While it’s relatively easy to stack blankets to keep our bodies warm, our extremities often remain cold. Fortunately, you can warm up cold feet once you find a suitable method.
To keep the feet warm in bed, surround them with warm items, like heating pads, or insulate them with warm socks. Health problems can cause cold feet, so resolving the issue will be beneficial.
Room temperature and blood circulation affect how much body heat the extremities lose or retain. You can maintain warm feet in bed by keeping blood flowing throughout the body.
What Causes Cold Feet in Bed at Night?
When we’re cold, our extremities are the first area to lose heat because our thermal regulation system causes blood to travel toward the center of our body.
The thermal regulation system must provide blood to our vital organs, like the heart and lungs. This prevents them from shutting down, leaving the extremities with poor blood circulation.
According to the Journal of Internal Medicine, cold extremities are common among people with hypertension, regardless of age or gender.
According to Basel University, young women have cold extremities more often than men and women in other age groups. Experts have many theories as to why, including the following:
- Sensitivity to temperature due to high estrogen levels.
- Less body fat than men.
- Women’s circulatory system focuses on protecting their reproductive organs.
Health conditions like anemia, diabetes, and nerve damage can cause cold feet.
Best Ways to Warm Up Cold Feet in Bed
If you struggle with cold feet in bed, you must make changes to keep your feet warm.
According to the Journal of Sleep Research, discomfort caused by cold extremities can lead to difficulty falling asleep and a broken sleep cycle.
For better sleep, use the following methods:
Wear Warm Socks
Most body heat escapes through our feet because it has 125,000 sweat glands. While this is useful when temperatures are high, it also results in heat loss through the feet.
Wearing socks to bed can insulate your feet and prevent heat loss. Avoid overly tight socks because they’ll restrict circulation, resulting in colder feet.
Heating Pads
Wear heating pads while you read a book before bed, or use one to pre-heat the bottom half of your bed as you prepare for the night.
However, leaving a heating pad plugged in is a fire hazard, so don’t use it while you sleep.
Non-electric heating pads are safe to use the entire night. Depending on the heating pad you buy, it’ll stay warm for hours. Place one under the covers near your feet.
The heating pad and your feet will stay warm longer if you have a blanket that traps heat.
Keep The Body Warm
When we’re cold, the blood circulation to our extremities slows down to focus on keeping our organs warm. This means that you need to keep the rest of the body warm.
Turn the heating up, insulate your bedroom, and use duvets for sleeping in the cold.
Before bed, drink something warm to keep your body warm. It’ll take you longer to get cold, so you’re less likely to experience discomfort from cold feet later at night.
See A Doctor
Many health conditions cause cold feet. You should see a doctor if you often have trouble keeping your feet warm regardless of the weather, menstrual cycle, or bedroom temperature.
Nerve disorders and severe anxiety are common health problems that cause cold feet.
Dip Your Feet in Warm Water
Before bed, set your feet down in a large bowl of warm water.
It promotes blood circulation around your legs and feet, helping the body warm up. This promotes sleep onset and gets you ready for bed.
Put on warm socks once your feet are dry to prevent heat loss and make the sock method far more effective since retaining the heat is more straightforward than warming up an individual body part.
Exercising and Massages
If you have a morning exercise routine, consider working out at night instead. Alternatively, incorporate a quick, 10-minute leg workout or walk before bed to get the blood flowing.
For some people, this may not be convenient since activity before bed delays your desire to sleep. If you’re one of those people, you can give yourself a relaxing massage.
You can use various electronic massagers on your calves to promote blood flow.
Supplements And Diet
Foods that contain iron and vitamin B3 may improve blood circulation.
Iron is needed to make hemoglobin, which is essential for red blood cell production. It’s vital for transporting oxygenated blood around the body, including the feet.
Vitamin B3 (niacin) releases prostaglandins that dilate the blood vessels and promote better blood flow, resulting in a more effective circulatory system.
Best Socks to Keep Feet Warm in Bed
Wool socks are recommended for keeping your feet warm in bed. It insulates and keeps the feet dry.
Cotton socks are another popular choice, but they retain moisture. You don’t want to keep cotton socks on all night if you have sweaty feet or foot fungus.
Why Do My Feet Sweat When They’re Cold?
If your feet sweat despite being cold, the body is working too hard to regulate your temperature, or you have plantar hyperhidrosis.
Sudden temperature changes will mildly shock your system. When outdoors in the snow or out of your warm bed walking around a cold house, the body does all it can to keep you warm.
If you suddenly step inside a warm house or jump into bed and immediately put a heating pad on your feet, your body must adjust how it handles thermal regulation.
The body has to work hard to adjust itself, causing your feet to sweat with the exertion.
Your feet will still feel cold since low temperatures reduce blood flow to your extremities, but the sweat glands are still active, so you experience cold sweats on the feet.
Hyperhidrosis is a condition that causes people to sweat excessively regardless of physical activity or temperature. There’s no cure for hyperhidrosis, but the symptoms can be managed.
What Are Cold Feet a Sign of?
Cold feet can signify various health conditions, including:
- Anemia.
- Anxiety.
- Diabetes.
- Hypertension.
- Raynaud’s disease.
Other symptoms usually accompany health conditions that cause cold feet.
If it turns out that you don’t have a health problem but have cold feet, it could be because of the temperature in your room or your sleeping position in bed.
Certain positions may cut off blood circulation to the feet, so adjust yourself while awake. Use pillows and mattresses to support the body and prevent poor sleeping posture.
