5 Research-Based Expert Tips for Better Sleep During the Holidays (And Why Cooling Performance Sleepwear Helps)

The holiday season is packed with joy, tradition, family time… and for many people, some of the most chaotic, sleep-disrupting weeks of the year. Travel, late nights, social commitments, rich meals, a disrupted schedule, and emotional stress can easily derail your sleep. And poor sleep doesn’t just make you groggy the next day—it affects your mood, appetite, immune system, patience, cognitive performance, and overall experience of the season.

The good news? You can protect your sleep even during the busiest weeks of the year. With the right strategies and the right sleep environment—including performance cooling sleepwear that helps regulate temperature—you can set yourself up for the restful nights your mind and body need.

Here are 5 expert, research-backed sleep strategies to help you stay rested, balanced, and energized through the holidays.

1. Maintain a Consistent Sleep Schedule (Even If It’s Not Perfect)

Holiday travel and events make perfect sleep routines harder—but the goal isn’t perfection. The goal is consistency. Research in sleep medicine shows that the body’s circadian rhythm (your internal clock) thrives on regularity. When your sleep schedule drifts by more than an hour, your body treats it like mini jet lag.

Even if you can’t go to bed at your exact normal time, aim for:

• Consistent wake-up times
• A wind-down routine that signals “sleep mode”
• Slight adjustments instead of dramatic shifts

For example, if your family stays up late on Christmas Eve or while traveling, resist sleeping in until noon. Instead, try to keep your morning within an hour of your usual wake-up time. This helps you maintain deeper sleep cycles, better daytime alertness, and more stable energy.

Pro tip:
If you struggle to fall asleep at your normal time due to schedule shifts, dim household lighting about an hour before bed. Lower light helps your body produce more melatonin, your natural sleep hormone.

2. Regulate Evening Eating and Alcohol Intake

Holiday meals are often rich, late, festive, and abundant—and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with enjoying them. But if you want to protect your sleep, timing and moderation matter.

Sleep research shows that:

• Heavy meals too close to bedtime can increase awakenings
• High-fat meals slow digestion and contribute to nighttime discomfort
• Alcohol can make you fall asleep faster but reduces sleep quality and REM sleep
• Sugary desserts cause blood sugar swings that can wake you in the early morning hours

A helpful holiday rhythm is:

• Enjoy big meals earlier in the evening when possible
• Limit alcohol in the last 3 hours before bed
• Have dessert or snacks earlier, not right before sleep

If you know you have a late dinner coming up, lighten earlier meals to balance digestion. And if you’re drinking, alternate each alcoholic beverage with a glass of water—your sleep (and your morning) will thank you.

3. Prioritize Cooling and Temperature Control in the Bedroom

Holiday stressors are one thing. Holiday sleep heat is another.

Overheating at night is one of the most common causes of sleep fragmentation—especially when homes are heated for guests, heavy blankets come out, travel accommodations vary, or you’re sleeping in unfamiliar environments.

Researchers consistently point out the same truth:
Cooler body temperatures create deeper, higher-quality sleep.

Your core temperature naturally drops at night to initiate sleep. If your sleepwear or bedding traps heat, your body struggles to reach the temperature needed for deep rest. This leads to:

• Restless tossing and turning
• Night sweats
• Waking “hot and thirsty”
• Difficulty falling back asleep after awakenings
• Lighter, less restorative sleep stages

This is where performance cooling sleepwear can make a powerful difference.

Why Performance Sleepwear Helps You Sleep Better

Unlike flannel pajamas—which absorb moisture, trap heat, and grow heavy throughout the night—performance cooling blends are engineered to:

• Pull heat away from the skin
• Wick and evaporate moisture quickly
• Maintain a cooler microclimate around the body
• Reduce nighttime awakenings
• Keep sleep stages deeper and more consistent
• Adjust to fluctuating room temps, electric blankets, or warm heaters

When you combine good sleep habits with the right sleepwear, you’re setting yourself up for stable thermoregulation—a key pillar of holiday sleep success.

This is exactly why Dēp Slēpwear focuses on performance cooling fabrics. They’re designed to keep sleepers dry, cool, and comfortable even when the room gets warm, bedrooms vary, or holiday stress impacts your sleep cycle.

4. Use Light Exposure Strategically—Morning Sunlight, Evening Calm

The holidays often throw off your natural light exposure patterns. You wake up later, spend more time indoors, travel across time zones, or spend evenings around bright lights or screens.

But light is one of the most powerful regulators of your circadian rhythm.

Morning:

Expose your eyes to natural light within the first 30–60 minutes of waking. Even if it’s cloudy or winter, outdoor light greatly boosts your circadian alignment.

Morning light exposure helps:

• Increase alertness
• Set the sleep-wake cycle for the day
• Improve mood
• Boost serotonin
• Make it easier to fall asleep at night

Evening:

Dim lights and limit bright screens 60–90 minutes before bed. Holiday movies are a staple—but try shifting them earlier in the evening or using “night mode” on screens.

Lower light tells your body: “It’s time to wind down.”

If you’re traveling, a sunrise walk or a step outside upon waking can dramatically speed up circadian adjustment.

5. Protect Wind-Down Rituals to Manage Holiday Stress

Stress is one of the top holiday sleep disruptors. Even positive stress—hosting family, preparing meals, traveling, planning events—activates the sympathetic nervous system (“fight or flight”).

When you’re in a heightened state, falling asleep is harder because your body is physiologically alert.

Research shows that:

• Gentle, predictable routines help reduce nighttime stress
• Calming pre-sleep rituals improve sleep onset
• Relaxation techniques increase deep sleep time

You don’t need a perfect routine—you just need a consistent signal that tells your brain it’s time to shift gears.

Effective holiday wind-down habits include:

• A warm shower
• Reading a few pages of a book
• Light stretching
• Slow breathing exercises
• Herbal tea
• Writing down next-day tasks so they’re off your mind
• Wearing comfortable, cooling sleepwear that signals “bedtime mode”

Performance sleepwear helps here, too. When you change into comfortable, breathable, cooling pajamas, your body receives a physical cue: it’s time to slow down. Combined with a routine, it becomes a powerful Pavlovian signal for better sleep.

Why Performance Cooling Sleepwear Matters More During the Holidays

The holiday environment is full of sleep disruptors—late nights, travel beds, warm houses, stress, unpredictable schedules. Cooling sleepwear helps stabilize the one factor you can control: your comfort and temperature.

Performance cooling blends help you:

• Stay cool despite variable room temperatures
• Avoid overheating from heavy holiday bedding
• Reduce nighttime wakings
• Lower sweat accumulation
• Maintain deeper sleep cycles
• Stay comfortable in unfamiliar beds and travel settings
• Rebuild consistent sleep quality even with schedule changes

Dēp Slēpwear is engineered for exactly these challenges: keeping your body in its ideal thermal comfort zone, making it easier to fall asleep, stay asleep, and get the restorative rest that holidays often undermine.

Sleep Well, Enjoy More

The holidays should feel joyful—not exhausting. By focusing on five research-backed strategies—consistent sleep timing, smart evening eating, temperature control, light exposure, and calming routines—you can protect your rest and enjoy the season with more energy and presence.

And investing in high-quality, performance cooling sleepwear is one of the simplest ways to support your sleep through it all. When your body stays cool and comfortable, it becomes easier to fall asleep, stay asleep, and recover deeply—even when life gets busy.

With the right tools and habits, the holidays can be restful, restorative, and genuinely enjoyable.

Shop for Dēp Slēpwear now.