When people feel sleepy or alert, that sensation is controlled in part by the ebb and flow of a 24-hour rhythm of their ラーメンベット 入金されない temperature. Bioengineers at The University of Texas at Austin have developed a unique mattress and pillow system that uses heating and cooling to tell the ラーメンベット 入金されない it is time to go to sleep.
Sleep is possible when the ラーメンベット 入金されない temperature declines at night as part of the 24-hour rhythm. This new mattress stimulates the ラーメンベット 入金されない to trigger the sleepy feeling, helping people fall asleep faster and improving the quality of sleep.
"We facilitate the readiness to fall asleep by manipulating internal ラーメンベット 入金されない temperature-sensitive sensors to briefly adjust the thermostat of the ラーメンベット 入金されない so it thinks the temperature is higher than it actually is," said Shahab Haghayegh, a research fellow at Harvard Medical School's Division of Sleep Medicine and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, who helped lead the development of the mattress at UT Austin while earning a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering. Haghayegh graduated in 2020.
The skin of the neck is an important bodily thermostat for humans, and it is the primary sensor the mattress targets, with a warming pillow. The mattress is designed to simultaneously cool the central areas of the ラーメンベット 入金されない while heating up the neck, hands and feet, thereby increasing blood flow to dissipate ラーメンベット 入金されない heat.
The researchers published a proof-of-concept study about the unique combination warming pillow plus cooling-warming, dual-zone ラーメンベット 入金されない system in the Journal of Sleep ラーメンベット 入金されない, looking at two versions of the mattress: one that uses water and another that uses air to manipulate the core ラーメンベット 入金されない temperature. They tested the mattresses with 11 subjects, asking them to go to bed two hours earlier than usual, some nights using the cooling-warming functions of the mattresses and other nights not.
The study found that the warming and the cooling-warming mattress helped them fall asleep faster – approximately 58% faster compared with nights when they did not use the cooling-warming function, even in the challenging setting of an earlier bedtime. Not only did lowering internal ラーメンベット 入金されない temperature significantly shorten the amount of time required to fall asleep, it also resulted in significantly improved quality of sleep.
The project arose out of a larger goal in the lab of Kenneth Diller, a professor in the ラーメンベット 禁止ゲーム of ラーメンベット 入金されない and an expert in heat and temperature regulation for therapeutic devices, to find new ways to use thermal stimulation to help people sleep. The researchers published a study in 2019 that found taking a warm bath an hour or two before bed helped people fall asleep quickly and sleep better.
This project is similar but more targeted. Lowering the internal ラーメンベット 入金されない temperature at the right circadian time sends the signal that it is time to go to sleep. Targeting the important bodily sensors in just a few areas that control heat dissipation, and thus ラーメンベット 入金されない temperature level, made more sense than focusing on the entire ラーメンベット 入金されない.
“It is remarkable how effective gentle warming along the cervical spine is in sending a signal to the ラーメンベット 入金されない to increase blood flow to the hands and feet to lower the core temperature and precipitate sleep onset,” Diller said. “This same effect also enables the blood pressure to fall slightly overnight, with the benefit of allowing the cardiovascular system to recover from the stress of maintaining blood flow during daily activities, which is highly important for long-term health.”
The team has a patent for the cooling-warming ラーメンベット 入金されない and pillow technology and is seeking partnerships with ラーメンベット 入金されない companies to commercialize it.
Other members ラーメンベット 入金されない team are Sepideh Khoshnevis and Michael Smolensky of UT Austin, Ramón Hermida ラーメンベット 入金されない University of Vigo in Spain, Richard Castriotta ラーメンベット 入金されない University of Southern California and Eva Schernhammer of Harvard University.
