#080 How Heat Therapy Improves Slow Wave Sleep

Heat therapy, such as using a sauna or soaking in a hot bath, may significantly improve your slow wave sleep. My latest episode delves into the fascinating intersection between exercise and passive body heating and elucidates how high energy expenditure exercise and heat exposure share nuanced mechanisms in sleep regulation. Some key aspects explored include: The surprising role of the immune system in regulating sleep through somnogenic cytokines, immune signals like IL-1B and TNF-alpha , released in response to heat stress and exercise. The interconnected nature of thermoregulation and sleep, particularly in the brain, which highlights the importance of overlapping sleep regulation and heat loss processes. This involves warm-sensing preoptic area neurons  in the preoptic area of th