To wear or not to wear, that is your socks in bed.
It’s a timeless sleep question that’s been debated for years – one that we may be closer to an answer to.
According to sleep.org, “heating cold feet causes vasodilation—dilation of the blood vessels—which may tell the brain that it is bedtime. After the blood vessels open in the hands and feet, heat is redistributed throughout the body to prepare for sleep.”
In layman’s terms: Keeping feet warm while you sleep makes for less restless nights.
Sleeping with socks on can also help you fall asleep faster, too. A study published in the International Weekly Journal of Science found that going to bed with socks on can help you fall asleep 15 minutes faster. Whether you’re a college student or a desk jockey, anyone would appreciate another quarter of an hour of shut-eye. This backs up the findings of a 2007 study that reported adults who wear normal or heated socks fell asleep faster than adults who didn’t.
Wearing socks in bed can also aid hot flashes, improve dry feet, and increase orgasms (whether these benefits help with your sleep is up for debate).
Finally, wearing socks to bed is backed up in traditional Chinese medicine, which focuses on the body’s circulation.
Related: Why Wearing Shoes Without Socks is Bad for Your Health
“Cold feet can drain the energy of the body and can obstruct the flow of vital qi (energy) and blood (nutrition) in the body. For that reason we want to circulate the ‘qi and blood.’ By doing so we keep painful obstruction away from the body and keep the energy flowing smoothly,” Dr. Elizabeth Trattner A.P. DOM, Doctor of Chinese and Integrative Medicine, told Reader’s Digest. “Cold impedes the flow of energy and heat or warmth encourages it. If you think about a warm bath you relax, and in cold water you tense up. Cold creates stagnation which can also lead to pain (think Reynaud’s Syndrome).”
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