With hot temperatures expected in Pittsburgh, here's how you can stay cool while sleeping

With high temperatures expected to reach into the 90s the next couple of days in the Pittsburgh area, your health will need you to make some adjustments, specifically the way you sleep. 

So much of our daily lives are impacted by the way we sleep, which is why when it gets hot, you need to be careful. Whether it's job performance, your ability to drive safely, or how you interact with the people in your life, it's all impacted by how you sleep. 

One of the things that makes or breaks your sleep is sleeping temperature. 

"When your body is hot at night, it doesn't sleep well," said Dr. Brian Chen, a sleep specialist at the Cleveland Clinic. "You're going to be sweating more, you're going to be less comfortable, you're going to be moving around." 

Temperatures like we're expecting to see in Pittsburgh can keep your body from lowering its core temperature the way it should. 

"Human beings naturally needed to be a little bit colder, probably two degrees Fahrenheit colder, than you naturally have it during the day," Dr. Chen said. 

In fact, Dr. Chen said the ideal bedroom temperature for sleep is between 60 and 67 degrees. In order to get to that temperature, you can use a fan to help you, or you can take off or put on blankets to adjust your comfort level. 

Just remember: heat is the enemy. 

"It's going to interfere with your quality of sleep, and you're probably going to feel a little bit worse the next day, as well," Dr. Chen explained. 

Along with making sure the temperatures are comfortable, it's also important to make sure that it's dark and quiet. 

"Maybe even [use] earmuffs or earplugs so that you can go to sleep," Dr. Chen said. "You can even put on some white noise to mask any sort of disturbance that may be going on out there at different hours of the night." 

To go along with temperature and lighting, your diet also impacts your sleep. Dr. Chen said to avoid sugary drinks and caffeine close to bedtime. Not only are they stimulants, but they also raise your core body temperature. 

Simply put, your body naturally wants to lower its core temperature when you sleep, and if it's fighting the environment in your room, if you can sleep, it's a lighter level of sleep, and you could frequently wake up, and you won't get truly restful sleep.