Noah Daly

Reid Makowsky PhD.

ENGL-1302-16

17 February 2016

Pajamas: Less is More

As divorce rates sky rocket it seems it’s harder than ever to have a happy, successful

marriage. What if there was a simple way to not only improve your marriage but also get a

better night’s sleep? I am here to tell you that sleeping in the nude is the simplest way to achieve

those goals. Sleeping nude contributes to a better nights sleep and a happier marriage in many

ways. Through practical experience and thorough research I have found that it does work,

though you may be skeptical. In a survey conducted by Anna’s Linens only eight percent of

Americans admitted to sleeping nude (“National Sleep” PRNewswire). Though you may be part

of the ninety-two percent of the population who doesn’t sleep nude, you’re most likely saying to

yourself with a chuckle, “Duh, sleeping nude is sure to improve any marriage… If not just for

the night.” You may start off chuckling, but in the following pages, I am going to convince you

that sleeping nude is an easy way to improve your marriage over time, and get a better night’s

sleep while you’re at it.

Sleeping nude will improve any marriage, as well as provide increased feelings of well-

being for both spouses. Not only will you and your spouse be physically closer without clothes

when you sleep, gradually you will become emotionally closer due to increased production of

oxytocin (MacGill, “Oxytocin”). Seemingly obvious to the causal reader would be with no

clothes on, there are less physical barriers for sexual contact, as well as sub textual context,

according to Amber Madison, being naked with your spouse signals that sexual advances will be
 Daly 2

met positively (Borreli “Sleeping”). Researchers have linked more sex in a marriage to couples

reporting more satisfaction from their marriage (Shute “Is Sex”). An additional group of

researchers have linked couples that are happier in their relationship with their spouse to

healthier choices, and healthier people report being happier in their marriage (Juntti “Does

Marriage”). These two factors form a synergistic loop that has very powerful effects. Couples

who are happy in their marriages, and are also healthy actually live measurably longer than

single people and couples that report dissatisfaction in their marriages (Juntti “Does Marriage”).

Also, in my own marriage I have noticed that when my wife and I sleep nude, we are more likely

to snuggle, we feel much closer, and we also sleep better. We wake up refreshed, and feeling

happy with our marriage. But even before I was married I noticed benefits of sleeping nude.

On my first Field Training Exercise during Basic Training it had suddenly become very

cold in Missouri in late September. Our Senior Drill Sergeant told us the best way to stay warm

at night in our sleeping bags, and warm up more quickly the next morning was to sleep with as

little clothes on as possible, even naked. He informed us while we slept we sweat, and that sweat

would make our clothes damp, making us colder than if we slept with no clothes on; our sweat

would be absorbed into the sleeping bag and taken away from our bodies. It would take us into

the afternoon to feel warm again wearing damp clothes. This is how and when I was introduced

to sleeping in the nude. I can tell you that it worked. However awkward it felt the first night to

take off my uniform and kick it down to my feet in the sleeping bag to ensure it was warm in the

morning, it felt much better to put on what seemed like a wonderfully warm, dry uniform in the

twenty degree Missouri morning. This was a practice I repeated many many times during my

sixteen years in the Army on cold nights from Germany to Korea keeping me warm while I slept,

and during the early hours of the day. At the time I didn’t know what was happening in my body
 Daly 3

when I slept, and that it was much more important than the comfort of being warm or the

satisfaction of a good night’s sleep.

The human body is amazing, and though we can sleep in almost any conditions if we are

tired enough, certain conditions contribute to better, more restful sleep. On cold winter nights, or

warm summer nights, sweat can be produced on your skin due to the overheating caused by

multiple layers of pajamas and covers. This sweat designed to cool the body, may be too

effective, causing the body to become too cold. Your body yo-yos between being too hot and too

cold because you are over dressed for sleep. It can maintain a more consistent temperature if you

sleep nude. Your body’s ability to maintain an optimum temperature more easily results in the

production of more melatonin (“Find Out” Sleep.org). Melatonin is a hormone your body

produces before and during sleep that puts you in a deeper sleep (“Melatonin” WebMD). Being

in a deeper sleep enables you to sleep longer because you are not as easily woken up during the

night by disturbances allowing your rapid eye movement cycles to complete, resulting in a more

restful sleep. While you are sleeping deeper and just a little longer, your body is creating more

growth hormone (“Find Out” Sleep.org). Growth hormone is used by our bodies for cell repair

and regulating metabolism. The more growth hormone available for cell repair, the more

effectively our body is able to perform functions which result in a slower aging process keeping

us looking young longer (“New Study” News-Medical.net). So, as a young soldier following my

Drill Sergeant’s advice to try to stay dry and warm, I was actually sleeping better and staying

healthy and young.

By sleeping nude I have suggested that you’ll be closer to your spouse, physically fitter

and healthier, and well rested. Experts agree that these factors lead to another benefit: a better

sex life. Norine Dworkin-McDaniel at Health.com reports that skin-to-skin contact floods our
 Daly 4

bodies with oxytocin (Dworkin “Touching”). Cuddling with your spouse while nude increases

skin to skin contact releasing even more oxytocin. Markus MacGill of Medical News Today

reports oxytocin leads to bonding between couples and sexual behavior (MacGill, “Oxytocin”).

So logic dictates that the more oxytocin your body produces the more bonding takes place with

your spouse and the more sexual behavior you and your spouse will engage in. Amber Madison,

a Manhattan therapist and relationship expert, tells Medical Daily, “The physical proximity [of

sleeping nude] suggests, ‘I want to be close to you, and [is] a green light for sex.” Medical Daily

also reports Ms. Madison as saying, “The intimacy, emotional, and physical availability, is what

keeps a relationship strong amid daily stressors and challenges.” (Borreli “Sleeping”) Nancy

Shute of NPR reports couples that have sex up to once a week report more happiness in their

relationships than couples having sex less often (Shute “Is Sex”). Researchers have found a link

between happy marriages and better health. Melaina Juntti reports for Men’s Journal that

happier people are less likely to get divorced, and also that couples in happy marriages have

overall better health and live longer than couples reporting unhappiness in their marriages (Juntti

“Does Marriage”).

With all the benefits of sleeping nude, being warmer, healthier, sleeping more deeply,

having a closer relationship with your spouse, more sex, and ultimately living longer, why would

people chose to not sleep nude? As I mentioned earlier, ninety-two percent of Americans choose

not to sleep nude (“National Sleep” PRNewswire). There are quite a few barriers to sleeping

nude. Perhaps the first and strongest would be the embarrassment of trying it out, maybe the

awkwardness you feel slipping into bed naked. I only overcame this feeling by choosing this

awkward feeling over potentially freezing while trying to sleep, perhaps not sleeping at all, and

being extremely cold and uncomfortable the next morning during a very physically taxing period
 Daly 5

of Basic Training, when you needed as much rest as you could possibly get. Once you overcome

this awkwardness there are logistical issues to overcome. For single people, you may be living

with a roommate or your parents. Married people may have small children. Although sleeping

nude is clearly beneficial, being seen nude by a small child, parent, or roommate would be very

embarrassing; but there are simple solutions for these concerns. Wearing a robe to bed and

keeping it bedside is an easy solution. This is very useful when having to go to the rest room at

night, having to let your dog out at night, or even in the event of a fire you never have to worry

about running out of the house naked, because your robe is right next to your bed. In an instance

like that you might think putting a robe on during a fire is a lot of work, but its no more work

than putting slippers on. If you don’t like the idea of wearing robe, you could either simply lock

your door at night or keep clothes under the sheets with you or bedside.

Now that I have told you all the benefits of sleeping nude, deeper more restful sleep, a

healthier and younger looking body, a stronger emotional bond with your spouse, more sex with

your spouse, a happier marriage, better health and a longer life. Why not give sleeping nude a

try? It is my hope that I have given you enough information about the positive effects of

sleeping nude to out-weigh any feelings of awkwardness or embarrassment you may feel. Even

if my research and personal experiences do not persuade you, I have offered some simple

solutions to help you overcome any embarrassment you may feel should you have to leave your

bed at night. So step outside of your comfort zone and remember, when it comes to pajamas-

less is more!
 Daly 6

Works Cited

Borreli, Lizette. “Sleeping Naked Helps Couples Have Healthy Relationships With More

Intimacy.” Medical Daily. IBT Media, 2 July 2014. Web. 16 February 2016.

Dworkin-McDaniel, Norine. “Touching makes you healthier.” Health.com. Cable News

Network, 5 January 2011. Web. 16 February 2016.

“Find Out What You Really Should Be Wearing to Bed.” Sleep.org. National Sleep Foundation,

n.d. Web. 16 February 2016.

Juntti, Melaina. “Does Marriage Help You Live Longer?” MensJournal.com. Men’s Journal, n.d.

Web. 16 February 2016.

MacGill, Markus. “Oxytocin: What is it and what does it do?” Medical News Today.

MediLexicon International, 21 September 2015. Web. 16 February 2016.

“Melatonin – Overview.” WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 16 February 2016.

“National Sleep Survey Pulls Back The Covers On How We Doze And Dream; Two-Thirds Fail

To Get Restful Sleep Most Nights” PRNewswire. PR Newswire Association, 26

December 2012. Web. 16 February 2016.

“New study explores effects of growth hormone on the skin.” News-Medical.net. AZoM.com, 11

June 2014. Web. 16 February 2016.

Shute, Nancy. “Is Sex Once A Week Enough For A Happy Relationship?” Shots. NPR.org, 19

November 2015. Web. 16 February 2016.