Sleep
Saunaing may help you sleep better.
Getting a good night's sleep is essential to feeling your best. When you don’t get the rest you need, the health consequences quickly add up. It's hard to give yourself fully to what—and who—you love. Infrared sauna helps the body in so many ways that can help improve sleep, and give you back the energy you need to thrive.
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Anecdotal evidence often points to possibility and creates the need to learn more. In recent years, we began seeing a pattern of feedback from people noticing an effect on their sleep after they began saunaing. We asked our Sunlighten Community who experienced improvements in their sleep: 70% of those who responded said they had. Not everyone does, and the reasons for that are varied. For those who have, we found their experience compelling enough to share.Â
Morning Sauna May Help Sleep Drive
Sleep drive (or “sleep pressure”) makes you sleepy and deepens your sleep. Your sleep pressure is governed by levels of adenosine, inflammation, and oxidative stress. Being active during the day is important to creating sleep drive in your body. Saunaing in the morning can energize the body for more activity that will create a better sleep drive. The passive cardio activity started by a sauna session also stimulates circulation similar to exercise, giving you one more tool to help your body be active without the physical demands of exercise.
Sauna Before Bed
Circadian rhythm (your body’s 24-hour clock) affects sleep by helping signal the body to produce melatonin. Lowering core body temperature is one of the many cues to begin that process at night. A hot bath or infrared sauna before bed can result in lowering overall body temperature. Bringing heat to the surface of your skin can help lower it as you cool down. It also can decrease cortisol levels created by daily stress and induce relaxation which also aids sleep.
Resolveing Sleep Issues
Our bodies regulate sleep through a complicated chemical process managed by our brain, activated by our circadian rhythm and sleep drive. When that process is disrupted, there are a lot of variables to consider and evaluate, including activity patterns; health issues like stress, sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, depression, menopause, diabetes, etc.; and sleep hygiene factors such as room temperature, light reduction, regular bedtimes and wake times, etc.