How To Warm Up Cold Feet In Bed

Getting to sleep at night can be a lot harder if you can’t get yourself warm, especially when it’s your feet that can’t seem to stay warm! Being comfortable is one of the ways we can fall asleep easiest, so finding ways to keep your feet warm in bed can be the key to getting a good night’s sleep.

In this blog, we'll explain some of the reasons why you may be suffering from cold feet in bed, as well as our top tips on how you can keep your feet toasty while you're sleeping. Sometimes there are even health conditions that can make it difficult to keep your feet warm at night, which we’ll discuss in more detail.

Why are my feet always cold in bed?

Having cold feet is generally your body’s reaction to the temperature around you, so you’ll find that you get cold feet in the winter months when the weather is wetter and cooler. However, cold feet even when it’s warm in your room can be a sign of some different medical conditions.

Cold feet, alongside colour changes to your skin or even pain in your feet, can be a sign of something underlying that you should speak to your GP about. Some of the conditions associated with cold feet include:

• Diabetes
• Anaemia
• Raynaud’s disease
• High cholesterol
• Stress

There are different signs and symptoms associated with each of these conditions alongside cold feet, so let’s dig a little deeper.

Diabetes

There are a couple of different problems associated with diabetes that could give you cold feet at bedtime – peripheral neuropathy and peripheral artery disease. Peripheral neuropathy affects the nerves in your feet which can make them feel cold to you but they’re actually warm to the touch.

Peripheral artery disease blocks the blood flow to your legs and feet and poor circulation can make your feet cold – after all, there’s not even warm blood getting to them to keep them warm on their own!

Anaemia

Anaemia occurs when your body doesn’t produce enough red blood cells to take oxygen from your lungs to the rest of your body. This is another way in which your blood isn’t reaching your feet regularly enough to keep them warm on their own.

Raynaud’s disease

Your body overreacts to cold when you have Raynaud's disease. If the temperature drops, your fingers and toes may feel numb and frozen. Sometimes they even change colour, from pale at first and then turning blue. As you begin warming up, they may sting and become red. Anxiety, stress, and cold weather can trigger these attacks.

Raynaud’s is more common in men than women and can keep blood from moving easily to your fingers, toes, nose, lips, and ears. This is because Raynaud’s causes the arteries in your feet and hands to narrow and spasm, limiting the amount of blood that can be carried from your heart to your fingers and toes.

High cholesterol

High cholesterol can bring with it some complications with your circulation, which, as we explained above, can leave you with very chilly feet when you’re inactive!

Stress

Stress can have lots of unusual side effects, including cold feet, fainting, or feeling numbness in your hands and feet. This is because when you’re stressed, your body tries to protect your vital organs in your core by pulling back blood from your extremities to keep blood in your core for longer. Managing stress and anxiety can help your body relax and feel warmer at night – check out our guide to managing sleep anxiety for more advice.

How to warm cold feet in bed

Even in your warmest pyjamas, all wrapped up in your duvet and as cosy as can be, cold feet can still strike! Luckily for you, there are some quick fixes to make sure that your cold feet thaw enough for you to fall asleep:

1. Get your warmest woolly socks

Wool is the best material for socks that you need to keep your feet warm all night long. It has some great heat retention properties, which are even better when you’ve popped your socks on the radiator for a while before you put them on to get into bed! Make sure your socks are nice and loose too – if your socks are too tight around your ankles or feet it can cut off that much-needed circulation that’s keeping your feet warm!

2. Preheat your bed

Getting your bed nice and warm before you even get in it can also massively help with keeping your feet toasty – try popping a hot water bottle between the sheets for an hour or two before your regular bedtime, right by where your feet normally go. Alternatively, go a step further and get yourself a heated mattress topper that can warm up the entire bed, perfect in the winter months when you want to avoid putting the heating on all night!

3. Have a foot bath

Before you head to bed, let your feet soak in some warm water – water conducts heat 25 times faster than air, so you’ll be able to warm them up pretty quickly! Once they feel warm, towel dry your feet and pop on those woolly socks to keep them cosy all night long.

4. Get some exercise in 

Now we don’t recommend exercising right before you go to bed, but our guide to practising self-care in your sleep routine does recommend regular exercise to keep your body in a regular cycle of moving and relaxing. This not only helps you to rest better at night, but you’ll also improve your heart health and circulation too.

5. Stay hydrated

Drinking lots of water and avoiding alcohol late at night are some key tips to ensure that your cold feet don’t haunt you all night! Dehydration can make your blood circulation decrease, and the first place your circulation drops is in your hands and feet. Most health professionals recommend drinking around 2 litres of water every day to keep your body healthy and hydrated.