What you choose to wear in bed, assuming you wear anything at all, is a matter of personal preference and comfort. However, it’s advisable to consider nocturnal footwear when choosing bed attire.
Wearing socks to bed balances your body temperature, helping you fall asleep faster. Socks in bed also prevent the spreading of athlete’s foot and toenail fungus. Avoid restricting foot circulation by wearing loose-fitting socks in bed, and choose footwear you can quickly remove if you overheat.
Chosen well and worn appropriately, socks can be an invaluable part of your bedtime attire. Sleeping in socks provides many benefits if you feel cold at night.
Is Wearing Socks to Bed Good for You?
Wearing socks in bed has advantages, especially if you’re prone to feeling the cold after dark. For many people, climbing into a bed with bare feet is unthinkable.
Let’s review the beneficial changes that footwear in bed can introduce:
Falling Asleep Faster
It’s always advisable to keep a bedroom cool, even if you dislike the feeling of cold air. Circadian rhythms govern the human body, and our temperature drops when preparing to sleep.
If you struggle to get comfortable in a cool climate, it may reduce your ability to sleep, and you’ll likely feel particularly uncomfortable around the feet. When the ambient temperature drops, the body works harder to produce heat in the upper body to keep circulation pumping around essential organs.
Wearing socks in bed can go some way toward regulating your body temperature. The warmth of socks encourages blood to flow to the feet, a process known as distal vasodilation.
When your feet are warm, focus on retaining heat for the rest of the body with a duvet or blankets. This feeling of contentment will encourage the mind and body to relax, enabling you to fall asleep sooner.
Reduction of Temperature Fluctuations
When you first get into bed, regulating your body temperature will help you fall asleep.
Keeping your temperature consistent will ensure you remain asleep, which is just as important. If you experience temperature fluctuations, socks in bed can be of assistance.
Temperature variations have many explanations. A woman undergoing menopause may have hot flushes throughout the night, while somebody with an upper respiratory infection may be prone to shivering.
If your body shifts temperature, you’ll likely grow uncomfortable and wake up. Once this happens, it can be hard to fall asleep again if you’re feeling excessively hot or cold.
Protection from Raynaud Syndrome
According to Techniques in Vascular and Interventional Radiology, up to 5% of the global population has Raynaud syndrome, which impacts the blood vessels in the skin.
If you have Raynaud syndrome, you’ll sporadically experience cold extremities, to the point that fingers and toes feel numb because blood flow isn’t reaching these body parts.
Wearing socks in bed, especially those pre-heated on a radiator counterbalances the effect of Raynaud’s.
Foot Health
If you apply creams and lotions to keep your feet healthy, wearing socks in bed can help. This approach will assist anybody that moisturizes dry heels and other common remedies for pedicular concerns.
Wear loose-fitting cotton socks for maximum impact.
Of course, wearing socks will also keep your bedsheets free of any creams or lotions. Moreover, socks in bed will keep any fungal or bacterial infections to yourself. For example, athlete’s foot and toenail fungus can be spread via bedsheets if you share a bed.
Wearing socks to bed will keep the infection within the clothing until you have time to disinfect them.
Improved Sex Life And Communication
Studies on the brain have found that women, in particular, struggle to achieve orgasm when uncomfortable, often faking a climax.
When this was researched further, many women cited cold feet as why they couldn’t enjoy an orgasm during intercourse. Low temperatures and the feelings of discomfort they provoke were too distracting.
Wearing socks will resolve this issue and, in turn, allow somebody to give themselves over to a moment of intimacy. This could also improve a couple’s interpersonal dynamics during waking hours.
As discussed in Social Psychological and Personality Science, many couples avoid discussing dissatisfaction during intimacy due to fear of causing anxiety.
Why Socks Shouldn’t Be Worn While Sleeping
There are also disadvantages to wearing socks while sleeping. If you plan to keep footwear in bed, you should be aware of the disadvantages:
Reduced Blood Circulation
The most significant hazard to wearing socks in bed is reduced circulation around the body. If you wear tight-fitting socks that close around the ankle, you risk a lack of blood and oxygen reaching your feet.
Don’t wear compression socks unless instructed by a doctor, as these will cause issues with circulation. Ideally, your bedtime socks should be loose-fitting, maybe bigger than you usually wear.
If you’re wearing compression socks, or any other footwear that slows blood flow to the feet, elevate your legs while you sleep, as this will bolster your chances of enjoying a long night of sleep.
Hygiene
We mentioned how sleeping with your socks on could help prevent infections of the feet. While this is true, keeping bacteria trapped inside a sock isn’t always a good thing, especially if this sock will then be placed under a blanket.
Avoid wearing your daytime socks to bed. You wouldn’t wear shoes or boots in bed for fear of bringing germs into the sheets, and your socks can also be a breeding ground for bacteria.
Where possible, wash your feet and change into clean socks before bed. As a minimum, put on clean and dry footwear, which can be washed in the morning.
You’ll sweat overnight, meaning your socks won’t be fresh by the time you wake up.
Physical Discomfort
Some people find socks restrictive and uncomfortable. If you prefer to go barefoot, removing your socks at the end of the day can feel as liberating as a woman removing her bra for sleep.
Thankfully, if you’re uncomfortable wearing socks in bed but still get cold feet, there are alternative ways to warm your extremities. Options include:
- Have a hot shower before bed and wash your feet.
- Enjoying a hot bath around an hour before bedtime.
- Using a foot spa or massaging the feet immediately before bed.
- Applying a direct heat source, such as a hairdryer, to the feet.
- Placing a blanket at the bottom of the bed.
Alternatively, sleep with a hot water bottle beneath your feet. If you want to avoid the risk of water leaks or fear that you will overheat, consider wearing rice socks instead. To create rice socks:
- Take a pair of oversized, non-flammable baggy socks.
- Pour three cups of raw rice into each sock.
- Apply a sturdy elastic band to the top of each sock to keep the rice in place.
- Microwave the socks for 1-2 minutes.
Place the rice socks by your feet in bed as warming agents, receiving all the benefits of wearing socks without any side effects.
What Socks Are Appropriate for Sleeping?
Wear soft and natural fibers such as cashmere or wool. This may seem like a luxurious approach to wearing socks in bed, but these materials allow the feet to breathe.
Wear socks that provide ample space, ideally allowing you to remove them without getting out of bed. If your socks are easy to slip off, you can remove them if you start to overheat.
Whether you’re willing to wear socks in bed is a personal choice. Some people find it relaxing to do so, while others overheat in moments.
If you follow basic safety guidelines and avoid circulation-suppressing footwear, you’ll enjoy greater comfort from sleeping in socks.
