Ways To Keep Warm In Bed

The warmth of your bed can make the difference between a good night sleep and a sleepless night, especially on cold winter nights. There are numerous things you can do to stay warm in bed without having to leave the heater on all night, which can be costly.

The fastest way to get warm, and stay warm, is to cover your head, neck, hands, feet and legs. The best way to do this is to sleep with extra pillows around your head, keep your hands under the covers, wear socks, and cover your legs by wearing thermals. You will want to avoid getting too warm though. If you get too warm you will sweat. When you sweat you get wet. If you get wet you will get cold.

• Add extra layers of blankets to trap the warmth in.
• Surround yourself with extra pillows. Use stuffed animals if you don't have extra pillows. Sleeping with a lot of stuffed animals may sound silly but it will keep you warmer.
• Close all the doors to the other rooms in the house. This will stop the air from circulating and will reduce heat loss. Close your bedroom door and place a towel at the bottom of the door to seal off the cold air coming from other rooms.
• Keep the window in your bedroom air-tight and use a window draft guard.
• Place extra rugs on the floor.
• Wear a head wrap or knitted cap to bed. The reason why your feet and hands are cold is because you are losing heat in the head area. If you keep your head warm you will have won half the battle in keeping your body warm.
• Wear leg warms, foot pajamas, thermals or tights to bed.
• Use and electric blanket or heated mattress pad. If you don't have one, use a heating pad.
• Place a hot water bottle under the blankets at the foot of the bed.
• Wear socks. Wool socks will keep your feet the warmest.
• Drink a warm beverage before going to bed.
• Raise your body warmth before getting into bed by doing some jumping jacks or push-ups.

Prioritize your warmth in the following order:

1. Head
2. Feet warm
3. Neck
4. Hands
5. Legs