Dr Michelle Dickenson: nanotechnologist on the unexpected health benefits of sleeping naked

What do you wear to sleep? While some of us love our PJ’s, others swear by sleeping naked.  Science supports the naked group with several reasons why being in the buff can help your long-term health.  Firstly, being naked lets your skin breathe. This is especially important as fungi and bacterial thrive in warm and damp areas. Naked sleeping lets the skin around your intimate parts get some air circulation which reduces your risk of yeast infections and jock itch.  If your PJ’s are too tight, they can also restrict blood flow negatively affecting your circulation – this is especially true for those who love to wear socks in bed to keep their feet warm.  Synthetic materials can also trap moisture in your skin causing skin irritation from the fabric rubbing against you, as well as making you too hot to fall asleep. Feeling hot at night increases wakefulness – resulting in less restorative sleep.  Sleeping naked makes you feel colder, which can help you to fall asleep faster as your body temperature is synched up with the light and dark cycles of the outside world.  A lower body temperature from sleeping naked signals to your biological clock that it’s time to shut down and sleep and helps you to settle in for a long nights rest.  The final benefit to naked sleeping if you have a partner that you share your bed with is skin to skin contact. This contact releases the chemical oxytocin which reduces stress and helps with relaxation helping you to sleep better.  For those of you who can’t handle the idea of naked sleeping and want to keep your clothes on, the suggestion is to avoid tight, constricting bedtime clothing that restricts movement or irritates skin, opting for loose fitting, breathable fabrics and socks without a tight elastic band at the top.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.