This sleep accessory could really improve your sleep, experts say
Summary
Wearing socks to bed could help improve sleep by lowering core body temperature, according to Cleveland Clinic specialists.
The process of warming feet opens blood vessels, increasing heat loss through skin and cooling the body.
Men wearing socks fell asleep nearly eight minutes faster and slept 32 minutes longer, a small 2018 study found.
Sleep experts recommend keeping bedrooms around 65 degrees Fahrenheit to maintain optimal cool core temperature.
Taking warm showers before bed follows the same principle, creating a temperature drop that promotes sleepiness. Want to improve your chances for a good night's sleep? This idea could actually knock your socks on, says behavioral sleep disorders specialist Michelle Drerup.
'It sounds counterintuitive, I know, but by wearing socks to bed and warming your feet, you may actually lower your core body temperature and fall asleep faster,' said Drerup, director of the Sleep Disorders Center at Cleveland Clinic.
Here's how that happens. During the day, a typical adult's core temperature rises to between 97 and 99 degrees Fahrenheit (36.1 C and 37.2 C), with an average of 98.6 F (37 C) — children 10 and younger may run a bit cooler. As night approaches, core temperature begins to drop by one to two degrees, preparing the body for sleep.
A process called distal vasodilation helps with cooling by widening blood vessels in the extremities — primarily the hands and feet — thus increasing heat loss though the skin. As the skin warms, the core of the body cools, which is where those toasty socks come in handy.
'By making your feet warmer, you're opening up blood vessels to help cool down the rest of the body,' Drerup said. 'So increasing the blood circulation to your feet results in a lower core temperature.'
In fact, a small study published in 2018 found young men who slept in socks fell asleep nearly eight minutes faster and slept 32 minutes longer than those who didn't, with fewer awakenings during the night.
Keeping it cool
It's not just socks. Sleep experts suggest keeping the entire bedroom about 65 F (18.3 C) to keep your core temperature cool during the night. Of course, that can fluctuate, with some requiring a room closer to 60 F (15.6 C) and others preferring a warmer 70 F (21.1 C).
Another tip is to take a warm (not hot) shower or bath before bed. The principle is the same, Drerup said.
'If I'm slightly increasing my core body temperature a bit just before bedtime, then there's a bigger drop as it lowers, and that potentially helps with feeling sleepy,' she said.
This tip may not work for everyone. In my home, I'm addicted to fuzzy socks and wear them religiously to bed — if my tootsies are the slightest bit chilly, sleep is impossible. My husband, on the other hand, immediately kicks the covers off his feet, preferring what I view as popsicle toes.
To each their own, says sleep specialist Jennifer Mundt, an associate professor of family and preventive medicine at the University of Utah who sees patients at the school's Sleep Wake Center.
'If you wear socks to bed and you feel like your feet are too hot, by all means, take your socks off,' Mundt said. 'It's the same idea with room temperature. People can get really hung up — 'Oh, I heard from this podcast or this book that the bedroom should be this exact temperature.'
'That's just not really the way it works,' she added. 'Just use your own judgment of just what feels comfortable, because our bodies are good at telling us if we're too warm or we're too cold.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Newsweek
6 hours ago
- Newsweek
Quadruple Rise in Uncommon Cancer Seen in Older Millennials
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A new study has found a striking increase in appendix cancer in Americans born after 1945, with older millennials experiencing the most dramatic rise. Appendix cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute, is fortunately very rare, affecting only about 1–2 people in every million annually. However, the study led by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, found that appendiceal adenocarcinoma (AA) diagnoses have more than tripled in those born around 1980 and quadrupled in those born around 1985. While older millennials were those with the highest number of diagnoses, researchers believe that as higher-risk birth cohorts continue to age, it is likely that AA incidence rates will increase in the future. The study was based on data from the National Cancer Institute SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results) Program, with the researchers analyzing the incidence of AA in people aged 20 or older from 1975 to 2019. In total, they examined 4,858 confirmed cases. A stock image shows a doctor pressing on a young woman's appendix. A stock image shows a doctor pressing on a young woman's appendix. getty images According to the Cleveland Clinic, sex and age are risk factors for appendix cancer; women are more likely to develop AA, are are those aged 50 and over. Other factors include smoking, a family history of cancer and health conditions such as atrophic gastritis (where the stomach lining becomes chronically inflamed), pernicious anemia (an autoimmune condition which affects the red blood cells) and Zollinger–Ellison syndrome (in which tumors cause ulcers in the stomach and upper small intestine), which have all been linked to a higher risk. Symptoms of appendix cancer vary from person to person—and sometimes can be asymptomatic. When present, symptoms usually include appendicitis, bloating, fluid buildup in the abdomen, increase in waist size, pain in the abdomen or pelvis, changes in bowel habits, nausea, vomiting and a tendency to feel full. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), risk factors for cancer in general include alcohol usage, HPV and obesity, which is associated with a higher risk of 13 types of cancer. These include adenocarcinoma of the esophagus, breast, colon/rectum, uterus, gallbladder, upper stomach, kidneys, liver, ovaries, pancreas, thyroid, meningioma, and multiple myeloma. Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about appendiceal adenocarcinoma? Let us know via science@ Reference Holowatyj, A. N., Washington, M. K., Goldberg, R. M., & Murphy, C. C. (2025). Birth cohort effects in appendiceal adenocarcinoma incidence across the United States. Annals of Internal Medicine, 178(7).
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
How having a sleepy teen could save your kid from a future heart attack
For parents with a sleepy teenager, less variable sleep patterns could be a sign of a healthier future for their child. Teens who had better sleep habits at age 15 were found to have improved heart health seven years later, researchers at the American Academy of Sleep Medicine said on Monday. The healthy sleep habits include falling asleep and waking up earlier, spending a lower percentage of time in bed awake, and having lower variability in total sleep time and sleep onset. Average total sleep time did not predict future cardiovascular health. In teens, cardiac incidents are rare, but they can occur. Approximately 2,000 young and seemingly healthy people under the age of 25 die each year of sudden cardiac arrest, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Heart attacks in people under 40 have been increasing over the past decade, the Cleveland Clinic notes. 'Given the importance of sleep health for physical health and well-being in the short-term, we were not surprised to see a lasting association between adolescent sleep timing, sleep maintenance efficiency, and sleep variability with cardiovascular health in young adulthood,' Dr. Gina Marie Mathew, a senior post-doctoral associate in public health at Stony Brook Renaissance School of Medicine, explained in a statement. 'It was unexpected, however, that with and without adjustment for potentially confounding factors, total sleep time during adolescence was not a significant predictor of cardiovascular health during young adulthood,' she added. 'This single null finding, of course, does not indicate that total sleep time is unimportant. Rather, when paired with other studies, these findings underscore the complexity of sleep health and the need to consider multiple sleep dimensions as potential targets for promoting and maintaining cardiovascular health.' Mathew was the lead data analyst and author of the National Institutes of Health-backed research that was presented on Sunday at the SLEEP 2025 annual meeting. To reach these conclusions, the researchers analyzed data from Princeton and Columbia University's Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study: the longest-running and only contemporary U.S. birth cohort study of young adults based on a national sample. Their data included 307 adults, the majority of whom were girls. At age 15, participants wore a device on their wrist for a week to measure sleep variables. At age 22, their cardiovascular health was assessed using their diet, physical activity, exposure to nicotine, body mass index, and measurements of fats in the blood, blood sugar, and blood pressure. They were scored based on these factors using the American Heart Association's Life's Essential 8. Teens between the ages of 13 and 18 years old should sleep eight to 10 hours regularly to promote optimal health, the academy said. Getting the recommended number of hours is associated with improved attention, behavior, memory, mental and physical health, and other positive outcomes. However, Mathew pointed out that the results highlight the need for a more comprehensive approach to address the relationship between adolescent sleep health and cardiovascular health. 'Future research and recommendations should emphasize the importance of multiple dimensions of sleep health, including earlier sleep timing, higher sleep maintenance efficiency, and lower sleep variability as protective factors for long-term heart health,' she said.
Medscape
8 hours ago
- Medscape
Digital Natives vs Seasoned Docs: Who's Adopting AI Faster?
Up until very recently, when Jeremy Lipman, MD, met with patients, he had an invisible tether to his computer due to the need to document each visit. But in the past few months, he has experienced a new sense of professional freedom. Now an artificial intelligence (AI) scribe platform documents the conversation during each visit, allowing him to focus more fully on the patient in front of him. 'I'm not at the computer when I'm with the patient anymore,' Lipman told Medscape Medical News . 'The phone sits on the desk. I am away from the desk, sitting right in front of the patient…just having a conversation.' 'The software is absolutely remarkable,' he said about Ambience Healthcare's new AI documentation platform that Cleveland Clinic recently launched throughout its health system. Lipman is a colorectal surgeon at the clinic and has been in practice since 2010. While he's admittedly not an expert on the differences in how early-career physicians adopt and utilize technology as compared to more experienced physicians, Lipman said older doctors seem to be embracing it, too. 'I'm often surprised when we talk about a technology that sometimes some of the older doctors will tell you, 'I've been using that and I love it,'' Lipman said. The AI scribe platform listens to the interaction between the healthcare provider and the patient and 'captures the transcript of the conversation,' explained Lisa Stump, chief digital information officer at Mount Sinai Health System, New York City. Next, the platform transforms the transcript into the doctor's note. Physicians then need to review and sign off on the note, Lipman said. In addition to Ambience, there are a number of other AI scribe platforms, such as Abridge, Nuance DAX and Suki, Stump said, and they are really taking off. It's not just AI scribe technologies that are altering the medical landscape. Other tech innovations that are changing things are: AI-driven diagnostics, mobile health apps, and wearable devices monitoring a patients' health in real time. Are doctors of all ages embracing these new and evolving technologies in the same way? Medscape Medical News reached out to variety of experts to get their take. Embracing Digital Innovation 'While there is variability in awareness and depth of understanding, there is consistent enthusiasm for technology,' Cleveland Clinic's Chief Digital Officer Rohit Chandra, PhD, said in an email. 'And — what is more — senior leaders across the organization (who tend to be more experienced doctors) are proactive about driving and supporting technology initiatives where they see potential.' From Stump's perspective, those who grew up as 'digital natives' are 'I think more readily able to interact with a variety of different digital interfaces,' she said. While it's not always the case, older generations tend to be more skeptical and hesitant — at least initially. They also want to understand the safety and liability of the technology and make sure it won't disrupt workflow, Stump said. There are differences in technology acceptance, assessment, and adoption between generations, said Clark Otley, MD, a dermatologic oncologist and chief medical officer for Mayo Clinic Platform, which he describes as a 'privacy protected, innovation inducing platform that brings in partners from all over the world to develop new technologies.' 'Obviously, you're going to have a lot of variation within a specific generation, as well as between generations,' said Otley. 'On average, maybe the earlier generations might be a little bit more cautious and a little less facile at accepting and adopting technology.' Sometimes, older doctors will even retire at the beginning of a technology rollout, he said. But as a society, we can't afford that, as it would 'exacerbate the shortage of healthcare workers,' Otley said. Therefore, healthcare organizations have a responsibility to create an environment in which all providers can succeed in adopting digital healthcare technology, according to Otley. When introducing new technologies, medical institutions should offer multi-modal training, Otley said. There's a science behind it, he said, and it's true of every generation. Some people are visual learners, while others are auditory or experiential learners, so there needs to be a variety of types of training. The institution should also recognize and support different generations in terms of learning, Otley said. For example, older generations tend to value face-to-face teaching and learning more than digital or remote learning, Otley said. So having access to 'super users' — peers who delve deeply into the technology early on and learn it well — can also be helpful to them. It's also not enough for organizations to provide one 30-minute training session without a follow-up, he said. Intergenerational teams are important, too, said Otley, who is 60 years old. 'The magic happens when the older generation teaches the younger generation wisdom, and the younger generation brings the older generation up now with technology, and that middle generation is in their, maybe 'sweet spot' of raw cognitive power and digital capabilities,' he said. 'So for me, the combination is the best thing in healthcare.' How Far We've Come In the past 10 years, the growth in technology and digital health has been 'dramatic,' Lipman said. When he started as an attending doctor, 'we were still doing some paper charting. We were doing some paper ordering. I mean, that's unheard of today.' Ten years ago, 'digital tools and technology and healthcare were really transactional systems,' said Stump. 'People entered data, ran reported. It was all very human driven.' 'I would say the biggest impact we're now seeing by automating a lot of that work, we're reducing the cognitive burden, the administrative burden…[which has been the biggest physician complaint since implementing electronic medical records],' Stump said. Today, when Lipman has a medical question, 'the resources that are available from online sources — GPT, other resources like GPT that use large language models —[have] been fantastic,' he said. 'This AI thing is another just tremendous leap forward.' It's clear that these new technologies are being utilized more and more in the healthcare landscape. 'I think it varies by organization to some degree,' Stump said about the current lay of the land in this realm, 'but generally speaking, the COVID pandemic definitely accelerated the adoption of digital health technologies, right? Out of necessity and literally overnight, large health systems and small had to figure out how to provide care not in the traditional face-to-face, in person manner.' The pandemic accelerated the adoption of telehealth, which peaked, waned, and has now plateaued, Stump said. 'With now the rapid growth of artificial intelligence and agentic AI solutions, I think we're seeing another uptick in the development of new solutions and their adoption,' she said. Agentic AI exists when the AI model not only looks at the historical data and draws a conclusion, but 'it can then take action,' said Stump. Additionally, there are 'very well-established' remote patient monitoring programs for patients with diabetes and hypertension who use wearables at home, 'and these data are being captured and monitored either by an AI solution with a human then responding to an alert or always monitored by a human,' Stump said. The Future of AI in Medicine 'I think that helping people find really good evidence to support the decisions they have to make — and [them] being more engaged in their own health — is coming,' Lipman said. '…Perhaps even as we're talking and the AI is understanding what we're talking about, that an evidence-based treatment plan becomes part of the note that gets generated right away, so that then the patient and I can look at that together and talk about what that means,' he said. The 'downstream ability to code the record automatically and accurately is really starting to make a huge impact,' Stump said. 'I am very cautiously optimistic about the role of AI and the technology.' But Stump said it's important to have a rigorous approach up front as we 'evaluate technologies before we deploy them at scale and then continually monitor them as they are in use to be sure the models don't shift or change in a way that creates unintended consequences.' Lipman's advice is that physicians always need to be the final check. 'Trust, but verify,' he said. 'These things provide a great pathway to getting information, but it still needs to be verified as accurate.'
