Are you a hot sleeper or cold sleeper?

A hot sleeper is some who constantly feels hot, or even sweats, as he sleeps, even if the outside temperature is cold. A cold sleeper is the opposite, she gets increasingly cold, needing more blankets as the night progresses.

I only recently discovered these sleeping profiles, and now it makes sooo much sense! I’m definitely a hot sleeper, while my wife is the opposite. And no wonder I often toss and turn, because the heat builds up on my back as the night goes. I start off sleeping on my back, but start to switch between both sides for side lying mid-way through. And because I’m not a natural side sleeper, I toss and turn. No wonder my sleep was bad.

On top of that, our air conditioning isn’t working as well now – it’s no longer as cold as before. Even if I wanted to I can’t lower the temperature too much, else my wife would freeze. So I end up having poorer quality sleep.

It also makes sense now why I found having cold showers before bed helped me sleep better, because it lowered my body temperature, I felt nice and cool when heading off into sleep. I even use a comforter cover as a blanket, because that’s a normal comforter blanket would be like a sauna to me. And cuddles – no wonder I didn’t like sleeping cuddled! Too warm!

These insights are great! Because now that I know my profile, I found more sleep biohacks I can do to increase my sleep quality scores to 80%:

• Choose cooling fabrics like cotton, bamboo or linen for pyjamas and bedsheets. I currently wear synthetic fabrics to sleep, which isn’t the most cooling.
• Choose pillows and mattresses that are more breathable and facilitate better airflow, like Airfoam instead of memory foam.
• Have an ice pack on standby. Dap pulse points with it before sleep.
• Install a small electric fan next to me.
• Buy a bed cooler like ChiliPad/Ooler.
• No exercise before bed (I never anyway).
• Keep room well-circulated.

Can’t wait to try these!