Time immemorial, the topic of how to sleep, the
best way to sleep and why one should sleep naked
has been a great point of discussion.
However, researchers have studied the art and
act of sleeping and voluminous benefits and
advantages have been revealed aside from its
number one benefit which is providing rest for
the body. Researchers have also made it known
much more than sleeping,the duration you sleep,
the temperature of the room you sleep in, the
position you sleep most, the foods you take in and
many other unthinkable factors can contribute to
getting the best out of sleep time and reaping its
numerous benefits.
Furthermore, an international foundation called
U.S. National Sleep Foundation has made it known
that what one wears to sleep affects his?her
sleep. It asserts that sleeping without any clothes
on has numerous advantages and benefits.
Experts revealed to DailyMail how giving your
pyjamas a long time holiday can be beneficial to
you.
For a good night’s sleep
Sleep experts agree it is important to keep cool at
night as your body temperature needs to drop by
about half a degree for you to fall asleep. The
brain, driven by your internal body clock, sends
messages to the blood vessels to open up and
release heat.
“Your core temperature is at its highest at
11:00p.m. and its lowest at 4:00a.m,” said
Dr Chris Idzikowski, Director of the
Edinburgh Sleep Centre, Scotland, and
author of ‘Sound Asleep: The Expert Guide
To Sleeping Well.’ “If anything prevents that
decline in temperature, the brain will wake
itself up to see what’s going on, meaning
you’ll struggle to get to sleep or you’ll have
disturbed sleep.
“The advantage of sleeping naked is it’s
easier for the body to cool and maintain the
lower temperature the brain wants to
achieve,” he said.
Disrupted sleep from being too hot does not just
mean you will get less sleep overall, but it might
mean less deep sleep which is the most restorative
type. Deep sleep is key for memory consolidation
and the production of growth hormone —
important for cell repair and growth.
Stop infections
Wearing nothing to bed can help women avoid
developing yeast infections, such as thrush, says
Austin Ugwumadu, a consultant gynaecologist at
St George’s Hospital in South London.
“Thrush loves warm, restricted environments. So,
wear something loose or preferably nothing at all.
“If you wear something tight, it means less air
gets to the area and you’re more likely to sweat,
which can cause irritation, ” he said.
Burn calories
There is an increasing focus on brown fat, a type
of tissue in the body that may protect against
weight gain. While ordinary body fat piles on when
we eat more calories than we burn, brown fat
seems to burn excess calories to generate heat.
We know babies have lots of brown fat, they need
it to keep warm but studies have shown there are
small amounts in the necks of adults too. Experts
believe that certain activities could switch on this
fat, potentially helping to burn calories at a
greater rate.
In a U.S. study in the journal Diabetes,
researchers found that sleeping in a cold bedroom
could activate brown fat in adults.
Five healthy
young men slept in climate-controlled bedrooms
for four months. For the first month, the room
was kept at 24°C, then it was lowered to 19°C,
then it went back to 24°C and for the last month
raised to 27°C.
They ate the same amount of calories and their
calorie expenditure and insulin sensitivity how
much insulin the body needs to keep blood sugar
levels stable were measured each day.
The results
were striking. After four weeks sleeping at 19°C,
the men had almost doubled their volumes of
brown fat.
Tests showed they burned more calories
throughout the day when their bedroom was cooler
(though not enough to lose weight) and their
insulin sensitivity had also improved.
Senior
author, Francesco S. Celi, said the study showed
that over time, sleeping in a cold bedroom could
lessen the risk of diabetes. Michael Symonds,
professor of Developmental Physiology at the
University of Nottingham and an expert on brown
fat, says sleeping naked may be beneficial.
“Brown fat can produce 300 times more
heat than any other body organ, meaning if
you can keep it activated for a prolonged
amount of time you’d be less likely to lay
down excess energy. “So, anything you can
do to try to activate it, such as lowering
the thermostat and sleeping in the cold,
may be of benefit,” he said.
But room temperature shouldn’t be below a level
at which you feel comfortable, otherwise you
won’t sleep. People who tend to feel hot at night
and like to sleep naked, may have a high amount
of brown fat, which causes them to feel warmer
than others.
Lower blood pressure
Cosy pyjamas are tempting, but if you share a
bed with a partner, going nude will generate a
generous boost of oxytocin, a hormone that has
been shown to have a wealth of health benefits.
“It is triggered by closeness, particularly skin-
to-skin contact,” says Dr Kerstin Uvnas-Moberg,
a physiologist at the Swedish University of
Agricultural Sciences and an expert on oxytocin.
“Sensory nerves on the skin send impulses to the
brain, triggering the release. “When a baby is
placed on its mother’s chest, the blood in mother
and child starts to pulse with oxytocin,” he said.
Oxytocin has a protective effect on the heart, as
it lowers blood pressure. It also boosts the immune
system and reduces anxiety. “But it only works if
skin-on-skin touching is something you’re happy
with,” he added.
Boost your love life
People who sleep naked have happier love lives,
according to a survey of 1,000 British adults by a
bedsheet company this year. The study found 57
per cent of nude sleepers were happy with their
relationship, compared with 48 per cent of pyjama
wearers and 43 per cent of nightie wearers
(onesie wearers were just 38 per cent).
Sleeping naked is a good strategy for those with
body image issues, says Denise Knowles, sex
therapist at counselling charity Relate.
“You can slip under the sheets and then take your
clothes off, and then you can be touched, even if
you don’t want to be looked at.
“Pyjamas might
give the message ‘not tonight,’ but equally a lot
of couples have a lot of fun taking each other’s
clothes off,” she said.
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