The Healthy: Sleeping in a Room With This Temperature Could Boost Your Metabolism

The Healthy recently interviewed Bridgette Agee, RN, Bariatric Program director at the Marina Weight Loss Center at Cedars-Sinai Marina del Rey Hospital, about how sleeping in a room with a cool temperature could boost metabolism.

How does a cooler sleeping environment boost the body's calorie-burning capability? Researchers believe that in a cool space, bodies have to work harder to raise their core temperature to 98.6 degrees--a normal body temperature.

“Lowering the room temperature before sleep turns on your body’s thermoregulatory functions to keep you warm,” Agee told The Healthy. “The action also activates brown fat cells that require energy from the white fat stores, and this borrowing of sorts helps to decrease the amount of white fat or ‘body fat’ in the body.”

What’s more, according to the National Sleep Foundation, a cooler room may help people fall asleep easier. In fact, a past study published in the Journal of Physiological Anthropology found sleeping in warmer temperatures can increase wakefulness and decrease both slow-wave and REM sleep.

And while it may be no surprise, a good night of sleep can lead to a host of other health benefits, The Healthy states. Good sleep can protect the brain from developing Alzheimer’s disease, improve immune system function, boost productivity and fight aging.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also suggests that sleep can help to prevent or control a number of chronic illnesses, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, depression and lift your mood.

Click here to read the complete article from The Healthy.