The other day my boyfriend texted me asking if I wore socks to bed. I quickly responded with “Absolutely not!! Why?”. I really thought he had asked this as a joke. He answered back telling me that he does indeed sleep with socks on. I was mind blown. I get way too overheated when I attempt to sleep with socks on, even in the dead of winter but my boyfriend can sleep with them every night, even in the summer?! I figured one of us had to be the crazy one so I did my research.
Upon researching how and why someone is able to sleep with socks on at night, I came across some strange benefits. Apparently, found on this health site , socks are good to wear for a number of reasons. First off, it supposedly prevents night sweats and hot flashes from occurring in your sleep (I would have a heat stroke anyway I think). This is because it helps regulate your body temperature and putting you into a deeper night’s sleep. It also helps prevent dry skin on your feet and ankles. By applying moisturizer on your feet (or not!) it can prevent cracking or severe drying of the feet during the frigid winter months. And if you’re anything like my mom who has Raynaud’s Disease (where your fingers and toes turn white from being so cold/not getting enough circulation), get some socks on ASAP to prevent a Raynaud’s breakout in the middle of the night or the morning. There are even some other tips of things to put in your socks that can help throughout the night. For example, just to name a few, by putting hot peppers in your socks it can keep your feet warmer or by putting cotton balls previously soaked in apple cider vinegar, you can bring a fever down (I don’t know who would go that far though). Also, if your feet are cold at night, wearing socks is the best bet. It triggers vasodilation which means “dilation of the blood vessels”. This gives the body the mindset that it’s bed time and helps you sleep better.
In my research I also came across an interesting study about socks in correlation to sex life. A poll done at the University of Groningen (Netherlands) revealed that 50% of women said their sex life could be better. They performed a study in which they gave one group of women socks to wear during sex and another group went barefoot. The sock group had 80% reach an orgasm where the barefoot group only had 50%. This proves that socks have a positive effect on relationships as well as sleep.
At this point I was starting to worry.. Was I the crazy one? I looked further into the depths of the internet and could not find a single article about the benefits of sleeping with socks off. I know I can’t be alone. But are there such major drawbacks for not being able to sleep with socks? I didn’t find anything about it being bad per say, but there was definitely no benefits I found. What do you guys do?
I used to always wear socks to sleep. They weren’t even regular socks; I always made sure to wear to fuzzy socks. Now, I hardly wear socks even just during the day. I hate closed-in shoes, and I hate feeling as though my feet can’t breathe, so I’ll often be barefoot. I tried looking farther into this claim that wearing socks has benefits, but could not find any hard science to support it. I found an article from sleep.org, but I think it’s safe to assume they have a bias. I also did not find anything to refute the claim. It is probable that there just is not a lot of research on the topic because as Andrew always says, “science is costly”, and of all the things to experiment on, wearing socks while you sleep is not one of them. Regardless, I wouldn’t say you’re the crazy one!
I always sleep with socks on! My friends think I’m crazy because I can’t even fall asleep without socks on my feet. It’s so uncomfortable! I have circulation problems in both my hands and feet; they are cold to the touch and sometimes may even turn shades of blueish/purple (gross I know). So, I’ll always be wearing socks to bed, even in the hottest days of the summer! After reading your post, I came across this article that talks about several other benefits of sleeping with socks on, as well as some tips on improving sleep!
http://www.newhealthadvisor.com/Sleeping-with-Socks-On.html
I used to wear socks to bed every night, but as I got older I discovered I would often kick them off in the middle of the night. I would wake up in the morning with either one sock on or no socks at all! Some of the benefits make a lot of sense to me, such as the regulation of body temperature, but some seem outlandish such as the hot pepper remedy. That would be an interesting thing to test for sure.
Your post inspired me to look into the topic further. I came across this article from health.com:
http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20462696,00.html#wear-socks-to-bed-0
It actually lists wearing socks as a way to fall asleep faster! It might be something I start trying again, thanks for sharing!
I sleep with my socks off because I feel like its weirdly easier to fall asleep. I had no idea that there were so many benefits for sleeping with socks on. Maybe this explains why I have hot flashes sometimes when I sleep. I always thought that I would become over heated at night if I slept with socks so this article is shocking to me. I loved that you put your own voice into this blog. This blog was very interesting to read and I liked the picture that you added. Heres an article for those of us who do not sleep with socks on! https://vanwinkles.com/no-you-shouldnt-wear-socks-to-bed