Many people take off their socks when they go to sleep. Yet 38 percent of listeners to the radio program Afslag Zuid keep them on during cold winter nights to keep warm. During the broadcast of the radio program, sleep scientist Merijn van de Laar discussed the question of how useful this is for keeping your body warm. And did you know that men and women experience the temperature in bed very differently?
It seems logical to sleep with socks on during cold nights. But does it really keep your body warmer? In Afslag Zuid, sleep scientist and author of the book ‘Sleeping like a primal human’ Merijn van de Laar talks about the effect of sleeping with socks on. He states that there is a difference in how men and women experience the temperature under the sheets.
“Women’s favorite temperature under the covers is one and a half degrees higher than that of men,” says Van de Laar. “So she can lie there shivering from the cold on a cold night while he lies there comfortably.”
“To sleep well, your body temperature must drop.”
And then the answer to the key question. According to Van de Laar, for both men and women, if you are cold, you can put on socks to get warmer. It may sound contradictory, but in order to sleep well your body temperature must first drop. “You would think that with socks on your body temperature would drop less quickly. But we give off the most heat through our hands and feet. When the temperature in your feet rises, your vessels open and you can release more heat. lost.”
“You sleep better with a cool head.”
Van de Laar therefore advises anyone who has difficulty keeping warm during cold winter nights to keep their hands and feet covered. The head may remain cool. “You sleep better with a cold head. It is therefore not such a bad idea to have a cold bedroom.”
The influence of the winter weather should not be exaggerated, says the sleep expert. A cold night of -7 degrees does something to your body, but the effect is less significant than during a damp summer night. Van de Laar says that research shows that we sleep an average of 18 minutes longer in winter than in summer. According to Van de Laar, that difference would be greater if you had no heating in your house. “If we follow nature, we sleep an hour longer per night in winter.”