Together With Eight Sleep
How To Reprogram Your Sleep
In 1959, a radio DJ named Peter Tripp stayed awake for 201 hours straight. It was a publicity stunt for a New York charity. He broadcast live from a glass booth in Times Square, cracking jokes, taking calls, and documenting the descent into sleepless madness.
People gathered to watch. Doctors took notes. Tripp cracked jokes through the static of sleep deprivation, swearing he felt fine.
By day three, he wasn’t. He tried to sweep bugs off his arms that weren’t there. Accused a nurse of poisoning him. When he finally collapsed, his 13-hour sleep wasn’t recovery—it was survival.
Back then, we thought about sleep in a different way. That willpower could override biology. And if you couldn’t sleep? You were broken. Or lazy. Or weak.
But Peter Tripp wasn’t weak. He was human. And his body was sounding an alarm we didn’t know how to hear.
Around that time, scientists started wondering a little more loudly: What happens when you don’t sleep? And why do some people feel like they can’t?
Most people think sleep is a switch you flip. But it’s something your body prepares for, long before your head hits the pillow.
The Power Of 1-Degree
Sleep is a build-up. A temperature shift. A slow cascade of chemical signals that either help you rest deeper and better or stand in the way of better rest.
Excellent sleep isn’t an accident. Your body is naturally wired to help you sleep well and feel rested.
Roughly two hours before your natural bedtime, your core body temperature begins to drop. Not by much, but it’s enough. Blood vessels in your hands and feet open up. Heat radiates out. And that subtle cooling whispers a signal to your brain: It’s time.
This temperature drop doesn’t just help you fall asleep. It’s what lets your body enter the deeper, more restorative stages of sleep.
And that’s why it’s so easy to get wrong. Because you can’t force your body to cool down if your bedroom fights back.
Sleep isn’t passive. It’s a symphony of biological events—a nightly reboot where your brain files memories, your cells repair, and your heart recovers.
The signal to start the process of sweet sleep isn’t a yawn or a blackout curtain. It’s temperature.
That’s the part you might overlook. We celebrate everything from melatonin supplements to counting sheep. But your body is asking for something simpler: cool me down so I can power down.
The Science of the Shift
We obsess over bedtime rituals. Lavender sprays. Screen curfews. These are effective tips that can help. But all of it misses the point if your body can’t complete that temperature drop.
Here’s what researchers now know: your core body temperature wants to drop about 1 degree Celsius to initiate deeper sleep. That cooling signal triggers melatonin release, shifts your brainwaves, and moves you toward deep, restorative sleep.
However, if your environment counteracts that signal, you may experience fragmented, low-quality sleep, even if you log eight hours.
This is why so many people say things like:
“I sleep, but I never feel rested.”
“I wake up sweating at 3 am.”
“My tracker says I slept 7 hours, but I feel like garbage.”
You’re not imagining it. You’re missing the drop.
When your room is too warm, your mattress traps heat, or your partner radiates like a furnace, the signal gets scrambled. You might fall asleep eventually, but your body struggles to get into deep sleep—the kind that restores, repairs, and protects.
And your body continues to adjust its temperature throughout the night.
During deep non-REM sleep, the body works hard to maintain a stable and cool temperature. But during REM sleep, when most vivid dreams occur, your internal thermostat shuts off. This means that your body's ability to regulate its temperature, such as through sweating or shivering, is reduced. You become vulnerable to the air around you.
That’s why temperature swings at 3 am feel like a freight train. It’s not in your head. It’s in your biology.
And you’re not alone. Studies show that sleep quality has declined by over 25 percent in the past two decades, and much of that is driven by disrupted thermoregulation from light pollution, climate control, aging, and stress.
How To Set Your Body For Deeper Sleep
Your body temperature naturally follows a circadian rhythm, typically peaking in the late afternoon or early evening and then gradually declining as bedtime approaches. This drop begins roughly two hours before your natural sleep time.
This drop is one of the most powerful biological cues your brain receives that it’s time to rest. It’s not just about comfort—it’s chemistry. This process helps you transition into a state of readiness for sleep.
It’s like trying to land a plane on a runway covered in fog. Your brain doesn’t get the signal. So it keeps circling.
Most people don’t even realize they’re sabotaging their sleep. But these small missteps can throw your internal system off course:
Keeping the room above 70°F. The ideal sleep range is closer to 65–68°F.
Using memory foam without breathability. It holds heat like a sponge.
Drinking alcohol close to bedtime. It raises body temperature and disrupts your circadian rhythm.
Working out too close to bed without cooling down. Elevated body temperature can delay the onset of sleep.
Eating food close to bed. When you eat, your metabolic rate increases as your body works to digest, absorb, transport, and store the nutrients. This process requires energy and generates heat, causing your core body temperature to rise slightly
These things don’t just make you uncomfortable. They delay the onset of deep sleep, reduce REM sleep, and fragment your recovery.
If you’ve ever said, “I’m just a bad sleeper,” here’s the truth: you’re not. You’ve just been operating in a world that made good sleep harder than it should be.
Here’s the good news — you can reprogram it. Try one (or all) of these tonight:
Take a warm shower an hour before bed. Paradoxically, the heat helps cool you down by increasing blood flow to your skin.
Crack a window or lower the thermostat. Aim for approximately 65°F to 68°F.
Go to bed at the same time each night. This aligns with your natural body temperature rhythms, which peak and fall predictably over 24 hours.
Pair sleep timing with temperature drops. Aim to go to bed during your body’s natural temperature dip—usually between 9 pm and 11 pm. Going against your rhythm can reduce deep sleep.
Any one of these can help. But if you want the full benefit—without micromanaging every variable—there’s an easier way that does the work for you.
The Easiest Way to Reprogram Sleep
One year ago, we went on a mission to try all the different mattresses in search of better sleep. We slept on the bed, tracked our sleep, and analyzed what made the most significant difference in our sleep.
Many beds were comfortable, but one — far and away — provided the most improved sleep.
The Eight Sleep Pod 5 Ultra does everything your body needs to sleep better. Automatically.
It turns your existing mattress into a fully adaptive recovery system that learns your sleep patterns and optimizes them in real time.
Eat too close to bed? It can help you cool down.
Not getting into deeper sleep? The mattress sensors read what’s happening and give your body what it needs.
We were skeptical until we felt the difference.
And it’s not just their scores. We tested with separate devices, and with how we felt and performed, and the results held up.
Best of all? It’s not just anecdotal. When Eight Sleep researchers tested the Pod in a clinical study:
Deep sleep increased by 22%
Sleep quality improved by 32%
Heart rate dropped by up to 13%
HRV rose by up to 17%
And users woke up 23% less often, especially from overheating
It’s the most advanced sleep technology on the planet. And the new Pod 5 Ultra goes even further:
Cools or heats each side of the bed from 55–110°F
Adjusts throughout the night based on your sleep stage
Elevates your head if it detects snoring
Tracks heart rate, HRV, breathing, and alerts you to changes
Adds a temperature-regulating blanket for full-body coverage
Includes white noise and guided meditations
You don’t have to think your body is broken. You just lie down. The Pod handles the rest.
It’s the most innovative way to make your sleep work harder for you—whether you’re training hard, working long hours, or just trying to get through the day without three cups of coffee.
If you want to experience it for yourself, go to eightsleep.com/pumpclub and use code PUMPCLUB to get $350 off the new Pod 5 Ultra. You get 30 days to try it, risk-free. We are paying customers of Eight Sleep for a reason: it works and improves sleep, which helps nearly every aspect of your health.
If your evenings are a struggle, just know your sleep isn’t broken. It just needs better habits and conditions.
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Publisher: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Editors-in-chief: Adam Bornstein and Daniel Ketchell
