Question: You mention in your article about a low libido that sleeping naked might help because it’s sensuous. I’ve read that there are health benefits to sleeping naked and would like to try it as something new for the new year. But suppose your spouse doesn’t prefer to sleep naked but you do?
Answer: There are health benefits to sleeping naked. But I didn’t know that when I was first introduced to sleeping naked. I was 12 years old and staying with my country my country friend Buster who was 13. It was summer and his room on the second floor in the back of the house got hot during the day. We only had a window fan for cooling. I found it refreshing to lay out on the double bed alongside Buster letting the breeze blow over our naked bodies (his idea, after a pillow fight!). We might get under the sheet during the night. But I liked it and and we did it again during the next summer visit. I continued sleeping naked when my brother and I got our own attic bedroom about a year later.
I continued to sleep naked during my teen years and from time to time throughout my life, although not consistently. Some factors discourage it, like having children who are likely to come into your bed during the night, visiting in someone’s home, or a really cold winter’s night. I note this just so you know I’m not a fanatic about it. But especially in my old age it has become my preference because pajamas often make me too hot. You don’t want your body to get too hot. Keeping cool links your body to the circadian rhythm of cooling your body down at night for sleep. I’ve also found that wearing a loose tee-shirt to cover my shoulders and upper torso can be helpful on a cooler night. It’s especially the genitals that need to cool down since they’ve been wrapped up all day.
However, if you’re going to try sleeping naked in January, you might do so under a down comforter. I had that experience during my teen years in the attic bedroom I shared with my brother that had no heat other than a space heater. It still was plenty warm upstairs.
As a college student I was part of a mission team doing a vacation Bible school for inner city children in Camden, New Jersey (summer of 1963). Four of us college boys slept in an old Victorian boarding house just off the Ben Franklin Bridge, two in a double bed. My roommate and I were in the front bedroom on the second floor which warmed up during the day. The other two were in a back bedroom that stayed cooler. There was no air conditioning, of course, and we sometimes just slept naked on top of the bed covers. Boys sleeping together wasn’t uncommon in those days. I had the same situation on the student summer work crew when I was in seminary in the summers of 1966 and 1967 when we shared an apartment in Chicago’s Hyde Park. We were painting and fixing up apartments that seminarians would be moving into in the fall of 1967. Again, there was no air conditioning, just a window fan, and the apartments heated up during the day.
You should also know that sleeping naked is not uncommon today. Polls vary, but one reported about 17% of American men and up to 30% of UK men sleeping naked. Pajamas are a 20th century invention. In earlier times night shirts served as sleep wear for men. A lot of men sleep just in boxers, briefs, or pj bottoms. So they’re at least partially naked. But the real issue is freeing the genitals from constriction during the night. Boxers and briefs don’t help with that. This is not an issue that women need to be concerned about.
The male testicles need to be aired out. Wearing underwear or pajama bottoms create the kind of warm, moist condition that allows bacteria to thrive in the nether parts. It’s cozy to wrap up in the sheet and blanket even when naked, but for at least part of the night the man might sleep on top of the covers and set his genitals free, as in this painting of a man sleeping nude by artist Pat Kelley.
There are definitely some health benefits to sleeping naked. We sleep better when we’re not hot and sweaty, and sleeping naked will keep your body cooler. A study conducted by the U.S. National Institutes of Health found that keeping yourself cool while you sleep speeds the body’s metabolism by producing brown fat that burns calories, breaks down lipids, and increases protein synthesis. You can actually lose a bit of weight by sleeping naked.
The body’s self-repair mechanism during sleep works more effectively in a cooler environment. If you’re getting too cold during the night, just add a blanket rather than putting on pajamas. As I wrote, don’t sleep in boxers or briefs. Your penis and scrotum get no airing out that way. Tighty whities and Calvin Kleins constrict circulation and your balls can get twisted up in loose boxers. The skin breathes better and cardiovascular circulation is increased without the constrictions of bed clothing or underwear.
You may notice more erections during the night or in the morning when you’re waking up because without the constriction of pjs or underwear your penis has more space in which to expand. We usually have several erections during the night. It’s not necessarily sexy. It’s happens when the blood flows down there — a natural phenomenon. The “morning woodie” is just the last of nocturnal erections before you wake up. Erections are a sign that the nerves and blood supply to the penis are healthy. The body is renewing the reproductive organs.
The scrotum needs slightly cooler conditions than the rest of the body to optimize sperm production. Couples that are interested in having children should definitely sleep naked. In addition to sperm health couples need to have sex to procreate. Being skin-against-skin is very sensuous, and one thing leads to another. With hormone secretion aided by a cooler body temperature and blood flowing to the penis, the man should be ready for sex. (See the following painting by Pat Kelley.
I take it that you’ve been married for a while and haven’t slept nude before. Changing routines can spice up a marriage. Just tell your spouse or partner that you’ve read about the health benefits of sleeping naked and that you’d like to try. Invite her or him to try it with you. If your spouse doesn’t feel comfortable doing that, it should be okay with you. You sleep naked and let your partner wear pajamas or a nightie. If the two of you are moved to have sex in bed during the night, removing your partner’s pjs can add to the eroticism of the moment. You might both fall asleep after sex and then both of you are cuddling naked.
In any event, spouses should share their bodies with each other. So spending time being naked for each other or with each other is a good thing. Sleeping naked together is one possibility. Go for it!
With or without a bed partner, I hope you will notice the benefits of this practice over time and will wake up in the morning refreshed and ready to face a new day. Best wishes,
Frank
Man Awaking by Pat Kelley
