Sleep Science Focusing on Body Temperature Control

We spend about one-third of our life sleeping, but many people in our modern society have sleep-related problems. To solve such those problems, we focused on the natural sleep mechanism in humans. We are developing technologies to evoke a natural sleep in humans and provide the experimental value that leads to well-being.

Core body temperature in humans rises during the wake phase and decreases to give the brain and body some rest during the night-time sleep. Thermoregulation mechanism (heat loss) that increase the skin temperature in the hands and feet to release core body temperature plays an important role in natural sleep.

At Kao, we found that comfortable periocular skin warming by using warm steam technology promoted heat loss via the hands and feet^*1 . Furthermore, we demonstrated that enhancement of heat loss by periocular skin warming before bedtime reduced sleep onset latency and increased deep sleep^*2 .
Based on these results, it is important to elucidate the mechanism of heat loss via the hands and feet as one approach to solving sleep-related problems.

Kao continues to research the humans’ natural sleep mechanism, and through Yoki-Monozukuri strives to propose new solutions to provide people with natural sleep.