Thermoregulation

Articles tagged with "Thermoregulation".

Effects of Thermal Environment on Sleep and Circadian Rhythm

Tags: Thermal Environment, Sleep Quality, Circadian Rhythm, Temperature, Thermoregulation

October 22, 2025

How Does Room Temperature Affect Your Sleep and Circadian Rhythm?

The thermal environment profoundly influences both sleep quality and circadian rhythm timing through complex interactions with the body’s thermoregulatory system, this comprehensive review demonstrates. Optimal sleep occurs within a narrow temperature range of 16-19°C (60-67°F), with temperatures outside this range significantly disrupting sleep architecture, reducing REM sleep, and increasing nighttime awakenings. The review reveals that thermal environment affects circadian rhythms by influencing core body temperature patterns, which serve as a key zeitgeber (time cue) for the biological clock. Warmer environments can delay circadian phase and reduce sleep efficiency, while cooler environments generally promote better sleep quality and more stable circadian timing.

Glycine's Sleep-Promoting Effects: NMDA Receptor Mechanisms in the Brain

Tags: Glycine, NMDA Receptors, Sleep Mechanisms, Suprachiasmatic Nucleus, Thermoregulation

October 22, 2025

How Does Glycine Promote Sleep Through Brain NMDA Receptors?

Glycine promotes sleep and facilitates body temperature reduction through its action on NMDA receptors in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), the brain’s master circadian clock, this research demonstrates. The study reveals that glycine acts as a co-agonist at NMDA receptors in the SCN, modulating the activity of neurons that control both circadian timing and thermoregulation. When glycine binds to these receptors, it enhances the natural evening decline in core body temperature that’s essential for sleep onset, while also influencing circadian phase timing. This mechanism explains why glycine supplementation can improve sleep quality and reduce sleep onset time—it works through the brain’s fundamental sleep and circadian control systems rather than simply acting as a sedative.

Skin Temperature and Sleep Onset: How Aging and Insomnia Affect Thermal Regulation

Tags: Skin Temperature, Sleep Onset, Aging, Insomnia, Thermoregulation

October 22, 2025

How Do Skin Temperature Changes Predict Sleep Onset Across Different Ages?

Skin temperature patterns, particularly in the hands and feet (distal skin temperature), serve as reliable predictors of sleep onset in young healthy adults, with warmer extremities indicating faster sleep initiation. However, this research reveals that aging and insomnia significantly alter these thermal patterns, with older adults and people with insomnia showing disrupted skin temperature regulation that correlates with longer sleep onset times. The study found that the normal evening rise in distal skin temperature that facilitates sleep onset becomes blunted or delayed in older adults and those with sleep disorders, suggesting that age-related changes in thermoregulation contribute to sleep difficulties.

Sleep and Temperature Regulation: How Your Body Cools Down for Rest

Tags: Sleep Temperature, Thermoregulation, Body Temperature, Sleep Physiology

October 22, 2025

How Does Your Body Use Temperature Changes to Control Sleep?

Your body uses sophisticated temperature regulation mechanisms to initiate and maintain sleep, with core body temperature dropping 1-2°F during the evening to signal sleep onset and remaining low throughout the night to promote deep sleep. Research shows that this natural cooling process is essential for healthy sleep, with the body redistributing heat from the core to the extremities through vasodilation, creating the warm hands and feet that often precede sleepiness. Disruption of these thermoregulatory processes can significantly impair sleep quality and timing.