Feet Rubbing for Sleep: A Natural Sleeping Pill?
- Between 15 and 20% of the population today suffers from insomnia.
- To quickly fall into the arms of Morpheus and enjoy the recommended eight hours of sleep, The Washington Post offers a method whose effectiveness is scientifically demonstrated: to...
- Indeed, several studies have shown that reheating your extremities before going to bed makes us feel tired, but also creates changes in our brain activity corresponding to longer...
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Warm Feet, Better Sleep: The Science Behind a Simple Sleep Aid
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Between 15 and 20% of the population today suffers from insomnia. As we know, poor quality sleep can have many consequences, such as irritability or concentration disorders. Diurnal sleeping that can result from it also represents a major risk of accidents, whether on the road or at work. Sleeping well is thus essential to preserve a good quality of life.
The Science of Warming Your Feet for Sleep
To quickly fall into the arms of Morpheus and enjoy the recommended eight hours of sleep, The Washington Post offers a method whose effectiveness is scientifically demonstrated: to warm your feet.”It’s a natural sleeping pill,” said William Wisden, professor at Imperial College in London.
Indeed, several studies have shown that reheating your extremities before going to bed makes us feel tired, but also creates changes in our brain activity corresponding to longer periods of deep sleep. It is indeed for these reasons that, of course, many animals (including humans) nestle in a warm micro-environment before sleeping. Maintaining hot skin by wrapped in a duvet or rubbing your feet on each other would promote drowsiness.
How Does Warming Feet Affect the Body?
The mechanism behind this seemingly simple trick lies in the body’s thermoregulation. Warming the feet causes vasodilation – the widening of blood vessels – in the extremities. This allows heat to dissipate from the core of the body. A slight drop in core body temperature is a natural signal to the brain that it’s time to sleep. Think of it as mimicking the natural temperature decrease that occurs as you fall asleep.
This process isn’t just anecdotal. research conducted by Dr. Wisden and his team at Imperial College London demonstrated a correlation between foot warming and faster sleep onset, as well as increased duration of deep sleep.the study, published in the journal Chronobiology International, found that participants who warmed their feet fell asleep an average of 15 minutes faster than those who didn’t.
The Impact of Insomnia: A wider Outlook
Insomnia isn’t merely a matter of feeling tired