Why Do I Become So Hot When Sleeping?

While we consider 98.6 degrees to be the normal body temperature, it can actually rise and fall by two to three degrees throughout the day. From the early morning until around late afternoon, your body temperature will first rise a few degrees, then it will begin to lower. Your body will reach its lowest temperature usually a few hours before you wake in the morning. 

You will feel more awake and alert when your temperature's rising and more drowsy when your temperature is lowering. And your body temperature will ultimately determine when you fall asleep, but during REM sleep or rapid eye movement, the temperature regulating cells in the brain turn off. Then your body temperature is determined by the temperature the room you're sleeping in is at. Typically, if you find yourself hot and waking in a sweat, it is because the room you are in is too hot and your PJ's are too thick.

However, if you find you are still hot after adjusting the temperature or your Pj's, there might be some underlying but not serious medical conditions as listed below:

• Menopause 

• Anxiety 

• Medications for certain high blood pressure drugs, over-the-counter fever reducers and antipsychotics 

• Diabetes

• Drug or alcohol abuse 

• A thyroid imbalance

• Gastrointestinal reflux disease (GERD) 

Visit your doctor to identify the specific problem and deal with it accordingly. 

Turn on the AC

For many individuals, the most comfortable sleeping temperature is between 60 and 70 degrees. To keep the temperature cooler in your room, use a central air conditioner or a portable window unit. This is the simplest way to regulate the temperature in your room so that it stays cool while you sleep.

Use Fans

You have known the answer to "why do I get so hot when I sleep" but you don't have an air conditioner, using a fan can be a great alternative. Fans can be used to help circulate the air better so that it creates a cool breeze blowing towards you by pulling the hot air away. When the temperature outside seems to be cooler than that in your room, set up a box fan in the window to draw in the cooler air. If you have more than one fan, set them up to create a cross breeze in your bedroom.

Pick the proper sheets

If you are finding yourself too hot throughout the night, you might be sleeping on the wrong type of fabrics. Flannel sheets and satin sheets often keep heat trapped in your bed because they don't breathe very well. Read the labels and go with a cotton sheet that will help keep you cool throughout the night.

Use a different pillow

Just like sheets, the type of pillow you use can either keep hot air trapped or allow cool air to circulate. When you head is kept hot, the rest of your body will be hot. Down pillows like flannel and satin sheets will keep hot air trapped around the head. Instead, find a buckwheat pillow which breathes much better and let the air circulate around your head more easily.

Keep your bed cool

Why do I get so hot when I sleep? Simply, because you're not keeping your bed cool. There are a few ways you can cool down your bed from freezing your sheets and blankets before laying down on them to using cold compresses on your ankles. 

What are you sleeping in?

While you can just sleep nude, some are arguing that sleeping in PJ's helps keep the moisture off your skin. So if you want sleeping with Pj's, then you want them to be made from a cotton material, preferably loose fitting since these will breathe the best and keep you cool all night long. Avoid any polyester or Lycra blend fabrics which will only keep the heat trapped around your body.

Take a hot shower

Warming up your skin right before bedtime with triggering your body's natural cool down response. You want to avoid taking cooler showers as this will cause the temperature of the body to rise. Be careful that the steam or heat from the shower doesn't end up raising the room temperature in your bedroom since this will result in your body temperature being warmer than you want it to be.

Keep cool water near your bed

You'll want to be keeping your body hydrated all day with cool water and before you go to sleep, make sure you have a tall glass of cold water near your bed. When you wake up in the middle of the night, instead of asking yourself "why do I get so hot when I sleep" , you want to solve it quickly with sipping on the cold water. The water will help lower your body temperature, making it more comfortable for you to fall back to sleep.