Trouble Sleeping? This New Mattress Tricks Your Body Into Falling Asleep Faster

Do you have trouble falling asleep? A new mattress can trick your body into falling asleep faster, researchers say. Scientists from the University of Texas have developed a mattress-of-its-kind that uses heating and cooling to tell the body it's time to sleep.

The mattress and pillow system may be especially helpful if you find yourself staying awake till late because of your smartphone. What does the mattress do, you wonder? It heats the neck, hands, and feet of people to trigger a sleepy feeling in the body.

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"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," said Shahab Haghayegh, who led the development of this mattress at UT Austin.

How was the mattress tested?

According to a new paper published in the Journal of Sleep Research, researchers tested the mattresses with 11 subjects. For this purpose, subjects were asked to go to bed two hours earlier than their usual bedtime. On some nights, they were asked to use the mattress' cooling and warming functions. On other nights, they were discouraged to do the same.

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Turns out, on nights they used the mattress, they fell asleep much faster - about 58% compared to nights they didn't use the mattress before going to bed. The mattress mostly targets the skin of the neck, which they say is "an important bodily thermostat for humans."

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"The mattress is designed to simultaneously cool the central areas of the body while heating up the neck, hands and feet, thereby increasing blood flow to dissipate body heat," the press release said.

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"It is 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 the core temperature and precipitate sleep onset," said Kenneth Diller, an engineering professor at UT.

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Do you have trouble sleeping? Would you try a mattress solution? Let us know in the comments below. For more in the world of technology and science, keep reading Indiatimes.com.

References

Burkhart, R. (2022, July 20). Engineered Mattress Tricks Your Body to Fall Asleep Faster. UT News.