler at Night
Along with using breathable, natural materials like organic latex and wool, there are other steps you can take to ensure you sleep cooler at night. Here are a few tips to help you optimize your sleep environment:
- Avoid Heat-Trapping Materials: As mentioned earlier, memory foam and synthetic fabrics can trap heat around your body. Switching to breathable materials, like organic latex for your mattress and wool or cotton for your bedding, can make a significant difference.
- Wear Breathable Sleepwear: Opt for lightweight, breathable fabrics such as cotton or linen when choosing your sleepwear. These materials promote airflow and help keep you cooler during the night.
- Keep Your Bedroom Cool: One of the simplest ways to cool down your sleep environment is to lower the room temperature. Keep your windows and curtains closed during the late afternoon to block out sunlight and heat.
- Improve Airflow: A well-ventilated room can prevent heat from building up while you sleep. Consider keeping a window slightly open or using a ceiling or floor fan to promote air circulation.
- Choose Cooling Bedding: In addition to your mattress, bedding materials play a huge role in temperature regulation. Invest in breathable sheets made from natural fibres like cotton, viscose, bamboo, and eucalyptus, which naturally promote airflow.
- Stay Hydrated: Proper hydration helps regulate your body temperature. Drink a glass of water before bed, but avoid caffeine and alcohol, as they can dehydrate you and disrupt your sleep.
By combining these strategies with Naturelle’s organic latex and pure wool products, you can create an ideal sleep environment that promotes cool, restful nights, no matter the season.
Sleep Cooler with Naturelle
If you’ve been struggling to stay cool at night, it’s time to consider a more natural, breathable approach to your sleep. Natural materials have a multitude of benefits and even reduce exposure to synthetic materials that can off-gas toxic chemicals and increase heat retention.
At Naturelle, all our natural sleep solutions are designed to help you regulate your temperature and sleep comfortably. Paired with additional cooling tips, you’ll be well on your way to enjoying cool, refreshing nights of sleep, free from discomfort.
Say goodbye to tossing and turning in the heat and embrace a cooler, more restful night with Naturelle.
References:
National Library of Medicine. 2016. “The effects of fabric for sleepwear and bedding on sleep at ambient temperatures of 17°C and 22°C”. Available from: <https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4853167/>. [Accessed October 2024].
