In February, Tiktok gained popularity in a video that stated that to wear socks in bed is not a stupid idea, but helping the body in a difficult case of falling asleep. Allegedly, socks help to cool the body and sleep comes better. We checked if it was true.
The video, which scored 3.2 million likes, was shot by Dr. Jessica Andrad, a doctor from Boston. In the video she tells:
“Let's talk about people who put on socks before going to bed. The socks warm your feet, this expands the blood vessels and cools your body as a whole. The body that has become a cold is a signal for the brain that it is time to fall asleep. Therefore, people who put on socks before bedtime fall asleep faster. ”
Andrade is not the only doctor who told Tiktok about the benefits of socks in bed. A similar video was also recorded by a surgeon from London Doctor Karan Rakhan. “[Socks] expand your blood vessels. When this happens, they get rid of heat much faster, ” - speaks The doctor in the video.
Indeed, there are studies that prove: if you warm your legs before going to bed, it can help fall asleep. About one of these studies They told In the Associated Press back in 1999.
The work that journalists referred to was carried out in Switzerland. Article It was published in the same year in Nature and included the results of a study conducted with the participation of 18 healthy young men. According to the results of the study, the heating of the feet really expands the blood vessels in them and helps the body lose the temperature faster, cooling.
According to researchers, most people undergo this process of cooling the body before bedtime naturally, but to people who, for example, their feet often freeze, can help socks.
English -speaking Factsing portal Snopes recently Checked This statement also turned to specialists in the field of sleep medicine. Both experts confirmed that the cooling of the body before bedtime (for example, using socks) is a signal to the brain, that it is time to fall asleep.
“It is true that the warming of the feet leads to the expansion of blood vessels and the improvement of blood circulation, and they, in turn, help to distribute heat in the legs, and this cools the rest of the body,” - told Snopes Dr. Atula Malhotra, professor of medicine at the University of California. “Although the role of the socks has been studied much less,” the professor added.
Her words are confirmed by Dr. Wendy Troxel, a senior researcher at the Rand research center: “The study that you are talking about (published in 1999 in the journal Nature. - Approx. Ed.) Related not by the socks themselves, but considered how the expansion of blood vessels in the legs and hands will help to lose heat, will inflame the opportunity to fall asleep.”
“When we sleep, the temperature of our body naturally drops. In fact, a drop in body temperature is a key signal to our brain, which has time to fall asleep. For example, there is evidence that a hot bath also helps to fall asleep faster before bedtime. In the bath, the body temperature rises, but when you go out, it falls quickly, ”Troxel explained.
At the same time, both experts noted that there are many other factors. For example, socks will not help in case of sleep disorders, and some people simply cannot fall asleep with socks on their feet.
“From my experience, I can say that everyone treats this differently. Some people prefer to wear socks, others are not, ”says Dr. Malhotra. - In addition, much depends on the environment in which you fall asleep. If you sleep in the tropics and there is warm, I doubt that socks can help you, unlike the situation when it is a cold climate. Socks can be useful or not depending on how a person heats up and cools the house. Finally, I had patients who simply cannot wear socks in a dream. ”
Thus, the assertion that the socks worn before bedtime help to fall asleep, for the most part correctly. Although there are a large number of factors that can reduce the real utility of socks for falling asleep - up to the negative.
Most of the truth
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