Cool Your Brain For Better Sleep

Counting sheep, popping sleeping pills and staring blindly at the ceiling wont help you get to sleep as quickly as a cooling brain cap says a study presented at the Sleep 2011 Conference.

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine discovered that wearing a cooling plastic cap that covers your forehead will help you get to sleep faster and sleep longer. The study looked at 24 subjects, 12 of with insomnia and 12 with normal sleep patterns.

Those insomniacs who wore the caps at their highest cooling level fell asleep within 13 minutes and slept most the night, just like the normal people. The researchers believe the cooling caps slow the metabolism in the front part of the brain which is overactive in those with insomnia. [LA Times; Valeriy Lebedev/Shutterstock]