There are few better feelings than snuggling under the bed covers after a long and tiring day.

But while the rest of your body quickly gets warm and cosy, it always takes our feet a little bit longer to heat up! Fortunately for those suffering from chilly feet at bedtime, an ingenious new mattress design may have made shivering nighttime tootsies a thing of the past!

Built in heater

A new high-tech mattress has been produced by American bed specialists Sleep Number, that helps to keep your feet lovely and warm as you drop off to sleep!

The Sleep Number 360 Smart Bed, which goes on sale later this year, has a built in heater that helps to keep your whole body toasty throughout the night, ensuring you have a snug and comfortable sleep.

As the video below shows, the new mattress not only offers the contentment of sleeping in a warm bed but also utilises ground-breaking technology to memorise your sleep patterns and recognises how to improve your sleep.

The mattress, initially available at stores in the US, uses what Sleep Number refer to as ‘responsive air technology’ to analyse how individuals rest in their beds and make appropriate adjustments as they sleep.

Warm feet, good sleep

But do warm feet really help to improve sleep? Apparently so.

A number of scientific surveys have suggested that warming the feet before bed or taking measures such as wearing socks can increase the ease with which we fall to sleep. Here’s the science, bit:

Heating cold feet causes what is called vasodilation (dilation of the blood vessels) which in turn sends instructions to the human brain that suggests that it is time for sleep. The body then reacts by opening the blood vessels in the hands and feet and distributing warmth around the body as we begin to fall to sleep.

Indeed, some research has shown that increased levels of ‘vasodilation’ in the hands and feet can markedly shorten the time it takes for humans to fall asleep and maintain a sleep pattern that delivers an adequate amount of rest each night.  

On release, Sleep Number are thought to be retailing the new mattress in the region of $1,000, which may well be worth every penny for those struggling to get to sleep. However for those on a slightly tighter budget, a good old electric blanket or hot water bottle might just do the trick!

To find out more about the Sleep Number 360 Smart Bed, click here.