How to keep your bed warm.

[Scorpion Regent]

Reflective 'space blankets' are great for insulating your bedding.  The ones to buy have a reflective surface bonded to a poly sheet that ubiquitous blue tarps are made from.  I have had great success placing one, reflective side up, under a self inflating back packers air mattress on a camp cot and layered between thin blankets on top.  On a different trip I put a space blanket under a queen sized air mattress. It felt like the mattresses had it's own heater.  
There are other options.  I suppose you could do the same thing with Reflectix, it's not quite as durable.  You could make insulating sheet under your mattress from cardboard wrapped in a thin disposable space blanket and sealed in clear packing tape.

 

[nature lover]

The best heater I have is traveling south. I have two very good real wool blankets. One was my great grandmothers it’s got to be 100 years old but it’s thick and it’s long and wide enough that I can roll up in it. Got to have a seat between me in it because it’s itchy but man is it warm. Of course a better bed warmer would be one like they gave the king David when he was an old man. The Bible is full of all sorts of surprising information. But to keep the king Warm in his bed they provided a young virgin. Look it up it’s the truth. What did Mel Brooks say? “it’s good to be the king”

 

[MrNoodly]

My mattress is a foot thick. Heat is not likely to escape that way. On top of me is a very effective down quilt. On the rare occasions that's not enough, I layer a down sleeping bag over that.

 

[MrNoodly]

Oh, and all the stuff stored under my bed acts as insulation.

 

[crofter]

Winter bag unless it's summer. The good quality gear is worth it's weight in gold.
-crofter

 

[Cammalu]

Four cats and one dog will do it.

 

[Ikegodsey]

...four bare feet wrestling beneath the sheet...

 

[PeterPiper]

Four cats and one dog will do it.

:heart:

 

[LoupGarou]

I run a heated mattress pad off a Goal Zero Yeti.

 

[Scorpion Regent]

I run a heated mattress pad off a Goal Zero Yeti.

It must be nice to have enough power to be able to do that.  When I'm off grid and on solar I don't, so I can't.  Even if I did, I wouldn't.   Irons, space heaters, hair dryers, electric water heaters, slow cookers, crock pots and electric hot plates are all things I will never use if I am on solar power.  Creating heat with electricity is the most power expensive thing you can do.  The only other thing I can think of that might take more power is driving machinery such as: refrigerators/freezers, air conditioning, power tools and air compressors.  If I am going to create heat while camping I use my propane stove.  If I was in a situation where I had to heat a bed, (someone suffering from hypothermia), I would do what my grand parents did, use a hot water bottle.  Fill a Nalgene bottle with hot water.  Enclose it in a scarf or a hat so it isn't so hot it will burn.  Place the bottle under the covers.  I haven't needed to do that, if I'm lucky I never will.  In the mean time, my body generates enough heat, I use wool and space blankets to keep it around.

 

[jacqueg]

It must be nice to have enough power to be able to do that.  When I'm off grid and on solar I don't, so I can't.  Even if I did, I wouldn't.   

In the mean time, my body generates enough heat, I use wool and space blankets to keep it around.

I'm with you on the electricity use. 

I sleep with clothes on - in the winter, those clothes are sweat suits. I'll put them on well before I go to bed. Yes, I can still feel that the sheets are cold when I climb in bed, but it doesn't bother me, and the sheets warm up pretty quickly.

Besides temp control, sleeping in sleeping clothes keeps your bedding cleaner. The fewer trips I have to make to the laundromat, the happier I am.

 

[mpruet]

Sleeping bag

 

[crofter]

I run a heated mattress pad off a Goal Zero Yeti.

There was that guy dwelling in San Francisco who used 2 or 3 handwarmers to warm his bed before he got in. The handwarmers were battery powered, which he recharged in the daytime off his solar setup.

San Francisco is not that cold, but it is rarely warm there.
-crofter

 

[RoamerRV428]

I run a heated mattress pad off a Goal Zero Yeti.

I went and searched that and WOW THAT is one sweet power supply.....charge from wall, or car or solar.....I tell ya if I am in need that thing would beat a noisy azz genny any time.....I didn't even know that was out there.  Nice!!  I would be like you, a heated mattress cover with the use of this power supply is a great idea if one truly is in a cold area plus it will power so much more when needed.  Safe also....no fires, no fumes, yea, I could see me buying one of these in the future! I like your set up for sure!

 

[maki2]

I use layering for a bed cover technique, especially in the southwest desert. That iss because the temperature changes and the coldest time when sleeping is not when you get intjo bed but instead it is just an hour or so before sunrise. Soo I start off with a fleece blankey against me that is light enough tto conform around my boday. Next a lightweight down blanket. Down needs to be fluffed up regularly as the air trapped between the the feathers is what keeps rhe heat from your body trapped. Then placed lenghtwise along side of you, but not yet over my body is another layer of blanket that I can instantly pull ove rmyself later in the night when I wake up from being cold as the temperature drops lower. Not good to start off being too warm at the start of the night as you will sweat and that accumulation of moisture in your bedding will make you get even colder later in the night.

For winter time I wear thick wool socks to bed otherwise I feel cold all night. My feet do not generate enough heat to keep that end of the bedding as warm as where my main body mass is. I will also wear a fleece hoodie to bed. That keeps my neck and head warm. I made and sewed pull over fleece mittens to the ends of the sleeves of that hoodie. That is because my hands often end up ouside of the blankets when Ii sleep. As I have wear and tear arthrities in my neck, shoulders and hands that fleece hoodie is an essential pajama top for me in cold weather. Without it I wake up stiff and sore in my hands, neck and shoulders. So basically that hoodie is an essential extra blanket in winter, one I can't accidentily throw off as I roll over.

 

[Scorpion Regent]

Maki-2, you got the right idea. 
Layering it's not just for clothing, it works for bedding too.  

I have worn a knit hat (beanie, watch cap, toque) to bed, it helped a lot. You lose a lot of heat off your head.  Once or twice I wrapped a Shemagh/Keffiyeh around my head completely so from the neck up everything was covered but my face.  I have a wool hood that is really deep it covers my shoulders neck and head, but it's just too bulky to sleep in unless you really need to be warm.  Wearing clothes to bed is a Goldilocks exercise.  Too tight you can't move, too loose you tangle.

 

[vanbrat]

We have a small portable heater for when we have power it is tiny and fits. Works great in the small space of the van. We just use it to heat the van before we go to sleep. Always turn it off before we go to sleep. We have a good 4 inch mattress and it is wrapped in a good quilted cover over a good 6 inch folded down car seat and then we have flannel sheets and a good light blanket and on top of that we have 2 quilts I made to fit the bed and if still cold I keep 2 good sized afghan's in pillows and hubby has a knit hat and if we ever go out in the really cold stuff we could always add the rice heat packs that I use here when power goes out to heat the bed up here at home. I have good warm socks and good thick sweats if need be. I also have 2 small fleece lap covers size things to tuck under my feet so they don't get cold from the window down there. No wool or feather's I am allergic to both.

The tiny heater thingy is also a small fan for hot days.

I saw something on this sight that was a fleece pocket topper thing for pillows to cover your head and I'm considering it....
This last trip out was a learning trip for me, as we sat inside the van each night and read books. I found out were the cold draft was coming from so now I maybe able to slow it down a bit. We had been staying out until time for bed, but it was cold each night and no fires allowed. We also had a new curtain for the front of the van and that helped.

 

[NctryBen]

Two times I got cold cold... once on a canoe trip I could not get warm. I finally got up poured the water from my water bottle into a pan. Heated it up on my stove, poured back in the bottle and tossed in my bedding. Was the best sleep around after that.
The other is well... imagine a very uninsulated cabin with -25 as the air temp. The wind chill factor was more like -55. I woke up just shaking. I’m like, where’s my blankets. I go in the other room and my daughter was quite warm. Especially after adding my blankets to her pile. When asked why she took my blankets, she replied: I didn’t want you getting to comfortable so you’d keep awake to put wood on the fire.

I use sleeping bags I can easily wash!

 

[Tony's Dream]

I have a blanket that is between a regular blanket and a comforter. I have a regular sleeping bag (light weight) that i use if the night gets chilly. If that does not do it, I add another sleeping bag (heavy weight). I used this techique last winter when the outside temp was 24 and the inside temp was 30. Ice formed on the roof of my van but I was pretty cozy. Before I get out of bed I turned on my butane stove to take the chill out of the air. I travel and don't live in one place, so I get to turn on the van heat when I travel...but it works good for a night. I had to use a paper towel to wipe up the roof as the ice melted to avoid a mess.

 

[MrNoodly]

Whenever there's a discussion about keeping warm, there seems to be a group or wool users and a group of down users—and no crossovers. I keep wondering why the difference in preferences. Is it regional? Cultural? Climate related? Age related?