The Basics: temperature regulation and finding your Pod temperature

The Basics: temperature regulation and finding your Pod temperature

• Maintaining body temperature within an optimal range during sleep is essential for good sleep quality. 

• The Pod helps you maintain this range through personalized temperature regulation. Finding the right temperature can take time, but we're here to help. 

• Your body temperature drops during the first half of the night, and this is generally when you get the most deep sleep. During deep sleep the body repairs muscle, stimulates growth, and boosts immune function.

  • Cooler Pod temperatures during this phase will help maximize your deep sleep.

• Between 3-5 AM, your body temperature will start to increase. This second half of the night is when you generally get the most REM sleep. REM sleep is important for consolidating memories, emotional processing, and creativity. 

  • Generally, you will want your REM phase temperatures warmer than your Deep phase temperatures, as your body temperature is warmer during this phase.

Getting started on the Pod: 

Each person needs a different temperature profile on the Pod. What works for one person may not work for another. For example, your age, hormone levels (e.g. menstrual cycle, menopausal, etc), and illness (e.g. hot flashes from chemotherapy) can impact an individual's temperature needs during sleep. 

Biological sex and age are two common factors that affect our temperature needs during sleep. Women generally have a cooler body temperature than men and therefore need warmer temperatures to sleep. As we age, we do not maintain body heat as well. Research shows warmer bed temperatures can promote better quality sleep in older adults.  

Nailing your first week

For your first week, we recommended neutral temperatures (e.g. range of -1 to +1) to help with the fact that you are getting used to a new bed, and sleeping on a temperature-controlled bed is a new sensation for most. If the temperatures we recommended on your first night do not feel comfortable, feel free to try new temperatures. However, we recommend making adjustments slowly (i.e. only change the temperature in each phase by ±1 on the dial) and see how that goes for a night before making further adjustments. This way, you won’t wake up too hot or too cold from large temperature changes.

Temperature Recommendations

• We recommend a cooler Deep Sleep (Early Phase) temperature. 

  • This is because your body temperature is dropping during the first half of the night, and cooler temperatures promote more deep sleep.

• We recommend a warmer REM Phase (Late Phase) temperature

  • This is because your body temperature is increasing before you wake up, and is also more sensitive to changes in temperature. As you get most of your REM sleep in the second half of the night, we recommend making your REM Phase temperatures slightly warmer than your Deep Phase temperatures to match the curve of your core body temperature throughout the night (see Figure below).

 

The above figure shows the change in your core temperature throughout the night, along with  when you get the most deep & REM sleep. During deep sleep, we recommend cooler temperatures & during REM sleep we recommend warmer temperatures.

Important Note: As you adjust to sleeping on the Pod, don't be afraid to experiment with different temperature settings to find what works best for you. *Keep in mind that factors such as clothing, menstrual cycle, alcohol consumption, and exercise can also affect your skin temperature and how you perceive the temperature of the Pod from one night to the next. For example, if you go to bed a couple of hours later than normal, your typical Bedtime temperature of -1 may feel too cold when normally it feels great.

More about body temperature and circadian rhythm

Good quality sleep is essential for many important physiological and cognitive functions including metabolic regulation, immunity, restoration and muscle repair, memory consolidation and learning (Rasch et al., 2013; Walker, 2009; Siegel, 2005; Perry et al., 2013). One of the keys to good quality sleep is maintaining your body temperature within an optimal range to maximize deep sleep and minimize wake-ups. The Pod can help you maintain this optimal range in body temperature during sleep.

Your body temperature has a circadian rhythm, meaning that it cycles through a normal pattern every 24 hours (see Figure above for a pictorial representation of the general pattern throughout the night). About 30 minutes before falling asleep, the skin temperature of your hands and feet start to warm, helping your core body temperature decrease. This change in body temperature, along with rising melatonin, helps you feel sleepy. This is also sometimes why you might feel cold when staying up later than your normal bedtime.

Your core body temperature continues to drop throughout the night until reaching its lowest point, generally between 3-5 AM (see red line on the graph). Before this low point in core temperature occurs (i.e. the first half of the night), your body temperature is cooler and your sleep cycles comprise more deep sleep. During this time, we recommend setting the Pod temperature (i.e. Deep Sleep or Early Phase temperature) to a cooler temperature than your Bedtime and REM (or Late Phase) temperatures. Your body is less sensitive to temperature during this time of the night and you are less likely to wake up.

However, during the second half of the night (after reaching the low point in core temperature), your body temperature begins to rise until waking. During this second half of the night is when you get more REM sleep. Your body is warmer, and therefore a warmer Pod temperature (compared to the Deep/Early Phase temperature) is recommended. Your body is more sensitive to temperature changes during this time, and you may wake up more easily if the Pod or your room temperature is too hot or too cold.

Fun fact: This low point in core temperature occurs earlier for women vs. men, as women have a slightly earlier circadian rhythm compared to men. This means that women generally go to sleep earlier and wake up earlier than men. 

What temperature should I fall asleep at?

Interestingly, research has shown that sleeping at warmer temperatures (i.e. warmer Bedtime Phase) can help you fall asleep faster. This is because higher temperatures increase blood flow to the skin, which promotes the onset of sleep. The Bedtime Phase on the Pod only lasts for 15-20 minutes after you fall asleep, so do not be afraid to try a warmer temperature to help you fall asleep faster.