A new high-tech mattress is able to put people to sleep faster, researchers have claimed.
The innovative mattress, developed by a group of engineers at the University of Texas, Austin, works by manipulating the body’s core temperature.
Our body temperature changes according to a natural 24-hour rhythm and a lower core temperature helps you feel sleepy.
Although it may seem counterintuitive, the mattress lowers core temperature by warming the neck, which helps stimulate blood flow to the hands and feet—thus dissipating that heat faster.
Dr Shabab Haghayegh, who led the development of the mattress, said: “We facilitate readiness to sleep by manipulating internal body temperature-sensitive sensors to briefly adjust the body’s thermostat so it thinks the temperature is higher than it actually is.”
The team examined two different iterations of the mattress: one that used water and another that used air to manipulate body temperature.
The mattresses were tested on 11 individuals who were asked to go to bed two hours earlier than usual and to not use the cooling-heating functions of the mattress on some nights and not on other nights.
On average, participants fell asleep 58 percent faster when they used the mattress features compared to when they didn’t, despite going to bed two hours earlier.
And not only did it help them nod off faster, but the researchers also said it improved their sleep quality.
The project is the latest from the lab of Professor Kenneth Diller of the Cockrell School of Engineering, which is trying to find new ways to help people sleep with warmth.
In 2019, researchers published a study that found that taking a warm bath an hour or two before bed helped people fall asleep faster.
The current project, published in the Journal of Sleep Research, is similar in that it aims to lower the internal body temperature to send the signal to sleep.
Professor Diller added: “It’s remarkable how effective gentle warming along the cervical spine is in sending a signal to the body to increase blood flow to the hands and feet to lower core temperature and trigger sleep onset.
“This same effect also allows blood pressure to drop slightly overnight, with the advantage that the cardiovascular system can recover from the stress of maintaining blood flow during daily activities, which is very important for long-term health.”
