Have you ever wondered how to keep yourself warm with a blanket?

Bottom blankets are hot for scientific reasons

Even if it is baked in a vacuum, it can be covered. Fortunately, science can explain why.

Each of us has our preferred sleeping position. Be it fetal curls, stretched starfish, craving stretches, or logarithmic postures (these are great for health). Most of us prefer feather or foam pillows, soft or firm mattresses, and cotton or silk sheets. However, a common sleeping habit shared by most people is the tendency to sleep under covers.

Bedding was once a luxury for the powerful and privileged classes, such as royalty and wealthy businessmen, but sleeping under blankets is now commonplace. Even if you bake bread in a vacuum, you will be full. how does that work?

Things you may interest: How to Sleep With A Weighted Blanket

As always, science provides answers to our most puzzling questions. For one, your core body temperature drops before and during sleep, so you'll need a blanket for one simple, practical reason: to prevent shivering.

This nighttime cooldown isn't just about taking a nice nap. In fact, it's an important part of regulating your circadian rhythm, determining when your body is ready to go to sleep and when it's ready to wake up. It starts about an hour before and continues to decrease as you sleep, eventually ending up being 1-2 degrees below your average body temperature. But when you enter the REM (rapid eye movement) sleep cycle, your body loses its ability to regulate body temperature. Your blanket will keep you warm - even on summer nights.

Things you may interest: How to fold a blanket for children

Sleeping on bedding also has a behavioral factor. To be honest, we are used to blankets since we were born.

"Blanks create a 'microclimate' around the skin that is typically warmer than its surroundings," said Michael Gruner, director of the Sleep and Health Research Program at the University of Arizona in Tucson. . "It traps the heat given off during the night to keep you warm. And since most people sleep under blankets, the physical sensation that comes with sleeping in a blanket itself prepares you for sleep. may induce a sleep response.

Research shows that weighted blankets may be especially beneficial for those with insomnia and anxiety disorders. A 2015 study of healthy people with chronic insomnia, published in the Journal of Sleep Medicine and Disease, found that those who slept under weighted blankets had more restful sleep.American Journal of Occupational A 2020 review of research published in Therapy suggests that people with anxiety disorders may also benefit from sleeping with a weighted blanket.

why? Blankets not only make you feel safe and secure, they also make you more comfortable.

"The perfect blanket is warm enough to keep you comfortable and breathable enough to keep moisture and sweat out," says Graner. "It has to be soft enough so it doesn't get in the way and firm enough that you can feel it."

When choosing a weighted blanket, remember that the actual weight of the blanket matters. Researchers say it shouldn't be too light or too heavy, and the weight should be evenly distributed throughout the fabric.

Whether you whine or not, Granner adds, "A soft blanket can help you relax and fall asleep."

Reason enough to strike tonight.

Cloudy days are very comfortable.

Late July. New York. Thousands of BTUs of air conditioning installed in the bedroom on the top floor of a four-story building. I have little idea what BTU is. The temperature that day was over 90 degrees Fahrenheit and the humidity was just below the actual water level. The weak AC struggled to keep the room cool when I was a few feet away trying to fall asleep. But I can't sleep without a blanket. In this case, it was the bare edge of the lightest sheet that touched the smallest part of the torso.

Things you may interest: Baby Blanket Design

Why this relentless cover-up, even with minimal sleep?

A Red Cross nurse changing a patient's bed linen, 1917.

A Red Cross nurse changing a patient's bed linen in 1917. National Archives/20802254

Blankets are common for people to sleep on, but they are not universal, at least not in modern times.In the past, however, blankets were unaffordable for most people due to the cost of weaving large sheets. Egyptian linen circa 3500 BC From the woolen sheets of the Roman Empire to the cotton of Medieval Europe, quilts were for the wealthy.

Gastro Obscura Book

Taste the world!

Discover the history, culture and places of the culinary world.

order now

Gastro Obscura Book

Video from ATLAS OBSCURA

00:04 / 05:17

In post-medieval and early-modern Europe, production increased until more middle-class citizens could afford bedding, but this was not easy. It was a great item,” says Roger Ekirch, a historian at Virginia Tech who writes a lot about sleep. "This is the first major project that newlyweds will invest in if they have the money to spare." Sheets and linens can make up about a third of the total value of an entire home, and sheets are very important. It explains why it is common. by will.

A depiction of a 15th century bed.

A depiction of a 15th century bed. Public place

In addition to blankets and sheets, other sources of heat are common at night, mainly from the few people sharing the bed, or from livestock.

Things you may interest: Best blanket to cuddle with

Today, there are very few anthropological writings on the subject of waste in the world. Foremost is her 2002 article by Carol Worthman and Melissa Melby of Emory University about sleep arrangements in different parts of the world. “It is encouraging to acknowledge the paucity of anthropological research on sleep. Although sleep is an important domain of human behavior and accounts for one-third of our daily lives, human A realm dedicated to the study of existence reigns, and in one scholarly treatise this was interpreted as anger.

The paper investigated forager and non-forager populations living in hot climates near the equator and found that typically only nomads sleep without duvets. Two tropical climates, Central Africa and Papua New Guinea, also use some form of mulch, including plants and textiles, with mats being more common than sheets and blankets. Basically no one sleeps on the floor.

As another example of the benefits of blankets, there is also ample research on the sedative effects of blankets weighing up to 30 pounds. Studies have shown that they suppress anxiety and can also be used to treat autism.

Early 1800's linen bed linen.

Early 1800's linen bed linen. Public place

"There are two parts to the blanket need," says Dr. Alice Hoaglund, director of the Insomnia Clinic at the Unity Sleep Disorder Center in Rochester, New York. "There's a behavioral component and a physiological component." The latter is a little easier to understand, so let's look at it first.

Your core body temperature begins to drop about 60-90 minutes before your normal bedtime. There is a physiological explanation for this. When your body gets hot, you wake up. On the contrary, when the body cools down, it becomes easier to fall asleep. Hypothermia is associated with an increase in melatonin, a sleep-inducing hormone. A group of doctors tested this by having people wear pantyhose (which looks like cycling gear) to lower their body temperature by a degree or two and see if they slept better.

However, the body's ability to regulate body temperature is more complicated than at night. Suppose you sleep 8 hours every night. During his first four hours and about an hour before bedtime, his body temperature drops slightly from about 38 degrees Fahrenheit to about 36-37 degrees.But the next four hours are marked by REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, the phenomenon seen in most dreams, and a variety of physical changes.

One of these physical changes is the inability to regulate body temperature. "They have almost recovered a form of reptilian thermoregulation," Hoagland said. She said "reptiles" because they can't regulate their body temperature like we mammals. Reptiles must regulate their body temperature by external means other than sweating or shivering. B. Walk in the sun or shade. During this brief REM sleep, we all become lizards.

Things you may interest: How do I wash a thick blanket in the washing machine?

Let the leaves dry in the sun.

Let the leaves dry in the sun. Linda/CC BY-ND 2.0

Even with the constant heat, the temperature drops sharply at night, the coldest part of the year, leaving our bodies unable to adapt and debilitated. (Nights are coldest after sunrise, which directly contradicts the proverb.) Therefore, like lizards, they need an external means of regulating body temperature. You may think you don't need a blanket if it's still hot at 10pm, but it's colder and shivering at 4am. you may need it. Therefore, we will know from past experience that we will appreciate having blankets in the future.

But that's not all. Another strange thing that happens during REM sleep is that our bodies drop levels of serotonin significantly. Do you know what is associated with higher serotonin levels? . Various studies have shown that sleeping on a weighted blanket increases serotonin production in the brain. Blankets, on the other hand, meet the REM requirements that our brains produce.

Bed with cradle.

Bed with cradle. CHRISTOPHE.FINOT/CC BY-SA 3.0

Another factor that explains his need for blankets is what Hoagland calls "pure conditioning." "You probably always sleep with a blanket," she said. "This is the Pavlovian version of transitional objects." Basically, our parents always put blankets on us to sleep...or blankets that accompany sleep. Instead of Pavlov's dog drooling when the bell rings, pulling the sheets makes him sleepy.

If you google this question, you will find many theories about blankets that simulate the warm, confined feeling we feel in the womb. This could be another indication, but Hoagland thinks it's less likely than in the womb. No one thinks it's a feeling," she said. "I think that's a big exaggeration."

Another possible reason is that the blanket is soft and pleasant to the touch. I can't find any research on whether people prefer blankets because they're soft and nice to the touch. That's probably a big unsolved problem.

You've just read : Have you ever wondered how to keep yourself warm with a blanket?