Alternative to Electric Blanket
With the potential dangers associated with electric blankets, the question becomes, “are electric blankets our only option?” Fortunately, we are not without alternatives to a heating pad or heated blankets. If you have
If you are concerned about the safety of using an electric blanket, there are quite a few options and even safer alternatives to help keep you warm.
Below are a few safe options to explore.
Throw Blankets
That’s right.— Try a good, old-fashioned, non-electric blanket to get snug as a bug. This continues to be the easiest way to warm up your bed and keep you warm all night long. When it’s time to choose a blanket, make sure it will help you stay warm.
The warmest materials for blankets are cotton, wool, cashmere, and fleece. You can always double down on warmth by making sure your bed sheets are made from these warmer materials. Just be sure to follow the washing instructions with those wool and cashmere ones.
If one is warm, then two will certainly be warmer. If you’re still cold, keep piling on the blankets until you’re completely warm.
Water-Heated Blanket
A study found that an increased core temperature can cause a significant decline in sleep efficiency – the total time a person is asleep in bed. This can occur by creating a continuously heated environment, interfering with our body’s sleep cycles.
With the help of the best cooling blanket, you can improve your sleep! The Cool Luxe is a 15-pound cooling weighted blanket that helps you settle into deep sleep that won’t trap your body heat. How? Well, it circulates channels of water to neutralize ambient temperature from 55-115°F. It can be used as a heating blanket or weighted blanket.
Why Water? Water has natural thermal advantages that make our temperature-regulated weighted blanket very effective in heating and cooling.
Flannel Sheet
To help you keep your bed warm, try removing your standard sheets and replacing them with flannel sheets. Flannel traps heat in insulating air pockets. So, when in bed, your body heat is trapped, and the pockets help retain it. Basically, it insulates you while you’re sleeping.
Did You Know: Even though you aren’t in your bed, the pockets continue to retain the warm air.
Pajamas
Sometimes a warm set of pajamas is all it takes to keep cozy when it’s cold out. There are plenty of fabrics to choose from to keep warm for a great night’s sleep. Flannel, wool, cotton, fleece, silk, and thermal are just a few that help you stay warm during the cold weather, making getting out of bed during the night a little easier.
Sleeping Tip: If you’re concerned about getting too warm, flannel is the most breathable listed above.
Like Ralphie in the movie “Christmas Story,” you could even channel your inner childhood and wear a bright pink bunny suit with big floppy ears to stay warm.
Sleeping with Socks
As strange as it seems, there are benefits to sleeping with socks. When thinking about wearing socks to sleep, it’s expected to think your feet would overheat. But, in reality, doing so may assist in lowering the body’s core temperature regulation, helping you achieve better sleep.
Not only does wearing them help you get better sleep, but a study reported that individuals who sleep with them fell asleep faster. [6]
Do You Wear Socks in Bed? Twenty-eight percent of people love wearing socks when they go to bed while 44% mentioned they hate going to bed with them on. [7]
Hot Water Bottles
Regardless of how old-fashioned it may be, the hot water bottle is still effective in keeping you warm. Holding a plastic container with boiling hot water at the foot of your bed is hardly peril-free.
In addition to the safety risks associated with using this antiquated method, there is also a time limit to the efficacy of this method.
The heat dissipates with every minute the hot water bottle is exposed to the laws of thermodynamics. But you won’t have to worry about setting your alarm because once the heat wears off, the cold will wake you up!
Sleep Tip: Are you interested in giving this method a try? Leave the hot water bottle underneath your blanket for approximately 5-10 minutes before you plan to enter the bed. At this point, it’s going to be nice and warm!