Most of the time, the OGT Team is a pretty easygoing bunch, but once in a while a conversation topic will spark a pretty heated debate. That’s precisely what happened after someone mentioned wearing socks to sleep.
I wasn’t aware before that that sleeping in socks might be a polarizing issue, and the whole debate made me wonder about the real pros and cons of sleeping in socks!
Related: This Is the Only Thing That Helps Me Sleep Without Feeling Groggy
In this post, I’ll be sharing what my research revealed about real benefits you can enjoy when you wear socks to sleep. (And don’t worry—if you’re really not a fan of wearing socks to sleep, I’ve included a few alternatives as well!)
Superstitions About Sleeping in Socks
While many people will or won’t wear socks to sleep based simply on their personal preference, others may be swayed by superstitious beliefs. For example, one anti-sock superstition suggests that sleeping with socks on will lead to nightmares.
But not all sleep-related superstitions about socks are so negative. In fact, one superstition states that sleeping with a sock tied around your neck will cure a sore throat! (That sounds like a choking hazard to me, but I digress.) And others believe that wearing a pair of wet socks to sleep is a surefire way to cure a fever or even a hangover!
And while these sock superstitions are mostly old wives’ tales and urban legends, that doesn’t mean that sleeping in socks doesn’t have real effects. In fact, there are actually four good reasons you may want to start doing it yourself!
Related: 9 Surprising Old Wives’ Tales That Turned Out to Be True
4 Surprising Benefits of Sleeping in Socks
1. Fall Asleep Faster
According to the National Sleep Foundation, warming your feet before you go to bed can act like a signal to your brain that it’s time for sleep. And a 2007 study seems to support that idea, which observed that participants who were sleeping in socks experienced faster sleep onset.
2. Prevent Hot Flashes
Wearing socks helps with the process of vasodilation, or the opening of your blood vessels. Dilated blood vessels make it easier for your blood to flow around your body. And good blood flow helps your body maintain a consistent temperature while you sleep, preventing things like hot flashes or cold sweats from interrupting your precious sleeping time.
3. Improve Cracked Heels
Tired of dealing with painfully dry heels and feet? Apply a moisturizing lotion to your feet before bedtime, then pull on a pair of cotton socks. The socks will help keep the lotion from rubbing off or drying out, and you’ll wake up with softer, smoother feet!
4. Better Sex
(Warning: If you’re not comfortable with sex talk, you may want to skip ahead to the next section!) As, well… unsexy as wearing socks to bed might seem, it may actually improve your chances of having an orgasm.
According to a 2005 news story, about 80% of the couples who participated in a study in the Netherlands achieved orgasm when wearing socks, compared to only 50% of couples who were not wearing socks. It might be circumstantial evidence at best, but it certainly can’t hurt to give it a try for yourself! ;-)
An Important Note About Sock Choice
Does it matter which socks you wear to sleep? On the whole, not really. You can wear ankle socks, crew socks, or fuzzy chenille socks—it’s up to you! But you definitely want to avoid sleeping in compression socks.
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Compression socks are great for long flights or as part of your workwear, but they’re not meant to be worn to sleep. The compression may hinder your blood flow to your feet when you’re lying down. But feel free to sleep in any non-compression socks you want to! :-)
Hate Sleeping in Socks? Try These Alternatives
Some people just can’t stand wearing socks to bed, and that’s okay! There are plenty of ways to warm your feet up to get the benefits I mentioned above, sans socks. Here are a few alternatives you can try!
- Enjoy a warm foot bath before bedtime
- Wear a warm pair of slippers for an hour or two before bed
- Sleep with a hot water bottle near the foot of your bed
- Sleep with an extra blanket draped over the foot of your bed
- Take a warm bath an hour or two before bed
Are you pro-socks or anti-socks when it comes to sleeping?
My feet have almost always been cold. I turn the electric blanket on to warm the bed. Turn it off when I go to bed and use a flannel flax bag, heated in the microwave and put at the foot of the bed every night of the year. If my feet are cold, I can’t get to sleep. I do wear socks sometimes. I need to get some more Buster Browns. I have a quilt over the electric blanket and a down comforter across the end of the bed to help hold the heat in.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.When we were kids and had sore throats our Italian grandma used to heat up table salt in a fry pan, pour the warmed salt into a handkerchief (which was shaped into a bandana) and tie off the ends. Then she would put the ‘salt bandana” into a sock and tie the sock around our necks. Not sure if it healed our throats, but the warmth sure made us feel better! We called it “salt in the sock”.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Wearing socks to bed…for a long time I had difficulty sleeping at night. Then I read a tip about mixing essential oils with a carrier oil (I use coconut oil) and rubbing it on the soles of your feet and then slip on a soft pair of socks. Now I sleep like a well-fed baby! I use a combination of lavender oil, rosemary oil, frankincense oil. You can use whatever oils you like. What I read was there are many nerve endings in the soles of your feet allowing the oil mixture to enter the body very quickly. And like the many other comments below my Mom used the flannel and Vicks “trick” which I continued when my children were young and sick…it is very comforting.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I use CBD oil or even CBD salve on my feet before bed. Stops the neuropathy pain and prevents leg cramps!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Absolutely pro socks in the cool seasons–sometimes take off in the middle of the night and sometimes leave on all night. I don’t do well with cold feet!!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Another alternative…..I use a heated ‘throw’, which is lighter and smaller than a heated blanket on top of my blankets. Turn it on about 1/2 an hour before you go to bed. It will warm the blankets underneath and give you a warm cozy snuggle for your feet when you go to bed. Added benefit is it shuts itself off.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I am definitely in the sock wearing corner. My SIL gave me a pair of those aloe infused socks for Christmas a few years ago and I love them for sleeping. They are soft warm and not confining. So in the summer when I am too hot to wear socks it doesn’t bother me not to have them on. (Which isn’t often)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.This is great info. I’ve been avoiding socks @ night just because of night sweats, thinking it would make them worse. Will try this tonight. During winter I warm my side of bed with electric blanket on high for hour before bedtime to warm my cold feet when I jump in bed, then turn it off. I do have poor circulation so that really helps get me to sleep.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.That’s a great idea! In our house I took a pair of flannel PJ pants one of the kids had outgrown & cut the legs off at the crotch, then turned them inside out & sewed the cut in closed. That gave me a nicely hemmed sleeve that is long enough to slip onto a ceiling fan blade, then sort of sandwich the blade between your hands as you slide it off. The flannel is the best fabric I’ve found to dust a ceiling fan. The sleeve will hold all of the dust from all the fans in the house. When I’m done I take it outside, turn it inside out & shake it out good before tossing it in the hamper. Many people use a pillow case, but I find the pants leg to be the perfect size & shape, and it’s easier (to me) to handle to do the job.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Hi Carol…
Please log in or create a free account to comment.My mom likes to be WARM all the time.
At night, she uses a heated mattress pad/cover and LOVES it. Hers has separate controls for each side of the bed…she cranks hers up and my dad can still be cool on his side of the bed.
One more tip is to make sure that the clothes you sleep in & the bedding you use are as close to 100% cotton as you can get. Cotton breathes. Synthetics don’t. If you have both types of sheets at home pay attention to how they feel. For example, microfiber sheets are soft & thin, but they are much hotter to sleep under than 100% cotton, no matter how high the thread count of the cotton is.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Slept with socks on for years! Can’t go to sleep without them, winter or summer. It’s like they are a security blanket for my feet!! Don’t do it for any kind of benefit, it’s just a habit!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Not only do I wear those fuzzy socks but a silk scarf around my neck. It is light yet warm and cures a stiff neck, headaches, and helps with sore throat. And it feels GREAT!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I usually do not sleep with socks on unless my feet are very cold. Sometimes I do start out with socks on, but at some point during the night I must take them off in my sleep, because I wake up with bare feet, no memory of removing them, and my socks are lying on the floor next to the bed.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I used to have such dry feet cracked heels etc. I did not like sleeping with socks on but someone told me to cut out the toes – then I put on Diabetic Gold Bond lotion with Vaseline or vicks over it now my feet are so much better — I buy a bag of white cotton socks at Walmart for $10 Works for me
Please log in or create a free account to comment.No socks… until menopause. Before M, my feet were always hot and I’d hang them out the side of the bed while fast asleep. Not long after M, I was waking up with very painful feet every morning and no idea why (feet didn’t feel cold). Dr didn’t know. We tried many things over months and no relief. I realized my morning shower seemed to ease the pain so I started wearing warm anti-slip socks to bed. Within a week all the morning pain vanished. Coincidence? I don’t know, but I’m still wearing a pair every night years later and still no foot pain in the morning!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.The funny thing is that I almost always start off WITH socks on and wake up in the morning WITHOUT them. Sometime in the middle of the night I wriggle them off I guess!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I do the same thing!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.If my feet are cold, I put socks on (I love fuzzy socks), but I cannot fall asleep with them on. The minute my feet get warm, the socks come off!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I wear socks to bed all the time. It really helps with cracked heels. I t did not help with hot flashes, though.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Socks are a blessing for those with cold feet. Long live the sock!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I am definitely pro socks for sleeping. My feet “stay”nice….warm, all the above you mentioned. I actually don’t put lotion on my feet before bed or putting them on, and just wearing socks I believe makes them less rough and scaly. If you do put lotion on…you do want to wear socks.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I always start with socks on but then I end up pulling them off at some point during the night
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I very rarely wear socks to bed.I only wear them if I’m doing a foot treatment. My feet sweat a lot and that’s just one more thing to wash. On the Vick’s us. They actually make a rub with lavender and chamomile that’s great if you have sleeping problems., I use it almost every night. It’s called zzzs.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Update. I’m still a no socks at bedtime person. Unfortunately the rub that I’ve used by Vick’s is no longer being made. I’ve only worn compression socks overnight once. I had to stay in the hospital overnight following a recent hysterectomy surgery. The hospitals require it to prevent blood clots . I still have a mark on my leg from it. Other than dealing with the night sweats and hot flashes I’ve felt fine.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Definitely pro-socks….if my feet are cold, I can’t fall asleep. Sometimes when I wake up, I’ll find the socks on the floor, but not very often! I also with put lotion on my feet before bed, put the socks on and wake up to soft feet. Win-win!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.MANICURIST suggested I rub my feet with vaseline at night wear a pair of soxs to bed and bottoms of feet will be soft as a baby’s butt in the morning..It works and I do it all the time now since I love wearing sandals and heels are so soft and not cracked any longer..should be loose top soxs so they don’t cut off circulation tho. I wear my husbands short diabetic soxs when I use that treatment..
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I’ve tried wearing socks but my feet get too hot–so what I do, I have a heating pad by my bed for my back that I use first by putting at the foot of my bed under the covers to warm the sheets. Works great then move it up to my back for a few minutes.
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