Recommendation
Recommendation
Are you one of those people who likes to sleep in a cool bedroom or simply needs “fresh” air to breathe? That’s why you sleep with the window open. While this may be pleasant in the summer, it can become problematic in the winter….
Many people suffer from the “tropical effect” at night. This effect occurs when, for example, you sleep in a cool bedroom. You go to bed and have to cover yourself up to your ears to stay warm. We go through various sleep phases during the night. You are now in the deep sleep phase and are slowly drifting into the dream phase. During this time, your body warms up very quickly. You slowly start to feel hot and begin to sweat. The logical conclusion is that you pull the covers over yourself to get rid of the excess heat and moisture. Now you’re lying with a damp upper body—that is, your neck, shoulders, or lower back—exposed to the cold air, and your muscles react with tension, similar to what happens when you’re exposed to a draft with a sweaty, hot body. When you then fall back into deep sleep, your body begins to cool down again. So you cover yourself up again. But since the comforter, mattress, and/or pajamas are now damp, you warm up even faster. It’s well known that the more humid the environment, the faster we start to sweat. This is a natural reflex to cool the body. Peaceful, relaxed sleep is therefore impossible. Additionally, you can develop muscle tension in the cold air. Think back to winter. We step out into the cold winter air—and what is our first reaction? We hunch our shoulders and start shivering. This tense posture immediately contracts our muscles and leads to stiffness. The same thing happens when you step out into the cool air at night with a sweaty body. Your muscles—for example, in your lower back or neck—begin to contract and tense up. Here you are caught in a vicious cycle of tension.