The subsequent drop in core body temperature signals that it is time for sleep. This effect on core body temperature is likely the reason that wearing socks to bed or immersing your feet in warm water before bed promotes better sleep.
Perhaps surprisingly, warming a person’s skin temperature can decrease their core body temperature by expanding blood vessels near the skin and allowing heat to escape. Research shows that these two circadian rhythms affect one another and that sleep is associated with a drop in core body temperature, or the temperature of internal organs.Ĭore body temperature differs from skin temperature. Body Temperature and SleepĪ person’s sleep cycle and core body temperature are both managed by their circadian rhythms, or internal clocks that regulate changes in specific bodily functions across a 24-hour cycle. However, researchers have known for decades that warming a person’s feet at bedtime helps them sleep better due to the unique relationship between body temperature and sleep. More research is needed on socks and sleep since few studies have been conducted. In another study, adults fell asleep faster when wearing socks, either on their own or after a warm foot bath. One study found that young men wearing socks fell asleep 7.5 minutes faster, slept 32 minutes longer, and woke up 7.5 times less often than those not wearing socks. Research suggests that wearing socks to bed can help people not only fall asleep faster, but sleep longer and wake up fewer times throughout the night. Can Sleeping With Socks on Help People Fall Asleep Faster? Learn about how socks may impact sleep and which socks to choose if you want to try this potentially sleep-boosting method. Many people anecdotally claim that sleeping in socks helps them sleep better and scientific research suggests they might be onto something.
Next time you are picking out what to wear to bed, consider adding socks.