A Cool Way To Sleep
Posted by terrepruitt on September 6, 2017
I really think that my body’s temperature is higher than everyone else’s. Not my temperature so much as the way I feel. Maybe not EVERYONE, but most people. When people tell me they are too hot to sleep I share with them I sleep with a bag of ice and they look at me as if I am insane, when to me, since we don’t have air conditioning, that is the ONLY way I can get to sleep and stay a sleep. I wrote a post about what I did before we were in a drought, Relief From Too Hot To Sleep, but with the drought I thought I shouldn’t waste the water so I started putting ice in a baggie and sleeping with it. People ask me a lot of questions regarding that so I thought I would answer them here. First of all I put the ice in a zip lock sandwich bag, then I put that in a big zip lock freezer bag. I have no fear of it leaking, but then if it did, so what? It is only a little baggie full of water. I am sure some beds get a lot more liquid on them than that.
So the most common questions have to do with leaking. Does it leak? Aren’t you afraid it will leak? No. I double bag it and even if it does, I am not afraid of a little water on my bed.
Then there are the questions about why your feet? Well, have you ever had a bag of ice pressed up against your chest? Even when it is really hot having a bag of ice on your chest is REALLY cold. Same thing with my back or arms. What do people often do when they want to cool off? They hang their feet into a pool. Also putting the bag of ice at the end of the bed by my feet allows me to easily move away or close to the ice. Whereas if it were at my mid-body it is more difficult to move away or closer to. Feet are easy to move. I don’t even have to move my body. I can put my feet on the bag of ice then when it gets too cold move them off, then back on, then off. It is a great way to regulate the amount of cold. Sometimes I use the towel or a sheet as a buffer between the bag and my feet.
Does it melt? Well, most of the time yes. Especially if it is really hot and I have had my feet on it most of the night. Usually when I wake up the water in the baggie is room temperature. A couple of time it has still been cold. A couple of times I have pushed it off the bed. (It didn’t break or leak. It was just on the floor next to the bed.)
Over this last heat wave I have gotten up in the middle of the night to replace the ice. Granted when I do that I am half asleep and I don’t use the water to water my plants like I would normally do when emptying the bag.
During this last heat wave, not only did I get up in the middle of the night to get new ice, I also bagged some cooler chillers (I don’t know what they are called). This is a great thing to use if you are wary of a bag of ice leaking. They will not leak. I was so hot I grabbed two of them and put them in a bag and I did have them rest between the back of the couch and my back. And a couple of days I did embrace them . . . but that was after they had been out of the freezer for a little bit and they were not completely frozen, but cold enough to cool me down.
I prefer the bag of ice because it is more malleable and it can conform to my feet. The ice packer/cooler chiller things are just straight, they don’t bend so it doesn’t get my whole foot cold. Only the little portion that is resting on it gets cool. But, they don’t have any leakage risk involved, so that might be good for some.
Anyway, it was so hot, I haven’t slept upstairs in a week. The bag of ice and the ice packer allowed me to sleep downstairs on the couch. I thought I would share it again and the idea of the ice packer/cooler chiller things because I think we might have some more hot weather to come.
What did you do to keep cool? Were you able to get any sleep?
Terre Pruitt's Blog 
cheryl said
Interesting idea. Do you have a recommendation for cool beathable bed sheets? I have ordered several pairs and had to take them back because of various problems and process is expensive and or time consuming. Researching the topic online is educational. I ended up with percale sheets 200 thread count. Lower thread counts mean a looser weave which makes the sheets more breathable. The other characteristic associated with cooler bedsheets is dry wicking. I wanted organic fabric but ended up with a cotton although I had tried bamboo. Very complicated to purchase the right fit for the right person. I’m not really happy with my current choice but have gotten tired of trying to figure it out!
Cheryl
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terrepruitt said
No, I don’t know of any breathable sheets. I go the opposite direction and get 1000 count sheets. And, yes, they are somewhat thick like a blanket, but they are so soft and they don’t get “bally”. I found that the lower thread count gets the little balls of material and I can’t stand that.
I understand not being happy with a current situation, but also being tired and spending so much time on it, ya just settle. Thanks for reading and commenting.
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Ann Miller said
Thanks for your “cool” article. I sleep with 1 or 2 fans on, never tried the ice on the feet. If we heat up again, I’ll give it a try. I have very thick hair and my head gets very hot, maybe the ice will cool down my head, can only give it a try. Fondly Ann Miller
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terrepruitt said
Oh, yeah, I have the fan too, but I don’t really like it blowing on my face. I wake up congested. So I just let it blow on my feet. Usually I have it oscillating!
You DO have thick hair!
While we were experiencing that awful heat recently I would sit with a bag of ice. I was so hot. I just couldn’t get cool. I would move it around. Sometimes I would have it on my lap, then move it to my feet, or have it on my neck. I did just put the bag on the top of my head because I was just so hot. The heat was just brutal.
🙂
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