Why does putting your feet out of the blanket help you sleep better?

Have you ever noticed that your feet (or sometimes even a part of your feet) are sticking out of a blanket when you are fast asleep? Do you feel sleep better when your feet are outside the blanket?

Humans are warm-blooded creatures. Right. But what does a warm-blooded animal mean?

This means our bodies can generate heat, even in the cold. Our bodies can not only cope with the cold, but also can endure many other types of weather such as heat, heat, rain, snow . The warm-blooded animals are not dependent on the environment temperature. Instead, they maintain their own body temperature. And the exact opposite is the cold-blooded animal.

In other words, temperature plays a very important role in our existence. In all parts of the body, the foot is the part that determines our body temperature.

Why is that?

Thermostats: the process of self-heating

Humans in particular and warm-blooded animals in general have their own thermostatic processes. Thermostatic is a process through which humans can maintain body temperature at a certain level without being dependent on the ambient temperature. The state in which the body temperature of a warm-blooded organism is normal is called homeostasis. In short, thermostatic is the body's processes and mechanisms to ensure it is always in homeostatic state.

Heat regulation is primarily based on the burning of energy, but there are still some physical mechanisms involved in the process, such as sweating, shivering and blood circulation, all of which contribute to maintaining maintain our body temperature.

Cardiovascular and circulatory system

The heart plays an important role in maintaining body temperature. Blood flows from the heart to organs and cells through arteries, then back to the heart via a vein.

Picture 1 of Why does putting your feet out of the blanket help you sleep better?
Human circulatory system.(Photo: Science ABC).

When the environment is high (hot weather), blood circulates freely, blood vessels expand, allowing blood to flow through them more. On the other hand, when it is cold (ambient temperature is low), blood vessels shrink, thus reducing the amount of blood circulating through them.

Many people still think that the head is the place that receives and releases the most heat on the body. However, reality is not always like that. Turns out, the new foot is where the body releases the most heat.

Feet control body temperature

The feet not only help us perform most activities, but because the feet belong to the extremities, they help release a lot of heat from the body.

First, the feet have a large surface and have many special blood vessels. These blood vessels can expand greatly, so that more blood circulates. As a result, heat from the body is released faster. When the temperature returns to normal, the blood vessels in the foot return to normal.

The feet belong to the extremities of the body, so it does not have much muscle on the inside. This means the feet can cool down faster than other parts. At the same time, the feet are usually hairless, so the process of exothermic is faster.

Picture 2 of Why does putting your feet out of the blanket help you sleep better?
The soles of the feet are large.(Photo: Science ABC)

If you're still curious about your foot, there's still something inside called arteriovenous anastomosis , which connects the artery and veins before they divide into capillaries. When the temperature is high, the connection between the two blood vessels swells and allows more blood to flow into the blood vessels.

Have you ever noticed that your feet (or sometimes even a part of your feet) are sticking out of a blanket when you are fast asleep?

The reason is because when we sleep, our body radiates a lot of heat . This heat cannot escape due to the blanket on your body. So, in order to maintain normal body temperature and avoid overheating, your feet will automatically come out of the blanket to cool down as a natural reaction of the body. Do you ever feel excited about this? In fact, many people feel they sleep better when they put their feet outside the blanket.

So, thank you for your little foot. Not only the feet, all parts of our body have their own functions while you are fast asleep.