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Why Do We Sleep Under Blankets, Even on the Hottest Nights? (2017)
- empee 5mo agoClearly for better protection against monsters
- anonzzzies 5mo agoIt is the only reason. I asked my wife one time why she sleeps under blankets when it's boiling hot (I do not); she said because there might be 'things in the night' so I asked if she thought these sheets will protect her; nope, but otherwise she doesn't sleep.
- tristramb 5mo agoIts so the monsters can't see you.
- expedition32 5mo agoI did not realize that things like sheets, blankets and pillows used to cost serious money.
- boelboel 5mo agoNot just bedding but clothing was costly. High quality bedding (as well as clothing) still costs quite a bit of money especially once you take into account you need 2 sets for rotation. A proper quality set will run you $1000-2500 and there's luxury brands which will cost much more.
- eesmith 5mo agoFrom the 1960 children's novel 'Mike's Mystery' from the Boxcar Children series by Gertrude Chandler Warner, at https://archive.org/details/mikesmystery00warn/page/28/mode/2up?q=clothes https://archive.org/details/mikesmystery00warn/page/28/mode/... > "Nothing was saved except clothing and bedding. When Mrs. Wood saw that the house could not be saved, she put some sheets on the floor, threw all the clothes from bureau drawers and closets on the sheets, tied them up, and threw the out the window." > "Well, wasn't that smart?" said Jessie. "That costs the most of anything, doesn't it, Aunt Jane? The family clothes and bedding?"
- rsynnott 5mo ago… Wait, what? In what sense are my ikea sheets improper?
- boelboel 5mo agoThe cheaper sheets in Ikea don't use linen or will use a blend. The ones which do tend to use flax do so with worse characteristics (shorter or uneven fibers). I'm not sure about Ikea in particular but cheaper sheets are more often thinner to save on material costs, same thing happens with T-Shirts where a significant part of the price is just fabric cost. They use worse weaving machines which go quicker causing a worse texture, fibers also really limit the weaving. You'd genuinely have to feel to understand the difference. The edges/'insert part' will also be more refined. Your linen sheets will be washed more thoroughly before using when you buy luxury linen. Luxury brands will be more strict quality control. This doesn't mean the Ikea ones are improper but there's a reason people pay more for quality products, these products tend to be made in countries with higher labour costs as well (Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Baltic countries ...). All my bedding comes from Libeco in Flanders and most of my linen clothing comes from "Not Perfect Linen" in Lithuania which is affordable considering it's custom made.
- futune 5mo agoThis is a fascinating topic which was covered in-depth here: https://acoup.blog/2021/03/05/collections-clothing-how-did-they-make-it-part-i-high-fiber/ https://acoup.blog/2021/03/05/collections-clothing-how-did-t... If I remember correctly, it claim is that about 50% of all labour over the course of history has gone into making textiles. More than food!
- steanne 5mo agoalso consider the labor involved in upkeep. this is one of the rationales for nightwear: it's much easier to wash a change of nightclothes every so often than large sheets and blankets.
- voidUpdate 5mo ago> "I barely know what a BTU is" Neither does anyone else, its one of those archaic units that changes slightly based on who is using it and hangs on in oil and gas industries, and also air conditioners and heaters. It was defined as the amount of energy to raise one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit at one atmosphere of pressure, but that amount of energy depends on the starting temperature of the water, and different things use different starting points, so it ranges from about 1054 to 1059 joules https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_thermal_unit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_thermal_unit
- bonsai_spool 5mo agoWhy would the amount of energy required to increase the temperature of a defined mass of water depend on the temperature? This goes against the idea of specific heat (editing to add - I didn't realize that water's specific heat has a temperature dependence and changes around 5% over reasonable indoor temperatures https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/specific-heat-capacity-water-d_660.html https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/specific-heat-capacity-wa... )
- actionfromafar 5mo agoPhase change?
- kgwgk 5mo agoNo, it doesn't go against the idea of specific heat. You may be thinking of ideal gases and even then specific heat may or may not be constant: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_gas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_gas
- bonsai_spool 5mo agoA specific heat is the amount of energy needed to raise a defined mass of a substance by a defined temperature. What does that have to do with a perfect gas?
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- jiggawatts 5mo agoThey didn't include a common reason for wanting at least a thin blanket on hot summer nights: it keeps the mosquitoes away!
- ahmedfromtunis 5mo agoIs this a common thing? Sleeping without any sort of cover during the hot summer months (notably July and August) is the norm here (North Africa) and never heard of anyone who does it (AC or not). Is this an American thing? Do people in warmer regions of the country (Texas, Florida, ...) also feel the same?
- SupLockDef 5mo agoNo, I often sleep on top of my bed during the hot summer days. I also don't put myself under the blankets when I take a nap. I don't know what TFA is talking about.
- wodenokoto 5mo agoYes, it is totally a thing. We don't have a lot of hot nights in Denmark but when we do, we still sleep under a duvet, or maybe half under one and it is just as awful as it sounds.
- roenxi 5mo agoAre you sure? That seems like the sort of thing people might just not do. It can't take that many brain cells for an uncomfortably warm person to work out that more blankets make you more hotter -> less blankets makes you less hotter. The article seems to provide very limited evidence that people sleep under blankets on hot nights and it sounds like a silly thing to do in the abstract. A lot of people would just remove the blanket when they get hot.
- applfanboysbgon 5mo agoSleeping with blankets is very comfortable. If the comfort outweighs the discomfort from being mildly hot, it makes sense. Personally I just run fans and/or AC such that I am still comfortable under my blanket, because the price I pay for electricity is worth far less to me than the comfort of sleeping with a blanket.
- wodenokoto 5mo agoI didn’t say we use more blankets when it’s hot. But if you are so used to blankets that you can’t fall asleep without one, dropping the blanket because it’s hot is a pretty bad sleeping strategy
- risingsubmarine 5mo ago'Go Wild' (John Ratey, Richard Manning) theorizes that the modern concept of bedrooms in which we segregate ourselves to sleep is a mismatch with our evolutionary established state. We would naturally lie in very close proximity of tribe and family for heat, contact and security. Sleeping and resting on one another out in the open. Perhaps pillows and blankets (esp weighted) serve as a proxy for this, not just temperature?
- etrautmann 5mo agoThat would result in insanity for me. Is there any argument other than it seems like cave people must have?
- vanderZwan 5mo agoWell, this is probably a thing where humans are very diverse in their subjective experience. I'd say this is definitely a noticeable thing with small children at family gatherings, birthday parties and the like. But I grew up in a household where both of my parents came from families where big family gatherings with even extended family was common, and I know not everyone has that kind of experience, so who knows how much of that is nature or nurture as well. In my case however this has persisted well into adulthood: despite being a chronic insomniac who has a really hard time falling a sleep normally, at these types of social gatherings I often have to fight off falling asleep precisely because I feel comfortable and safe among friends and/or family (I wonder if that is in any way related to my ADHD).
- sublinear 5mo agoI also get sleepy at gatherings. It's something really subtle and hard to defend against, but brutally simple. It's the food and air quality. There's a lot of people in an enclosed environment eating too many carbs (or too much in general). Timing is critical and I'm on a mission. Before the heavy food comes out, I grab a seltzer and a small salad. I convince some people to join me on the patio for a drink. It's important to arrive late enough that people are eager to break away, but well before any food ceremony.
- deleted 5mo ago[deleted]
- amelius 5mo agoRecently discovered that "weighted blankets" are a thing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weighted_blanket https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weighted_blanket
- voidUpdate 5mo agoWeighted blankets are lovely if you have a neurodivergence that likes being enclosed (like me). But they are even more unbearable in hot weather
- isoprophlex 5mo agoI consider the weighted blanket to be a very dangerous invention. Dangerous to my planning, that is. If I try take a quick 20 minute nap under it, I always sleep for 2 hours minimum. It's like an off switch for my brain. Extremely comfy.
- lippihom 5mo agoI love weighted blankets but have to be careful that they're not "too" heavy. I used to have sleep paralysis relatively often as a kid and a too heavy weighted blanket often re-triggers this, which is obviously terrifying.
- julian_sark 5mo agoI took mine extra heavy, I love it. If not for comforting my neuro divergeny, I also love it for staying put and not dropping off of the side, or foot, of the bed and falling on the floor. Only caveat is getting it into the sheet covers. That is hard work lol, quite the workout. Considering skipping that part and just putting it on top of a light bedsheet. I add a warm, thick blanket on top of the weighted one if needed, e.g. in winter. It's important to stack it that way. Putting the weighted one on top keeps everything put, but the compression on the warm blanket negates the temperature isolation and it gets cold quick.
- eth0up 5mo ago1. Being properly tucked-in, as a vestige of comfort from the crib, where babs are often protected with at least some form of cloth. 2. You are from florida, where there's an entire species of insect for every sqr centimeter of the body, and enough mosquitos after 19:00 to write each of them through displacement. 3. Ideal sleeping temerature is probably so close to 'perfect' that as body temp drops through sleep, it crosses the thin threshold of comfortable to slightly cold. Since we've abandoned the penny, I hope that rounds up to a nickel of thought.
- Markoff 5mo agoI like Balkanese approached I noticed in Croatia and Bulgaria, instead of duvets or blankets they just use (in summer) thin empty duvet case judging my multiple Airbnb experience.
- helzinia 5mo ago> there has also been a decent amount of research about the calming effect of weighted blankets, which can weigh up to 30 pounds. Studies indicate that they can curb anxiety and even be used in the treatment of autism. What odd phrasing, "the treatment of autism". Wouldn't it suffice to say a lot of autistic people find them comforting? This may just be my bugbear, but I notice a lot of these depersonalising statements in anthropology, psychology, etc when an author wants to hold up some supporting example about a group of people they are not experts on.
- eudamoniac 5mo agoAutism is a disorder with symptoms that can be treated. If you find that concept depersonalizing, I'm sorry about that, but it isn't.
- xboxnolifes 5mo agoSure, but it's like writing "Weighted blankets can be used as a treatment for tiredness". It's reads awkwardly.
- port11 5mo agoHmm, if we conceive of some states as ideal for humans, then states which aren’t ideal are those we might want to treat. We don’t have to cure them, nor be cruel in our handling of people. But we also don’t have to pretend that autism is the most ideal state to thrive in human society. Language needs to define terms, and at some measure of sensitivity they are going to sound insensitive. Again, we don’t have to be cruel. But we can help, or treat, or alleviate, or accommodate for the symptoms of autism. You pick the word that’s less depersonalising, keeping in mind that any word here is arbitrary. Autism isn’t a brilliant condition and we can all hope to make the lives of others better. If that means using softer language, I’m all for it; yet, some language has to be used. And, perhaps, if we could treat autism itself, we might want to give people that option.
- pojzon 5mo agoBecause monsters under the bed.. duh. At least thats what I tell my kids.
- eatrocs_allday 5mo agobugs
- deleted 5mo ago[deleted]