Post by the Scribe on Mar 25, 2022 8:11:26 GMT
Here’s What Really Happens To Your Body When You Sleep With Your Socks On
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By Steve Paget
That’s something Laura Walter made plain in a 2013 report for occupational safety magazine EHS Today. There, she wrote, “A new study from Virginia Tech Transportation reveals that 20 percent of car crashes are caused by fatigue, with young drivers particularly vulnerable to driving while fatigued.”
Sleep doesn’t just affect what we do, though. It can also have a real impact on our day-to-day well-being. Writing for Healthline in spring 2020, Stephanie Watson and Kristeen Cherney claimed that sleep deprivation both “drains your mental abilities and puts your physical health at real risk.” They added, “Science has linked poor slumber with a number of health problems – from weight gain to a weakened immune system.”
Yes, unfortunately there are a whole host of physiological and physical issues that we can experience as a result of not having the required amount – or the required quality – of sleep. We can suffer changes in our mood, for instance, experience high blood pressure or even become at risk of disorders such as diabetes and heart disease.
So, what is sleep deprivation exactly? Well, as Davis puts it, the condition simply arises “when someone does not get a healthy amount of sleep.” Naturally, then, you need to establish what the right measure of rest is for you, as this can vary depending on your age.
t’s widely accepted that most adults require between seven and nine hours a night of quality slumber on a regular basis. The optimum quantity of sleep decreases as we grow older, however, with those aged 65 and over able to happily subsist on between seven and eight hours per night. And that amount is much greater for newborn babies, who may need as many as 17 hours of sleep every single day.
In short, then, sleep is vital to our wellbeing. Yet even though we can now confidently identify how long we should be dozing for – as well as recognize the alarming drawbacks to a lack of real rest – there’s still one big question to answer. How can we make sure we sleep well from now on?
It may not always be possible to achieve a restful night, of course. The amount of noise and light in and around the bedroom can play havoc with your sleeping pattern, for instance, and worrying about the day ahead certainly doesn’t help, either. Even so, there’s good news. You see, there are a few healthy habits you can adopt to help you achieve better-quality sleep.
Firstly, Davis suggests that we should be heading to our bedrooms as soon as we feel fatigued. If you’re yawning while trying to finish off that new Netflix series, then, listen to what your body’s telling you and turn off the TV. You should also follow patterns for both going to bed and getting up and maintain those procedures on a daily basis – even at weekends.
Davis similarly recommends not consuming any food for a few hours prior to going to bed. And it could be time to dust off that gym membership, too, as she also claims that physical exercise will help ensure our bodies are suitably tired when nighttime rolls around.
Furthermore, if you’ve made a habit of scrolling through your phone before putting your head down on the pillow, it’s time to cut that out. According to the National Sleep Foundation, “Electronic devices emit an artificial blue light that can suppress the release of the body’s sleep-inducing hormone melatonin. In turn, this can interfere with the body’s natural internal clock that signals when it’s time to sleep and wake up.” The advice is clear: switch off those screens well before bedtime.
And, of course, you should make sure that the room you sleep in is suitably tranquil and free from intrusive light. So, while you may lapse a little here and there – stopping yourself looking at social media before bed is a hard habit to break, after all – you should definitely try to incorporate some of these good habits into your life.
But what of the temperatures at which we sleep? Well, naturally, it’s often hard to drop off if we’re either too hot or too cold, so Davis suggests that we keep the bedroom “comfortably cool.” And this, of course, is where we can consider wearing socks under the covers – something that may seem counter-intuitive on a warm summer’s evening.
What’s more, while heat and cold do indeed play a critical role in our sleep cycles, it’s perhaps not the one you’d expect. Our temperature plunges slightly in the early hours, in fact, and reaches its height in the afternoon when we’re at our liveliest – theoretically, anyway.
Your core body temperature is also intrinsically linked to your biological clock, which in turn produces something called a circadian rhythm. And this has a big influence on the body. You see, your circadian rhythm dictates your sleep; it’s what causes you to be tired in the evening and alert after the sun rises.
But what happens exactly as we bed down for the night? That’s something Stephen Gill has addressed in a 2018 article for Medical News Today. “When someone begins to fall asleep, the temperature of their body decreases by one to two degrees. This could be because the body is conserving energy for other functions,” Gill wrote.
Then, as the night stretches on, internal temperatures reduce slowly, plummeting to their lowest at approximately 4:00 a.m. So, although there may be such a thing as an average body temperature – approximately 98.6 °F – this can increase or decrease by a couple of degrees depending on where you are in your circadian cycle.
And as a lower core body temperature means bedtime, it’s recommended that you do what you can to doze in a space that’s not overly warm. “Good temperature regulation in the body is also why it is usually suggested that people keep their bedrooms cool – somewhere between 60 °F and 67 °F,” Gill has explained.
But what about wearing socks? Surely covering our feet like that in bed could cause us to overheat? Well, it seems that it’s not that simple at all, as, rather incredibly, a study has revealed that slipping on socks before climbing under the comforter may actually help us get to sleep more quickly.
Yes, a pair of researchers from South Korea’s National University drew some intriguing conclusions after looking into the effects of the practice. Their investigation – the results of which were published in a 2018 edition of the Journal of Physiological Anthropology – centered around two experiments involving adult males.
And the study’s findings were revealing. Yelin Ko and Joo-Young Lee claimed, “The results showed that sleep-onset latency was on average 7.5 minutes shorter, total sleep time was 32 minutes longer, the number of awakenings was 7.5 times smaller and sleep efficiency was 7.6 percent higher for those wearing feet-warming bed socks during a seven-hour sleep than control (no bed socks).”
Indeed, Ko and Lee made a convincing case for wearing socks to bed in their conclusion. “Feet warming using bed socks during sleep in a cool environment had positive effects on sleep quality by shortened sleep onset, lengthened sleep time and lessened awakenings during sleep,” they wrote.
And the researchers ended with a statement that may dismay anyone who’s ever argued against wearing socks to bed – many parents included. “These results imply that sleep quality could be improved by manipulation of the foot temperature throughout sleeping,” they revealed.
But why does covering your feet at night help expedite good-quality sleep? Well, in his piece for Medical News Today, Gill explained, “Warming up the feet and hands makes the blood vessels dilate – a response that is called vasodilation. This releases heat through the skin and helps to lower core body temperature, [which] in turn sends a message to the brain that it is bedtime.”
In short, then, wearing socks to bed actually allows the body to better regulate its core temperature, thus facilitating a better night’s sleep. And while this notion may seem a little strange to contemplate – particularly if you’re prone to overheating under the covers – the science is there to back it up.
That’s not all, either. You see, further research suggests that there are other additional benefits to going to bed with your socks on. Putting on a pair before turning in for the night could help ease the symptoms of Raynaud’s disease, for instance.
Raynaud’s disease leads to episodes in which a sufferer’s hands or feet experience restricted blood circulation. These extremities then begin to cool, become desensitized and even alter in shade. So, keeping feet warm at night, as socks help to do, could potentially alleviate these negative consequences.
And the benefits of wearing socks to bed don’t end there – particularly if you’re going through the menopause. Many experiencing “the change” endure the discomfort of hot flashes, which can cause perspiration, tremors, overwhelming feelings of warmth and notable reddening of the face.
What exactly does this have to do with wearing socks in bed? Well, interestingly, hot flashes are linked to changing levels of the hormones associated with the regulation of internal temperature. And as we’ve already mentioned, sleeping in socks can help control how warm or cool our bodies are, meaning the practice can potentially limit the occurrence of hot flashes at night.
Many do not experience the menopause, of course, and not everyone will suffer from Raynaud’s disease. But pretty much all of us will seek out good-quality sleep more or less every single night. And it appears that wearing socks while dozing really can help us in achieving that – despite what we may have been told in the past.
In fact, in a 2019 piece for Healthline, Daniela Ginta neatly summed up the benefits that donning socks in bed can bring. “Warming up your feet before going to bed can shorten the amount of time needed to relax and doze off. This in turn can increase the quality of your sleep,” she has explained.
Ginta does add some caveats, though. “Make sure the socks you wear are soft, comfortable and not too bulky. Consult a doctor if you have circulatory problems that cause pain and cold feet, or if you often have cold feet even when it’s warm,” she warned. And some people, of course, just won’t fancy the idea of keeping their socks on when retiring for the night.
But if you really aren’t enamored with the thought of sleeping in socks, fear not, as there are alternatives. Placing a hot water bottle at the end of the bed, taking a foot bath prior to turning in for the night or covering your lower extremities with a blanket can help, too. And they’re certainly all worth a try if you’re the type to toss and turn into the wee small hours.
