Search icon

Fitness & Health

23rd Feb 2017

This is why you should always shower before going to bed

Alan Loughnane

Dublin fire brigade

Do you shower in the morning, at night, or both?

There are benefits to showering in the morning according to research, just as there are benefits to showering at night.

A morning shower is said to boost your creativity and it also helps to shake off those morning cob webs as you contemplate packing in your job for another few hours shut eye.

But, if you want a good night’s sleep, showering before you go to bed is the way to go according to Shelby Harris, director of behavioral sleep medicine at New York’s Montefiore Medical Center.

Studies have shown that warming up your body by taking a bath can help induce sleep, as long as you leave enough time afterwards to allow yourself to cool off afterwards. While much of the research has been conducted with baths, a long shower would likely have a similar effect.

Speaking to TIME Health, Harris outlined that a shower before you go to bed will help you fall asleep, as long as you don’t leave it too late.

She recommends taking a shower an hour and a half before you plan to go to bed. It allows your body to heat up in the shower, but then cool and dry off and allow your brain to go off to sleep when your head hits the pillow.

There you have it, for ultimate healthiness, shower in the morning for creativity, and shower 90 minutes before bed to help you get a great night’s sleep.

LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge

Topics:

Sleep