How to Get a Good Night’s Sleep in Cold Weather

We can be quite particular about our sleeping conditions. During the summer, the excessive heat and lack of ventilation make it challenging to fall asleep, yet the discomfort of being cold can also prevent us from relaxing and nodding off. For an optimal night’s rest, aiming for a bedroom temperature around 65°F is ideal. Below this temperature, we might struggle to feel comfortable, and above it, our bodies begin to seek out ways to cool down. On particularly cold nights, it's tempting to leave the heating on, but this often causes us to overheat and disrupts our sleep further.

Fortunately, your heating isn’t the only way to keep warm and get a good night’s sleep in the winter. Here are some tips to try.

Wrap Yourself in Natural Fibers

Natural fibers like cotton are warm and comfortable. They also help us to regulate our temperatures. Invest in high-tread count cotton bedding, thick but breathable pajamas, and soft cotton bed socks to sleep well in cold weather.

Warm Up Before Bed

If you get in bed cold, it takes you a while to warm up. During this time, you might find that you start to feel more alert. This could mean that you are also wide awake by the time you are warm and comfortable.

Warm-up before bed with a hot drink or warm bath to raise your body temperature. You might also find it helpful to warm your bed with a hot water bottle before you get in, especially if your bedroom is particularly cold.

Use a Timer for Your Heating

When we should be heading to bed, our body temperature takes a slight dip and stays lower until close to wake time. Our body temperature also dips mid-afternoon, when many of us experience a post-lunch slump. This is why it’s actually better for us to sleep in a cooler room than one that’s boiling hot.

So, while you might want the heating on to make sure you fall asleep in a warm room, you certainly don’t want the heating coming on in the middle of the night waking you up. Set your timer so that the heating goes off just after you get in bed and comes on again just before you get up, and rely on other ways to keep warm during the night.

Block Drafts

If your bedroom is drafty, you might find it hard to stay asleep, especially if you move about a lot in the night. Block drafts by repairing old window seals and adding excluders to your door.

Change Your Diet

In the winter, we’re more likely to indulge in comfort food in the hours before bed. This can mean that your body is still digesting your food by bedtime or that you are still in the middle of a sugar high. Try not to eat right before bed and limit your sugar and caffeine intake.

You may also find that adding a CBD supplement can help you relax and sleep because CBD has hundreds of naturally occurring terpenes, many of which can help you nod off.

In wintertime, most of us are more tired than usual. The winter blues, coughs and colds, and the season's stresses mean that we can suffer from low energy levels, making a good night’s sleep more important than ever. Hopefully, these tips will help you.