Wear Socks For A Better Night’s Sleep

Do you think wearing socks to bed is totally dorky? Well, as it turns out, socks could be the secret to falling asleep faster, sleeping longer and waking up less during the night. Why? Well, as we all know, cold feet are the worst, in a lot of different ways.

Ever woken up in the middle of the night with cold feet? Even though the physical process of sleep requires your body’s core temperature to drop up to 1.2 degrees, having cold hands or feet can be detrimental to your quality of sleep, meaning you fall asleep slower and wake up more often.

This is all thanks to the way our bodies regulate and sense temperature. While the body has to cool down to sleep, you don’t want to be as cold as your frozen winter feet can get. Beyond this, it seems as though the difference in temperature between your extremities and your core can be more important to your sleep quality than your body’s overall temperature.

Of course studies on the positive effects of bed socks have focused on cool, winter environments. When we have to sleep through the heat of a sticky Australian summer, you may just want to stick a foot or two out from under the covers to help regulate your temperature.

If you’re one of the sockless Lifehacker readers who needs further convincing, check out this post on How Stuff Works for a more in-depth look at the science behind bed socks.

[How Stuff Works]

This story has been updated since its original publication.

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