How to keep a steady temperature at night in bed?

i actually have the opposite problem, but i'm mentioning it because i wonder if you could use the opposite solution to the one i found....
all my life i have been chilly before bed (unless the weather was very hot) & prefer my bedroom on the cool side so as not to feel 'hot n stuffy' which i couldn't fall to sleep in. So i would get into bed almost shivering & get snuggled down under a nice thick 13.5tog feather duvet, foetal postion, duvet almost covering my head with just my nose poking out like a cocoon.
Which was great, but when i became ill i started getting really bad night sweats every night, & tried all kinds of things & nothing helped, my temp just increases as i sleep. So in the end i figured if i was going to get hot during the night I needed to go to sleep with the appropriate amount of covers/clothing for a *hot night, not a cool one.
So i bought a small electric radiator to put next to the bed & I heat up the room before i get into bed, so that when i lay down i'm already a little hot, - so i don't pull up the duvet & I wear a short sleeved nightie, then before sleep I turn off the radiator & as the room cools it coincides with my body temp rising & i dont wake in a sweat. It's making myself the temperature i'll be after a few hrs sleep, *before* i go to sleep. And i find it really works well.
It took a week or 2 to get used to not 'snuggling down' but it's only like sleeping in the summer so its fine.....

So i wondered... is there something you could do to intentionally make yourself a bit chilly before bed/sleep, so that you need to wear thicker pjs/bed clothes etc before you actually drop off? Eg a fan, a cool bath, an open window? just something to make your body cooler than usual when getting into bed so that you end up wearing sufficient layers/clothing/bedding for a whole night from the beginning, rather than being a bit too warm when you settle down & cooling off during the night. It's almost like you need to be cold before you start so that you'll have sufficient bedclothes/fleece pjs etc to carry you through the night.
Dunno, it might not work but it's just an idea :)

Hope you find an answer, waking up cold is miserable - its actually the cold that used to wake me with the sweats - as of course being soaking wet makes one cold
 
JemPD said:
So i wondered... is there something you could do to intentionally make yourself a bit chilly before bed/sleep, so that you need to wear thicker pjs/bed clothes etc before you actually drop off?
Click to expand...

Intriguing idea! But even if I go to bed cold, I seem to warm up quickly - and then go to sleep and wake up too cold some hours later.
 
Sasha said:
This is the thing, though - how to avoid waking up! I have ways to solve the problem if I do wake up - what I need is something that will help my body stay at a steady temperature.
Click to expand...

You could install some sensors to measure temperature throughout the night, see how it changes and then work out how to make things more consistent throughout the night perhaps?

There are some materials used in certain mattresses or duvets which claim to remove excess heat, store it then release it back if your body temp drops. No idea if they are any good.

Also, if an electric blanket concerns you because of the risk of fire you might look into getting a water based one. I don't think all of them are full water beds, some might be, but some I think use water in some part of the mattress to move heated or cooled water around to maintain a set temperature. Because the element is enveloped in water it is theoretically safer (lower risk of fire).
 
Sasha said:
I've been wondering if there are any materials that help cool you down if you're too hot and keep you warm when you're too cold.
Click to expand...
I have heard that lambs wool will.

Liv aka Mrs Sowester said:
We've not had running water since Wednesday, the toilet froze on Tuesday (Mr S has spent most of today trying to defrost it). We had ice on the inside of the windows for 2 days and the farmer asked if we wanted anything bringing down in their tractor because there was no way we'd be getting out until the thaw.
Click to expand...
That sounds majorly unfun! :( :hug:
 
Sasha said:
People keep telling me that but I don't think I'm ever going to feel safe with one. :nailbiting:
Click to expand...
Trish said:
Me too, unless I can find one that uses rechargable torch batteries and therefore is not attached to mains electricity and works at low enough voltage not to electrocute me, and can't catch fire like some laptop batteries used to do. Probably completely illogical.
Click to expand...
That's basically what they're designed to do now. Low voltage, and they automatically shut themselves off if there's any overheating.
 
TigerLilea said:
I'm not sure how old you are, Sasha, but if you are in peri or meno, then a steady temperature is a thing of the past. :(
Click to expand...

Post-meno, and post-hot-flashes, so I don't think this is related. I'd thought it was a dysautonomia thing. But this is why I want something that reacts to my temperature (if that's what's driving this problem) or to the ambient temperature (if that's the issue).

I left the heating on last night and went to bed in PJs plus two cashmere sweaters plus down bodywarmer and woke up later too hot with a dehydration headache. :ill:

Argh! Just want a solid night's sleep. :arghh:
 
Sasha said:
Intriguing idea! But even if I go to bed cold, I seem to warm up quickly - and then go to sleep and wake up too cold some hours later.
Click to expand...
So when you go to bed cold do you put extra clothing/covers on to compensate? If you do, then that would suggest that no matter how warm your pyjamas are or how thick the covers, you will still wake up cold? yeesh thats a bummer!
 
JemPD said:
So when you go to bed cold do you put extra clothing/covers on to compensate? If you do, then that would suggest that no matter how warm your pyjamas are or how thick the covers, you will still wake up cold? yeesh thats a bummer!
Click to expand...

If it's cold weather I pile on extra stuff (even with my bedroom radiator on full, my bedroom doesn't get very warm) and cuddle a hot wheatbag.
 
Sasha said:
If it's cold weather I pile on extra stuff (even with my bedroom radiator on full, my bedroom doesn't get very warm) and cuddle a hot wheatbag.
Click to expand...
perhaps wearing enough/different fabrics so you dont need the wheatbag? - so that during the night the conditions are the same as when you go to sleep? Just thinking that the bag will obviously cool through the night so that you are still left with cooler environment after a few hrs.
What i was suggesting was, for example, if you needed say fleece pjs, a hat, a super thick duvet & 3 blankets to stop you getting cold at (eg) 4am, but you couldnt wear all that at the beginning because it's too hot to fall asleep with..... then the key would be to get cold enough before you get in bed that you need all that to start with. Rather than going to sleep with something that isn't suitable for later in the night, or that cannot be sustained through the night.
It's trying to make your body the same at bed time as it is in the early hrs & then organising your bedding/clothing accordingly, but only with things that'll be the same later as they are at the beginning.

Only ideas Sasha, apologies if any of that seems patronising, you'll know much better what works for you. I hope you find a solution, the thermo regulating clothing looks a good idea.

Edited for clarity
 
This thermoregulating bedding is interesting but looks like it will need a lot of mugging up. Some of it just seems to have superior wicking properties and other stuff seems to have stuff that leaps into action only when your body temperature deviates from what it should be.

I wish I could find some good technical, independent reviews!
 
The really interesting bedding has the stuff made for NASA to keep their astronauts the right temperature.

Outlast is another brand using it but it seems massively expensive to import their products from the US.
 
My legs ache with cold at night, particularly around 3:00 when our natural body temperature drops. Besides wearing lots of warm stuff, I find an all-night electric underblanket is the solution. It is low voltage, and has given me no trouble for years. Mine has settings 0 to 6, and I find 3 or 4 suits me fine.

My top half is much warmer, but as you know, I don't have much insulation on the top, so that is less of a problem!
 
@Sasha I bought a set of sheets years ago made for NASA. They were basically viscose/rayon and quite expensive. Lower thread count cotton is cooler than the higher ones and would probably work better for regulating your temperature.

I know, it's a real crazy making issue.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom