The ideal temperature for a good night’s sleep

A sleep expert has explained the simple science behind putting your leg or foot out of the covers on a warm night, and how effective it is to help cool you down.

Dr Carmel Harrington from Sleep for Health told Ross and John the bedtime habit helps regulate your body temperature.

She also explained there’s an optimal temperature for sleep conditions.

“We like to sleep when we are cool so one of the ways of cooling our bodies is to put our leg or a body part outside, because it just will cool the blood as it returns to the heart and then it will be a cooling effect,” she told Ross and John.

“It’s also a differential temperature, so when our foot is feeling cooler we feel cooler as well, it can sense that difference in temperature.

“People might be surprised but an ideal ambient temperature is about 18 degrees that’s when we sleep the best.

“Which is why by the time it comes to February everybody is so cranky, because we are not seeping very well unless we have the benefit or luxury of air conditioning.”

Ross also posed the question as to whether men and women prefer different temperatures.

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