Sleep and Body Temperature – The Connection
There is a definite relationship between our core body temperature and our feelings of lethargy or energy. When the body is warm, we feel wide awake. When the body is cool, feeling of tiredness and sleepiness prevail.
Not everybody realizes that our body temperature works and ticks like an internal clock controlling our sleeping cycles. Body temperature also controls the metabolism, circulation and other involuntary activities our body undertakes.
It's also extremely important to understand that the rise and drop of body temperature is one of the mechanisms for our body to produce the feelings of being awake or being tired.
Simply put, whenever your body temperature begins to fall, you will feel tired, lethargic, and drowsy. Whenever your body temperature rises, you will feel more energetic, alert and be able to focus better.
The rise and fall of body temperature during the day should not be misinterpreted as the need to rest or sleep. This happens many a times during the day depending upon the body’s activity level at a given time.
Whenever you put big physical demands on your body your body temperature will rise above the norm. As a response to any intensive physical activity, the body temperature drops for a while as soon as you stop the activity.
For example, if you work an 8 hour shift at a job that requires intense activity, one might feel totally drained and ready to fall asleep when you come home at around 4 PM. What you'll actually find is that this feeling of tiredness is not a sincere need to sleep, but rather a response from your body due to the drop of body temperature.
If you resist sleeping at this moment and provide a “wind-down” period for your body after this period, body temperature will return to a normal and you will feel alert again.
If necessary you could nap for 10-30 minutes during the day to physically recharge yourself, it's ideal to take this nap when you experience this body temperature drop as it will help you sleep. Always limit your naps to 30 minutes to avoid entering deep sleep which will further decrease body temperature.
After you wake up from your nap it's normal to feel lethargic or drowsy, this is because your melatonin levels are higher. Get as much high intensity light as possible the moment you wake up, and make sure to MOVE your body to get your body temperature up and running again and reset your natural rhythm.
If you currently live a very sedentary lifestyle, you may wonder why you constantly feel tired. It’s because your body temperature will remain low when you're sitting around and not doing any physical activity.
So if you feel tired during the day understand it’s not because you need more sleep. It's because you need LESS SLEEP and MORE ACTION! Get up and move around and see how much better you feel!
More articles:
|
