Give Now  »

Noon Edition

Can't Sleep? Warm Your Hands!

Did you know that if you are having trouble sleeping, thinking warm thoughts about your hands and feet can get rid of insomnia?

See, when we're falling asleep, the body naturally cools down. To make this happen, blood flows from the body's core out to the legs, arms, hands and feet. This makes the central part of the body cooler and makes the hands and feet warmer.

For some people, the natural cooling-off process doesn't work the way it should. But sleep researchers have found that you can sort of kick-start the process by imagining that your hands and feet are becoming warmer.

So,  if you think about holding your hands over a campfire or something like that, you can trick my body into making the blood flow and actually warming up your hands.

It's been tested on a handful of people with sleep disorders and there's some evidence that it actually works.

Support For Indiana Public Media Comes From

About A Moment of Science