The Impact of Passive Body Heating on Quality of Sleep: A Review Study

Lack of sleep (insomnia) is a common problem involving society members and inpatients causing different physiological effects. Treatment includes a variety of several pharmacologic or other techniques. One of the non-pharmacologic methods is local heating of terminal organs (passive body heating). Manipulation of body temperature is a potential therapeutic intervention. The purpose of this study was to review the impact of passive body heating on the sleep quality.
After searching in available databases with proper keywords in both Persian and English language and with no time limits, 114 articles were collected. Of these, 31 were selected as the most relevant and were reviewed.
Based on the previous researches, the warm footbath was selected for implementation of passive body heating which was the most common and safest method. In some studies, the warm footbath also improved mental sleep and polysomnography findings.
Although the impact of passive body heating on sleep has not been proved in all studies, it increases patient comfort and relaxation and the parasympathetic stimulation. Hence, this method can be used as a non-complicated nursing procedure in patients with insomnia.