Hugh: There’s a Scientific Reason We Sleep With Blankets or Sheets Even When it’s Warm – Do you?

It’s been hot recently and even though it can still be warm at bedtime, I still find myself sleeping with a sheet. We ditched the blanket a while ago for the summer, but there’s something about having a sheet over you as you sleep that just feels right. Of course, some people choose to stick with the blanket through the summer too. It turns out there’s a scientific reason why many people keep the blankets or sheets around even when it’s too warm for them. Research shows your body’s core temperature drops about an hour before you go to bed, and continues to drop as you sleep. When you reach the REM sleep cycle, your body loses its ability to regulate its temperature – so your blanket does the job of keeping you warm, even on hot summer evenings. If you’ve ever found yourself reaching for the covers in the middle of the night, now you know why. There’s also a behavioural reason we keep blankets and sheets around during the summer. Quite simply, we’ve been conditioned to sleep with them since birth, so they become associated with the sleeping process. Plus, there’s the fact that they’re just plain comfy.