Dear LPG, 

When it is cold, I wear socks at night, and I don’t think there is anything particularly unusual about that. It has been quite challenging lately, and they do make a difference. The other day, I began to wonder if they are a good thing, and I found that there is more information than you might think about the pros and cons of covering your heels and toes overnight.

Research has found that if your toes are warm, you might fall asleep a few minutes more quickly and stay asleep a bit longer at night, and I think that they do make a difference in my case. The other advantage is that if you are one of those oldies that need to get up during the night, you can dispense with groping for your slippers and risk a few insulated steps on the cold bathroom floor, saving valuable time if you are verging on being desperate.  

I know that everybody is different, and we often think of people who sleep with bed socks as a bit fuddy-duddy, if you know what I mean, but while trying to keep as warm as we have become used to in this somewhat financially austere year, knitted toe protectors might be something that a few more of us are taking on. Many a mind will worry about how much it costs to achieve that warmth while still keeping the heating turned down one notch lower at night.  

I have read that the socks that you wear to bed should be a bit thicker and fussier than those you would see in public, although, up to now, I have just used those that have sprung a natural heal or toe fracture because it saves throwing them away if you are not a natural darner. Let’s face it: my little habit is one way to not add yet another thing to the bin in this throw-away world that we live in.

I have to say that I do feel warmer and snugger, so there must be some truth in the scientific evidence I have found, but one thing that I have noticed is that if your chosen foot-warmers are too tight at the top, they could be causing a few circulatory issues. If you see that the marks that the elastic leaves at the ankle end take an unusually long while to disappear once you have taken them off, it might be worth checking out what is going on down there. 

I have found a couple of snippets of information on the subject which might be worth checking out, and having found them, I thought I should pass them on.  

Meanwhile, I suspect that perhaps getting a few purpose-built fluffier, ‘looser at the top’ ones might be the way forward, or of course, you could go for a pair of scissors rather than a darning needle …

AV, Mottingham.

AV shares her findings…

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