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Our readers are invited to email us with their questions!
Q: How does the temperature of my bedroom affect my sleep? (Penelope H.)
Penelope, for thousands of years, humans could count on one constant in their lives: Every single day the sun rises, and at night it falls. As a result, our bodies follow a 24-hour circadian rhythm that governs many of our metabolic and physiological processes, including our body temperatures, which rise in the morning and fall at night. This decrease in body temperature at night helps initiate sleep, which is one reason people tend to toss and turn when their bedrooms are too hot or humid. A higher body temperature makes it difficult to drift off, and it can disrupt the quality of your slumber, causing you to experience less slow-wave sleep, also known as deep sleep.
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Q: I keep hearing that cannabis can help me sleep better. Is that true? (Heidi V.)
Heidi, cannabis has gained a reputation as a sleep aid, but evidence is limited on whether it actually works. One problem is that cannabis comes in different strains, and each contains varying amounts of compounds such as THC, its primary psychoactive component, and cannabidiol, popularly known as CBD. Researchers are still trying to determine whether certain strains or compounds may be good for sleep and others less so.
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