NAPPING in the nude could help slash your risk of diabetes, ward off infections, trim your waistline and make you feel more refreshed in the morning, research reveals
It may be cold out there but that's no reason not to get into your birthday suit for bed.
And ditching your cosy PJs and sexy underwear could actually help cut your risk of diabetes, a new study revealed.
In fact, the research by U.S. National Sleep Foundation, found sleeping nude has many health benefits.
Sleeping in the buff can ward off infections, improve your sleep quality, boost your relationship and even help you burn more calories.
"Your core temperature is at its highest at 11pm and its lowest at 4am," said Dr Chris Idzikowski, director of the Edinburgh Sleep Centre and author of Sound Asleep: The Expert Guide To Sleeping Well.
"If anything prevents that decline in temperature, the brain will wake itself up to see what’s going on, meaning you’ll struggle to get to sleep or you’ll have disturbed sleep."
"The advantage of sleeping naked is it’s easier for the body to cool and maintain the lower temperature the brain wants to achieve," he added.
However it is important to keep your feet and hands warm at night.
That’s because for your temperature to lower to the level that triggers sound sleep, your body needs to lose excess heat.
It does this by sending blood to the vessels near skin, in particular, those on the hands and feet, where heat is lost through the skin surface.
However, as Professor Foster explains, if your hands and feet are cold, the blood vessels next to the skin constrict and reduce blood flow in an effort to keep warm and stop heat escaping.
The advantage of sleeping naked is it’s easier for the body to cool and maintain the lower temperature the brain wants to achieve
This in turn means your core temperature won’t be able to drop so easily.
And while cosy pyjamas might be tempting, if you share a bed with a partner, going nude will generate a generous boost of oxytocin, a hormone that’s been shown to have a wealth of health benefits including reducing your blood pressure.
"It is triggered by closeness, particularly skin-to-skin contact" said Dr Kerstin Uvnas-Moberg, a physiologist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and an expert on oxytocin.
"Sensory nerves on the skin send impulses to the brain, triggering the release.
"When a baby is placed on its mother’s chest, the blood in mother and child starts to pulse with oxytocin" he added.
Oxytocin has a protective effect on the heart, as it lowers blood pressure.
It also boosts the immune system and reduces anxiety but it only works if skin-on-skin touching is something you’re happy with.
To top it all off, stripping off for bed could boost your sex life as a study of 1,000 British adults found that those who nap in the nude have happier love lives.
The study found 57 per cent of nude sleepers were happy with their relationship, compared with 48 per cent of pyjama wearers and 43 per cent of nightie wearers.
It may be cold out there but that's no reason not to get into your birthday suit for bed.And ditching your cosy PJs and sexy underwear could actually help cut your risk of diabetes, a new study revealed.
In fact, the research by U.S. National Sleep Foundation, found sleeping nude has many health benefits.
Sleeping in the buff can ward off infections, improve your sleep quality, boost your relationship and even help you burn more calories.
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| Ditch those PJ's and improve your health |
And sleep experts agree it’s important to keep cool at night as your body temperature needs to drop by about half a degree for you to fall asleep.
"Your core temperature is at its highest at 11pm and its lowest at 4am," said Dr Chris Idzikowski, director of the Edinburgh Sleep Centre and author of Sound Asleep: The Expert Guide To Sleeping Well.
"If anything prevents that decline in temperature, the brain will wake itself up to see what’s going on, meaning you’ll struggle to get to sleep or you’ll have disturbed sleep."
"The advantage of sleeping naked is it’s easier for the body to cool and maintain the lower temperature the brain wants to achieve," he added.
However it is important to keep your feet and hands warm at night.
That’s because for your temperature to lower to the level that triggers sound sleep, your body needs to lose excess heat.
It does this by sending blood to the vessels near skin, in particular, those on the hands and feet, where heat is lost through the skin surface.
However, as Professor Foster explains, if your hands and feet are cold, the blood vessels next to the skin constrict and reduce blood flow in an effort to keep warm and stop heat escaping.
The advantage of sleeping naked is it’s easier for the body to cool and maintain the lower temperature the brain wants to achieve
This in turn means your core temperature won’t be able to drop so easily.
And while cosy pyjamas might be tempting, if you share a bed with a partner, going nude will generate a generous boost of oxytocin, a hormone that’s been shown to have a wealth of health benefits including reducing your blood pressure.
"It is triggered by closeness, particularly skin-to-skin contact" said Dr Kerstin Uvnas-Moberg, a physiologist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and an expert on oxytocin.
"Sensory nerves on the skin send impulses to the brain, triggering the release.
"When a baby is placed on its mother’s chest, the blood in mother and child starts to pulse with oxytocin" he added.
Oxytocin has a protective effect on the heart, as it lowers blood pressure.
It also boosts the immune system and reduces anxiety but it only works if skin-on-skin touching is something you’re happy with.
To top it all off, stripping off for bed could boost your sex life as a study of 1,000 British adults found that those who nap in the nude have happier love lives.
The study found 57 per cent of nude sleepers were happy with their relationship, compared with 48 per cent of pyjama wearers and 43 per cent of nightie wearers.
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