Does cold air make you sleepy?

[grazhina]

I remember, how on chilly days, the teacher would declare the class was going to sleep, and she'd order the boys to fling open the windows.

Now, I had been feeling fine, and not sleepy at all, but every single time, when that cold air would come rushing in, I'd get sleepier and sleepier, and wish I could curl up and lie down.

Lately I've had spells of being cold, and getting too sleepy to do much of anything, even read, and those old memories came flooding back, so I did a Google search.

I turned up the fact that some people, like me, get sleepy when they're cold, while others claim that cold air perks them up and makes them feel alive and energetic.

I could find no reason for this difference in people's reactions, though.

So I wondered, do more people here perk up in the cold, or want to go lie down and take a snooze?

[Jo Med]

Drift off in the warmth and perk up in the cold.

[KathieB]

I find that if I awaken in the night and can't get back to sleep, it helps to get up for a bit in the cool house, until I'm somewhat chilled, before going back to bed. I tend to fall asleep fairly quickly then, as I warm up snug under the covers.

[AuntDee]

I find that a warm over heated stuffy environment makes me sleepy. Cooler air makes me alert and sharper mentally. I hate to get up on winter nights since it then takes me so long to fall back asleep. Today itis cold out 5+ and a strong nw wind. The house is cool and I have been so energetic.

[heidiiiii]

I could not decide which one I am. I love when it is bit nippy during the day because it gives me the motivation to work harder to warm up. But at night, it has to be very cool or I cannot sleep well. I feel better if it is a nice cool bedroom.

[lmgervais]

From what I understand, although warm temperatures can make you sleepy (think siesta/afternoon rest in Mexico and the like), for you to sleep properly, your body has to cool down by several degrees F. If I understand correctly, it is so that you can go into a type of mini-hibernation state where your breathing and heart rate slow down. That is why it is recommended to have the bedroom a few degrees cooler at night.

[shannonc60]

I have heard lots of things like being cooler to sleep, cool air perks you up, etc, but I am one of those that gets sleepy in cool temperatures. My theory is that it is like going into torpor (like hibernation but to a lesser degree - Australian animals don't hibernate but some go into a state of torpor). When it gets cool, I just can't concentrate - like a lizard, I need warmth to get moving. And I absolutely cannot sleep unless I am completely warm (if not almost hot!). I will turn my electric blanket on at least half an hour before bed cos I love getting into it and almost frying!

[woodland_miniatures]

I'm one of those "can't say for sure" folks, because I'll go all groggy and stupid during the day when it's warm, especially indoors in a classroom for instance, but canNOT stay asleep in a warm bedroom.

In fact, when I had terrible insomnia, I used to take aspirin just before bedtime with the idea of lowering my body temp so that I could go to sleep and stay asleep. Don't have to do that anymore, but do notice that I will stay asleep longer if I feel like I'm chilly almost to the point of shivering when I get in bed. I'll be freezing when I first get under the covers, and if I've turned on the heater I will fall asleep all comfy and warm, but then wake up a couple of hours later sweltering. So if I want to go to sleep and STAY asleep, the room needs to be on the chilly side.

[AmyD]

sleepy when really hot (but I love being warm) can't sleep if my feet or nose are cold. I like to sleep in a slightly chilled room if I have a ton of blankets on me, again as long as my nose and feet are not cold.

[Jeffrey]

im with heidi, i sleep so much better when its cold. i love when its so cold that i have to be under 5 blankets so i actually close my heating vent at night. lol

[jeninky]

I am tired most of the time anyways...But I sleep with a fan on so I do like the room cool... I only sleep with my blanket and now have a electric throw that I use part of the night. In the middle of the night I seem to turn it off though..

I hate being cold though..

I am a warm weather kind of gal I love warm...But do not care for hot hot either..

[grazhina]

I spent an hour or so in a waiting room this morning while DH had a procedure done. I started feeling cold and sleepy and started having trouble reading my book. I got up and threw on my coat, started warming up, and was able to read some more, the sleepiness gone.

When I was younger, I'd often have cold hands and feet in winter, and I'd have trouble falling asleep because my feet felt like ice. You can warm your hands up, but not feet. I'd go to bed with socks on, and an extra blanket at the bottom of the bed. Later, once my feet warmed up, I'd kick off the socks and blanket. On occasion, I'd wear two pair of socks. It's impossible to sleep if your feet feel like blocks of ice.

Now I find I need the room to be cold to sleep soundly through the night, but I attribute that to two things. First, I went through a period of night sweats. Now, though the night sweats are gone, my bed gets too hot. When we bought this bed, we were told that the cushioning on top was memory foam. I know now that memory foam holds in heat. Often during the night, if I wake up, I'll flip myself so my head is down at the bottom of the bed, thus removing most of my person from the overheated part of the mattress.

I saw somewhere where someone recommended putting plastic under the sheet, but I found it uncomfortable.

BTW, ever try to sleep on an unheated waterbed? Now that's cold. Brrrr......

[grynche]

Cold makes me sleepy, always has. I like to sleep in a cold room, but hate the shock of a cold bed, so this year I bought an electric mattress pad. I turn it one for a while before bedtime to warm up the bed, but I don't sleep with it on. My down comforter keeps me toasty until morning.

[havanaholly]

I can't go to sleep if I'm cold.

[Sherry]

I love a cool bedroom and a pile of quilts to snuggle under. The dogs and cat snuggle up with me and it's so cozy, I sleep great. During the day, I can't stand being cold. I hate cold, the snuggling under the quilts is more of a psychological than biological thing with me. I could and would, gladly move someplace where it's 85 degrees every day!

[KathieB]

BTW, ever try to sleep on an unheated waterbed? Now that's cold. Brrrr......

Only once. I thought I die from hypothermia before morning. Rummaged through my friend's house and found several quilts, blankets, beach towels, etc., to put under me for insulation. Finally warmed up enough to fall asleep in the wee hours.

[Gee]

In winter to be able to sleep my body has to be warm but i have my feet outside the blankets, my feet have to be cold.

In summer i switch on the airco or else i can't sleep.

and i can never sleep without blankets.

in winter i keep the temperature in the house not cold, but a bit chilly.

it does not make me more productive, though.

in summer the warmth slows me down.

ow well, maybe i just got lazier as i'm gowing older

[grazhina]

In winter to be able to sleep my body has to be warm but i have my feet outside the blankets, my feet have to be cold.

I do that. I always had cold feet and hands in winter, but about 15 years ago I burned my hand and had to get a skin graft. During the healing that summer my hand would often get intensely hot. A couple weeks after that hand started heating up, my other hand did the same thing, then my feet followed suit a month or two later.

When my feet started getting hot too, I figured it might be some hormonal thing, I was the right age for that kind of stuff to start. Now I can't sleep unless my hands and feet are sticking out from under the covers, they just get too hot.

My daughter is in her late 20's and says she has always had hot feet at night and has always slept with them uncovered. At home she'd complain her room was too cold, so she'd crank up the thermostat, and her little brother would be sweaty at night.

[Gee]

good to know i am not weird doing that .

allthough i am quite a weird sleeper, i also cannot sleep when one of my cats is not curled up against my legs.

keeps me warm B)

[rodentraiser]

I have to have the temp at least down to 55° to sleep at night - colder is better. 60 is too hot. I've spent the last 8 winters here in the Northwest in a trailer with thin walls and have turned off the heat every night. While it has gotten cold sometimes, I just throw another blanket on and I'm good to sleep.

I have noticed in the past that my body temp seems to drop about twice a day - at 2pm and again between 2 and 4 am. That's when I am most likely to sleep and in the afternoons at 70°, I need to pull a blanket over me but at 11 at night I am too hot when it is 60°. I think that's why I consider myself a night owl - I can't seem to fall asleep until the early morning hours. I also noticed taking a generic brand of of a PM aspirin made me much colder at night when I went to bed. I wonder if lowering your body temperature to get you to sleep is how those are supposed to work?

[grazhina]

I have to have the temp at least down to 55° to sleep at night -

My mother was like that. The heat in her bedroom never did work right, so it was always cold in there. She'd keep the door shut so the heat would stay in the rest of her apartment.

At night, she'd open her bedroom window, even in midwinter. As she got older, she still liked a cold room, but got herself an electric blanket.

[Cia]

It's amazing how different everyone is. I'm definitely one of the "lie down and take a snooze when it's cold" crowd. I sleep best when it's cold, too.

[chellebelle]

I sleep best when it's cold. If I could, I'd turn the heat way down at night, or open the bedroom window and sleep under a stack of covers. It reminds me of when I was young and spent time in the country with my relatives. They had a small gas heater stove in one room, and the rest of the big old house was heated by the back to back fireplaces. It was so comfy in a big feather bed, sheets so sweet and soft from many washings, and homemade quilts piled up. The glow from the banked coals made the room such a lovely color. I loved everything except the trip to the outhouse before bedtime! Now that's cold!!! We'd scurry back inside, and jump in the bed and shiver for a bit, and then fast asleep!

Dan and I have a waterbed, which helps to relieve the pain I have. It's warm, not hot, in the winter and cooler in the summer. I keep the ceiling fan on all summer.

[havanaholly]

I can always kick off the covers if I get too warm, but I can't get to sleep when my body temp is low.

[grazhina]

My body temperature sometimes drops and I get so tired, but I can't fall asleep because I'm intensely cold. The other day the room was 73 degrees, but I had on a long sleeve shirt, a bulky sweater, and a warm blanket, and I asked my son to throw another blanket over me.

Generally the only thing that will warm me up is an intensely hot bath. DH says you could boil lobsters in my bath water. I'll fall asleep and (if I'm not sleep deprived) will wake up in about 20 minutes feeling fine and nice and warm again.

I've been going through this for over 20 years.