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"THE HEART OF THE MATTER" Week: 603.4 Guest: Dr. John Herman, sleep specialist, Univ. of Texas Southwestern Medical School, Dallas Topic: Staying cool while you sleep Host/Producer: Steve Girard NEMA: Staying cool can help you sleep better...coming up... SPOT: The New, Little book of Parenting...a lot of practical info on handling the trials and tribulations of raising your children. Call 800-332-6362 NEMA: Have you ever wondered why we tend to sleep better when it’s cooler? Dr. John Herman of the University of Texas Medical School in Dallas.... HERMAN: What’s going on there is that we have two thermostats, one in our body and one in our head. And the one in your body has the warm blankets over it, so temperature’s being maintained. But your head is exposed to the cold air, and it’s the chilling of your brain that causes you to have more deep sleep. This has been experimentally verified and demonstrated, without going into the research that backs this up, but it’s just known that the more your head cools, the better you sleep. So, that means to turn the thermometer down, keep the bedroom cool. NEMA: Does that mean we should pile on the blankets, to keep us warmer during sleep...? HERMAN: ..never sleep with too many blankets. You’re much better off being too cool than too warm during sleep, because typically when people wake up and they feel cold, they’ll just throw on another blanket, and be back asleep within seconds. But waking up sweating has someone up for a long time. NEMA: And you know, lowering the thermostat at night will save some heating costs...think about that as you fall into a deep, restful sleep. I’m Steve Girard at The Heart of the Matter. |
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