6 Surprising Benefits of Sleeping Naked

By ClassPass, Fitness Magazine

 
You know how amazingly free you feel in your birthday suit—especially when you’re cheek-to-cheek with soft, high-thread-count sheets topped with a warm, thick comforter. But, surprisingly, only a mere 8 percent of us are down to clock some z’s in the nude.

Sure, some might say it’s gross—you are rubbing your body and all the sweat, oil, and dirt its acquired throughout the day all over a surface you sleep on every night. But it feels amazing and—even better—it’s surprisingly good for you. Check out all of the benefits to sleeping in the buff:

You’ll actually sleep better

You know how crucial a good-working air conditioner is in the hot summer months. But sleeping in colder temperatures is not only comfortable, it can also increase your ability to fall into a deeper sleep and reduce the number of times you wake up throughout the night, reports a study from the University of Amsterdam. Optimal temperatures for restorative sleep hover around 60 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit, so if you’re snoozing in a room that’s any warmer, your body is not able to reach these optimal temperatures, leading to restlessness and even insomnia.

It might help you lose weight

Not that you need it—especially when you’re signing up for workout classes left and right—but as we cool down at night our body’s growth hormone increases while cortisol, the hormone that causes stress, decreases.

On nights we don’t sleep as well, our cortisol levels become higher, which can trigger our appetite, especially for sugary foods like muffins and cookies. And it’s not just overeating that can cause weight —it’s also the stress we feel from the increase in cortisol. This means that if sleeping naked keeps our body cooler, thus leading to a better night’s sleep, we’ll look better, feel better, and be more energized to kick things into high gear in our workout classes.

It’s one less thing for you to think about

You’re busy—we get it. Between balancing life at work, spending time with your friends and family, signing up for and crushing fitness classes, and spending time relaxing every now and then, you’ve got a ton going on. Why add even one more thing to have to think about at the end of the day. Sleeping naked lets you totally cross the question, “What am I going to wear to bed” off your to-do list. Bonus: You have less clothes to wash every time you do laundry!

It’s better for your below-the-belt area

Male or female, it makes no difference. Snoozing without PJs lets your private parts breathe, which is especially important when they’ve been cooped up in clothing all day. It also allows blood flow to travel more freely throughout the body when there’s no restraining clothing pressing down on certain areas. This means your muscles will be more oxygenated for your early-morning bootcamp! Just don’t forget to continue the habit, as after a long day of working out and clocking in your 9 to 5, your body needs a continued release from the tight clothing that can fester bacteria throughout the day and can lead to a variety of infections.

You might even look younger

Another hormone that’s released while you sleep at night is melatonin—that stuff that you can take supplements of to actually help you sleep even better. Melatonin contributes to anti-aging and healthy skin and is released naturally in the body when its temperature is lowered. So if you want to keep those wrinkles and fine lines at bay, your best bet is to strip down to nothing before sneaking between the sheets.

It boosts your love life

Hey, who isn’t willing to welcome this benefit into their day-to-day? Turns out, people who sleep naked have a happier love life, reports one British survey. To get specific, 57 percent of nude sleepers were happy with the quality of their relationship compared to 48 percent of folks strutting pajamas. Fascinating, right? Plus, skin-to-skin contact is known to increase sexual tension and release feel-good hormones that promote intimacy, one being oxytocin. So next time you hit the sheets with your partner, slip out of those PJs into something more comfortable—aka nada.