Sleeping in the buff can feel like a controversial or scandalous choice for some people. However, there is no denying that many people swear by the idea of sleeping naked and won’t sleep any other way. So is there something to the idea that sleeping without wearing any clothes can lead to better sleep or better health?
There are actually some very good reasons to be comfortable sleeping in the nude. Here are 13 benefits of sleeping naked:
Table of Contents
1. It is Cooler
It can be very difficult to fall asleep or sleep well when your bedroom is too warm and you feel hot. This is why it is important to keep the room temperature comfortable. That said, running the air conditioning nonstop can be expensive and some people don’t have air conditioning at all, which is one reason why sleeping in your birthday suit can be helpful. Sleeping naked can be a great way of ensuring that you are never too hot while sleeping because there is nothing between your body and the air in the room.
When you’re naked, your skin is directly exposed to the air, which in turn helps cool it off more naturally and efficiently. This is because air has a lower temperature than skin and because it can evaporate sweat and draw heat away from your body.
Do you want to learn more about the ideal sleeping temperature? If you do you can read our article about what the best temperature for sleeping is.
2. You Will Fall Asleep Faster
If you lead a busy life you might find that it can be difficult to find enough time for quality sleep. So it can be very frustrating to lie in bed and struggle to fall asleep when you feel like you don’t have enough time for the sleep you need the way it is. So it is good to know that sleeping naked can help you fall asleep faster.
Being able to fall asleep is related to a person’s body temperature. When a person is too warm, they have a harder time falling asleep. As we discussed earlier sleeping naked helps a person be cooler, which in turn can make it easier to fall asleep because sleep onset is related to a person’s body temperature. Cooling down lets your body know that it is time to go to sleep. So sleeping naked and allowing your body to regulate its temperature and cool down more efficiently is actually helping you fall asleep more quickly.
3. You Will Have Better Sleep
Staying on the not wearing anything helps make you feel cooler bandwagon… Did you know that having a cooler body temperature not only makes you feel more comfortable and helps you fall asleep faster, but it also helps you sleep better?
Research shows that your body’s temperature and the temperature of your sleep environment are connected to having a more restful sleep. More specifically your body needs to be cool (not cold) for you to reach deeper stages of sleep and get the restorative rest you need. Your body’s temperature naturally drops a little as you fall asleep and will increase back to normal when you wake up. This drop in temperature stimulates the production of melatonin, a hormone that helps to regulate your sleep and wake cycles and helps you achieve a deeper sleep. Wearing PJs can increase your body temp, which can negatively impact the production of melatonin keeping you from getting the sleep your body needs.
Since most of us sleep in bed with covers like a comforter, sheet, or quilt our bodies typically have more of a challenge staying cool enough when we are trying to sleep. This is only more true during the warmer summer months. So sleeping naked, with its cooling benefits allows individuals to be cooler at night, which is an obstacle for many people when they are trying to get better sleep.
Sleeping with no clothes on can also be helpful for women who are experiencing menopause and hot flashes. Since sleeping naked can help your body regulate its temperature and cool itself more efficiently, sleeping in the nude may also help with the episodes of wake-up from the occurrence of night sweats and hot flashes.
4. Good for Your Skin
Sleeping with clothes on can be hard on your skin. This is because clothing, especially restrictive clothing, can compress parts of your body which can cause friction-related issues like chaffing. In addition, wearing clothing to bed can make you sweat, which can lead to rashes, breakouts, and feeling itchy. This is because clothes trap sweat, heat, and bacteria against your body.
Going to bed without clothes gives the body a break from the sweat and dirt that might have accumulated in your clothing and allows your privates and the rest of your body to air out at night giving your skin a chance to breathe, heal, and remain healthy.
So you can go ahead and take a shower before heading to bed and then sleep naked to let your skin reap the benefits.
5. It Could Help Prevent Weight Gain and Speed Up Your Metabolism
Many times people who struggle to fall asleep will simply try to stay up later thinking that putting off going to bed will make them more tired and will hopefully help them fall asleep easier (which it probably won’t). On top of sleeping less, which isn’t a good thing, staying up later often leads to food cravings and late-night snacking. In fact, there was a 3-year long study that found there was an association between weight gain and people who slept five hours or less per night. So if sleeping in the buff can help you fall asleep faster and sleep better maybe it will help you go to bed earlier, which in addition to making you more well-rested, could help keep off some extra pounds.
While preventing weight gain is a good thing did you know that sleeping in the buff could even have the potential to help you lose a few pounds by revving up your metabolism? Yes, it is true. This is based upon the fact that sleeping without any clothing helps you stay cooler, which we already covered. There was actually a month-long study that followed a group of men to see the effects of sleeping in a cool environment. The study found that men who were in a cool sleeping environment had an increase in brown fat with a corresponding change in their metabolism.
Yes, I said an increase in brown fat, but before you stop reading know that what makes brown fat unique is that it stores energy in a more compact space than white fat does and when you are cold and your body burns brown fat it creates heat without making you shiver. As this process of thermogenesis is occurring you are burning calories.
So if you find yourself struggling with weight gain or would just like to increase your metabolism a bit, then try sleeping without wearing anything because it might help you out without any effort on your part; just sleep tight! It’s a win-win situation.
6. It is Better For Vaginal Health
So, you might ask, what is the connection between sleeping in your clothes and vaginal yeast infections? It has to do with moisture getting trapped. When you wear clothing, especially snug clothing like your undies, that can trap moisture against your body it can be a breeding ground that leads to yeast infections. Giving your vagina a chance to get some air circulation at night can help create a more healthful environment.
So if you are prone to vaginal yeast infections, you should try sleeping in the buff and see if you experience an improvement.
7. It Can Improve Male Fertility
It is a fairly well-talked-about thing that men who wear boxers have better luck becoming fathers than men who wear a more tight-fitting style of underwear. In fact, in 2018 a study confirmed that men who wore boxers had a better sperm concentration and a higher total sperm count when compared to their tighty-whitiey wearing counterparts. This is because allowing your testicles to be away from your body (as opposed to being pressed right up against it) allows them to be a few degrees cooler than the rest of your body, which is required for you to have optimal sperm production.
So if you are trying to have kids you might want to start sleeping in the nude to help keep your “boys” cool.
8. It May Help Ward Off Disease
As we already discussed, sleeping in your birthday suit can help you fall asleep faster and get better sleep, but did you know that getting enough sleep can put you at a lower risk of developing chronic disease? An example of this is found in a study that followed over 1,400 people for over six years looking at their sleep duration and found that those who slept less had an increased risk of diabetes. This was something that was echoed by the CDC when they said that “insufficient sleep has been linked to the development and management of a number of chronic diseases and conditions, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and depression.”
So not only does sleeping in the buff help you fall asleep quicker and results in a longer time spend sleeping each night but it might also help you decrease your chances of developing certain diseases.
9. Improved Self-Esteem
We live in a time where a lot of people struggle around issues of body image and self-esteem. Thankfully, sleeping in the buff can actually improve a person’s self-esteem by helping them to feel more comfortable with their own body. As you become more comfortable in your own skin your acceptance of yourself can increase giving your self-esteem a boost.
Supporting this idea is a study that found that people who participated in naturist (nudist) activities not only had increased life satisfaction but also experienced improvements in their body image and self-esteem.
This isn’t to say that we all need to become nudists, but wouldn’t it be great if sleeping in the buff could give us some of those positive effects too.
10. Reduces Stress
Cortisol is a hormone that helps your body do a lot of important things including regulating your blood pressure, affecting your mood, helping you wake up in the morning, and helping you deal with stress. In fact, cortisol is sometimes referred to as the “stress hormone.” The body uses cortisol to help the body respond to stress. The body also produces cortisol in response to the body’s perception of ongoing stress.
Studies have shown that sleeping when cortisol levels are low gives the best most restorative sleep. Cortisol is also associated with the sleep cycle in other manners. The absence of sleep can prompt higher stress levels and consequently, increase cortisol levels. The inverse is likewise true. People who are under a lot of stress can struggle to sleep, which can increase their stress even more.
While cortisol is a naturally occurring and important hormone having levels that are too high is bad because it can lead to several health problems.
11. It is More Comfortable
Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night with your pajamas or other clothes you wore to bed twisted around you so tight you thought you were being squeezed by a boa constrictor?
Another of the many benefits of sleeping in the buff is that it is more comfortable and not as restricting. If you sleep primarily in one position each night and rarely move wearing pajamas or other clothing to bed is probably no big deal, but if you change positions several times a night, you know all too well the experience of waking up feeling hot with your sleepwear twisted uncomfortably around you making it hard to breathe.
When you decide to sleep “au natural” you won’t need to worry about that restrictive feeling no matter how many times you change positions at night. Plus, it is a lot cooler.
12. It is Good For Your Relationship
As we have already discussed sleeping without wearing any clothing has many benefits, but for those of you who are in relationships sleeping naked with your partner can benefit your relationship as well.
Sleeping naked next to your partner can help you reconnect throughout the night. Waking up in the middle of the night to find your partner asleep next to you is a special way to help you feel more connected. Skin-to-skin contact has been shown to promote the release of oxytocin, which is the hormone that helps us bond with others and therefore helps to create a stronger connection between you and your partner.
13. You Might Have More Sex
For those of you in relationships, there is a bonus reason why sleeping naked with your partner is a good idea. Not only does all of that skin-to-skin contact release oxytocin, which is also referred to as the “cuddle hormone,” it could also lead to having more sex, and hey who would have a problem with that. You are in a relationship after all.
Final Thoughts
As we have talked about there are a lot of benefits to be had, both physical and psychological, from ditching your PJ’s and sleeping in the buff. In the end, maybe it isn’t for you, or maybe it isn’t something you want to do all the time, but it is probably worth your time to try it out for a while and see how it goes.