The coldness of an air mattress is mainly pronounced during the chilly winter nights. Unfortunately, you must use the mattress if there’s no other alternative. So for such situations, you must learn how to stay warm on an air mattress.
Some of the ways to stay warm on your air mattress include wearing more clothes, using a mattress topper, adding a sleeping bag to it, or even covering it with a wool blanket. This article presents the hints on reducing the coldness and staying warm on an air mattress. Also, you will know why air mattresses feel cold. Keep reading.
Key Points:
- Air mattresses will make you cold as the exterior material is made from very thin material and lack proper insulation.
- You may place some material under an air mattress to help keep it warm, but this method is less effective.
- The best practices on how to stay warm on an air mattress come by creating a barrier between your body and the top of the air mattress.
Do Air Mattresses Make You Cold?
Yes, using the air mattress will make you cold. This is because air mattresses easily lose their heat and become cold, especially when kept directly on the floor. That’s why they’re usually cold. Also, with extremely cold weather, the air within the bed will gradually turn cold by losing its heat.
The heat loss will be faster when the mattress stays on a bare floor. By making body contact with the cold, the user will also lose his body heat as the mattress makes him cold.
Why Do Air Mattresses Feel Cold?
Most air mattresses have no insulation that will keep the air in them warm. This means that the bed’s temperature will constantly be changing with the environment. As the surrounding temperature lowers, the mattress will lose its warmth to become cold.
Moreover, the material used in the manufacture of air mattresses is very thin compared to other beds. Such materials like vinyl and plastic don’t provide adequate protection and trapping of warmth on the bed.
As the weather gets colder, the mattress will invariably become cold. Sleeping on such a mattress will cause your loss of body heat from the trapped air that is already cold.
Have A look: How to Protect Air Mattress From Dog Nails?
What Can I Put Under My Air Mattress To Keep It Warm?
Some of the materials you can place under an air mattress to keep it warm include a space blanket, wool blanket, sleeping bag, etc. Though it may seem not to be the best option, placing some objects under air mattresses could keep them warm.
The functions of these objects revolve on reducing the contact between your air mattress and the ground. They will do so by insulating the bed from temperature changes on the floor. Also, they could help to reflect your body’s warmth and minimum heat loss from coldness. Let’s discuss these items and their functions in detail below.
1. Emergency or Space Blanket
Keeping a space or emergency blanket under an air mattress insulates the bed and reduces its heat loss. The blanket is produced with plastic that maintains heat-reflective functions. So, it reflects heat to the body of the user.
The space blanket is best and mostly used for camping purposes. This is because the heat reflected by the blanket ensures that both the mattress and the user never get cold.
2. Wool blanket
Wool is widely known for its warmth properties, among several other materials. You can place a wool blanket under your air mattress to keep the mattress warm. Usually, wool has its fibers in a very close compact position that hardly allows heat to transmit through them.
Hence, using a wool blanket under your mattress retains heat to the bed. Also, the blanket will reflect heat to the body of the person lying on the mattress as well.
3. Sleeping Bag
You can place a sleeping bag under your air mattress to keep the bed warm. The depth of the sleeping bag provides a considerable lifting layer to the mattress. You must understand that the less contact the mattress has with the floor, the lesser its chances of getting cold. So, a good sleeping bag lowers heat loss from the air mattress and will help provide warmth for you.
How To Stay Warm On An Air Mattress?
When you have no other alternatives for your sleeping, the air mattress can serve the purpose. But to avoid catching a cold quickly, you should know how to stay warm on an air mattress. Putting some materials under the mattress could provide very little solution in keeping yourself warm. Your best practice should be to create a means to separate your body from the mattress.
We’ll be presenting some of the tips for you below. However, you may need to combine two or more of these tips for a better result.
1. Use A Mattress Topper
A mattress topper is one of the great methods to cut off any direct body contact with an air mattress. You will have to place the topper on top of the air bed. But choose a good mattress topper for this purpose. This is because most good toppers are made from foam that maintains warmth.
Using the warm topper shuts off the coldness from the air mattress. Also, the topper will provide considerable stability against any uneven bubbles from the air mattress. That way, you’re sure of getting good sleep that will promote your general body health.
Mattress toppers come in different types and ranges. So, you may have to choose considering the available space you have or the purpose of the topper. Going for a high-quality type will not only keep your body warm, but you will also enjoy a comfortable sleep on your air mattress.
2. External Heating Of The Air Mattress
This may seem like a weird action, but it’s a very powerful process of warming an air mattress. It involves the use of hot water bottles. You will need to heat some water and pour it into the bottles. Avoid using extremely hot water as you may have difficulties in handling them. Also, the use of a very hot method could damage the mattress.
To do the heating, place the bottles on your air mattress and cover them with bedsheets for about 15 minutes. The heat from the bottles will help to warm the mattress before your sleeping time. You can then go to sleep without fear of coldness from your air bed.
3. Add A Sleeping Bag
Isolated use of either a sleeping bag or air mattress is never a good experience for your warmth. But the combination of both could wade off cold from your body. When you plan to stay warm on an air mattress, place a sleeping bag on the mattress.
This combination is a friendly practice, and it’s less expensive to achieve. Also, it could serve as a great option when you’re camping without much clothing or where you lack much space.
4. Wear More Layers Of Clothing
It’s a common action that people tend to wear more protective and warm clothing during cold periods. By increasing your layer of clothes, your body will not get much impact from the cold air mattress. The clothes create a considerable barrier between the surface of the air mattress and your body.
However, it may not be a favorable approach for those that prefer to dress less when they sleep. Also, the temperature outside could be less cold to cushion the extra clothing. Hence, over-dressing may be an uncomfortable and restless action for the person.
5. Add A Blanket Or Sheets On Top Of The Air Mattress
Most blankets are made of wool and will provide a great shield against cold. You can place a blanket or more bed sheets on top of the air mattress. You may first place a blanket on the mattress and then use a bed sheet for covering. With more covering over the surface of the air mattress, it will enhance its temperature regulation.
Subsequently, there will be a reduction in its cold impact on your body, keeping you warm all through the night.
How To Stay Warm On An Air Mattress When Camping?
Camping is one of the adventures that will leave you sleeping outside a normal building. In most cases, you may end up sleeping in an entirely open field. An air mattress serves as handy bedding for you during camping.
However, the coldness associated with air mattresses could pose a threat to a night of good sleep and your health. So, you will need to devise some means of staying warm on an air mattress when camping. The effective methods all demand the addition of insulation between the mattress and your body.
- Use A Foam Sleeping Pad: The use of a foam sleeping pad or topper creates a good insulating effect over the surface of an air mattress. The pad will ensure that you remain warm and comfortable on the mattress.
- Layer With Extra Blankets: You can create layers between you and the mattress top using blankets. The woolly ones provide more warmth and will reduce the number you may need to carry on your trips.
- Wear More Clothes: With extra clothing, you could insulate yourself against the coldness of an air mattress, especially during the night. So, cover up properly with gloves, socks, jackets, and even head warmers.
- Use A Heating Pad: Though there are no heated air mattresses, the heating pads allow you to stay warm while camping. To get warm, you will have to place the heating pad on the air mattress. They are battery-operated and will require constant recharging from a power source. But, you may have difficulties using it while in a wilderness camping where there’s no power supply.
Conclusion
The exterior coverings of air mattresses account for their poor insulating property. The mattresses will cause extra coldness for their users’ bodies, especially during cold winter nights. That’s why you must devise how to stay warm on an air mattress. You can opt to place some materials under the air mattress to keep it warm. Such materials like a space blanket, sleeping bag, wool blanket, and others could help you keep stay warm.
However, you can achieve the best practices by creating a barrier between your body and the surface of the air mattress. You should place those materials on top of the air mattress rather than below it. So, you could use a mattress topper, wear more clothing, add a sleeping bag or even externally heat the air mattress for more effective results.
