Because kitty will pounce on anything that moves underneath the covers. ;-)
Posted on 08/17/2014 10:56:00 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Introducing a slightly odd but potentially very useful sleep hack: Keep one foot, or both feet, outside of your blanket. It could help you both sleep better and fall asleep faster, a sleep researcher explained to Science of Us.
I started thinking about this recently when I was idly chatting with a buddy about how (relatively) nice and cool it had been recently in New York, and how much nicer it is to sleep when it’s cooler outside. He replied with what is apparently his formula for a perfect night’s sleep: “One foot out from under the blanket and a nice breeze coming from the window.”
I do the same thing, I realized — keep my foot outside the covers — but I’ve never known why. A slow news day in August seemed as good as a time as any to find out, so I spoke with Natalie Dautovitch, a spokesperson for the National Sleep Foundation and a psychology professor at the University of Alabama. Dautovitch’s research focuses on chronopsychology — that is, how our routines and biological rhythms fluctuate throughout the day and night, and how that affects our health and well-being. And while she said there’s never been any research specifically looking into my question, she was game to offer up a few theories based on her research.
What it comes down to, she thinks, is the connection between sleep and temperature. Sleep researchers know that right before you fall asleep, your body temperature starts to drop; in the deepest stages of sleep, your body is at its coolest, about one or two degrees below normal. Some scientists believe cooler temperatures cause sleepiness, and although the pre-slumber cooling process happens naturally, there are a few things you can do to help it along, like taking a warm bath right before bed, for example. When you leave the tub, your body temperature rapidly cools, triggering that sleepy feeling. A warm beverage works the same way.
Which brings us back to the foot thing. “I think it’s likely in service of trying to cool our bodies down because we’ve gotten too warm to sleep,” Dautovitch said.
But why the foot, specifically? The skin surfaces of both our hands and feet are unique, Dautovitch explained, both in that they’re hairless and because they contain specialized vascular structures that help with heat loss. Specifically, the hands and feet contain blood vessels called the arteriovenous anastomoses, which — coupled with the lack of hair on the bottoms of your feet — are perfectly designed to help dissipate body heat. So combine that with what scientists know about the decrease in body temperature during sleep, and it’s possible that “sticking your toe out or your foot out could bring you to a more restorative sleep,” Dautovitch said.
In general, people tend to sleep best in colder rooms, between 60 and 67 degrees, she said. So if you’re looking for a more conventional sleepy-time tip, maybe just get an extra fan.
The first thing I do in a motel room is throw the comforter on the floor. They do not wash it.
Lol! ... Sounds like the voice of experience.
Because kitty will pounce on anything that moves underneath the covers. ;-)
Golly, we must be twins!
I am exactly the same..gotta have that fan, gotta have them feet out and I could NEVER sleep with socks on... I’d have to pass out to be asleep with socks on.
What’s this ‘sleep’ you’re talking about?
bookmark
Worcestershire sauce?
Hubby tucks the sheets and blanket tightly under the mattress.
It’s like sleeping in a strait jacket.
See #27.
:)
Have you ever punched or kicked him while sleeping?
Our family doctor back then (late 50's) said, in general, hungry = healthy and I stayed in good health.
To this day I still enjoy sleeping extra cool. Standing order: "turn the A.C. cooler and hand me another blanket."
No trouble trying to fall asleep when you're more anxious about getting warm.
in general, hungry = healthy
Scientist who study longevity report that the key to long life is Cold + Hungry. Apparently, cells that are seeking heat and nourishment remain more flexible, thus, healthier longer.
I sleep the European way, with a duvet that can allow one’s feet to breathe.
Us, too.
When I buy new sheets, I buy an extra top sheet to match the set. I sew the two top sheets together on three sides, and add buttons and buttonholes to the fourth side. This becomes the duvet cover.
I put our duvet inside the cover, and we sleep with the bottom sheet, duvet in the cover, and that is it. We have a heavy feather duvet for winter and a light wool-filled duvet for summer.
I change the covers when I wash the sheets. I don't understand the American way at all.
For your safety, please keep your hands and feet inside the bed at all times.
I’m sorry, but any time I hear someone use “hack” in these terms, it just sounds so low information, idiot Millenial who can barely do anything for themselves. (And voted for Obama twice, live at home at their parents, and can’t understand why they dont have a job, and why Obamacare is not free, etc.)
"Now I lay me dow to sleep,
I pray the Lord, my soul, to keep,
If I should die before I wake...wait...what?"
“That makes no sense. How do you keep the monster under your bed from eating your foot?”
***************************************************************************************
Yes, the monster under my bed is the reason IT IS IMPERATIVE TO KEEP THE OTHER LEG/FOOT UNDER THE COVERS. That other leg being UNDER the covers serves as an “anchor” to keep the monster from dragging me out of bed using the exposed foot and devouring me.
This is a truth I learned as a small child and have never forgotten it.
I think the expert is ignoring male/female differences. A study that I read about many, many years ago compared the physiological responses of men and women to cold temperatures. The data indicated that a man’s body temperature will become lower overall, whereas a woman’s
hands and feet will become cold first before the rest of her body will become colder.
The first thing I do in a hotel room is spray and wipe with disinfectant.
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