Temperature-controlled mattress, pillow improve sleep onset, quality

A novel, thermally regulated mattress and pillow shortened sleep onset latency and improved sleep quality in a small cohort of healthy individuals, researchers reported in the Journal of Sleep Research.

Shahab Haghayegh, PhD, MS, a research fellow in sleep medicine at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and colleagues conducted a proof-of-concept study on a selective thermal stimulation pillow and dual-temperature zone mattress system, which assessed two versions of the mattress designed to manipulate core body temperature, according to a related press release. Haghayegh worked with bioengineers at the University of Texas at Austin to develop the mattress technology.

People become sleepy when body temperature declines as part of a 24-hour rhythm, the release stated. Researchers designed the mattress to cool the body’s core, while heating up the neck, hands and feet with the warming pillow, thereby encouraging sleep.

“We facilitate the readiness to fall asleep by manipulating internal body temperature-sensitive sensors to briefly adjust the thermostat of the body, so it thinks the temperature is higher than it actually is,” Haghayegh said in the release.

Haghayegh and colleagues assessed 11 male participants (mean age, 23.6 years) who went to bed 2 hours earlier than usual and used the warming pillow and one of two versions of the mattress — one that used water to manipulate the body’s temperature and one that used air. Researchers asked participants to use the dual-temperature feature some nights and sleep without it other nights.

According to the release, use of the temperature-regulated mattress helped participants fall asleep 58% faster, even when going to bed earlier. Lowering the body’s temperature not only shortened the amount of time required to fall asleep, it also improved the quality of sleep.

The researchers have received a patent for the mattress and pillow technology and are in the process of commercializing it, the release stated.

Reference:

Engineered mattress tricks your body to fall asleep faster. https://news.utexas.edu/2022/07/20/engineered-mattress-tricks-your-body-to-fall-asleep-faster/. Published July 20, 2022. Accessed July 21, 2022.