Hot water bottle
A rubber bottle of hot water used to warm the hands and feet before bed
Rubber or silicone bottle, filled with hot water and held against the hands or feet before bed. Warming the extremities pulls blood to the surface, and the heat lost there drops core body temperature, which is the signal sleep onset runs on. Heated and cooled mattress pads chase the same effect at many times the price.
People on record
Sorted by strength of stance
Does it: documented as part of their own routine. Recommends: explicitly advises other people to do it. Discusses: covered it substantively without clear personal adoption; this can include criticism or disagreement.
- Matthew WalkerRecommends
Sleep scientist · author of Why We Sleep
A bath is not the only route to that temperature drop, he told Tim Ferriss. Warming the hands and the feet does the same job, and a hot water bottle is the example he gives. He put it forward as the low-tech route, set against an expensive stimulation headband.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show #650 transcript
Aimed at the same thing
Other entries filed under sleep.
- Gear$$$Mid: Roughly $50 to $500, or up to $50/month.
WHOOP
Screenless wrist strap tracking strain, recovery and sleep
On record from 6 of 62 tracked people: 4 do it, 1 recommends it, 1 has discussed it - Gear$$$Mid: Roughly $50 to $500, or up to $50/month.
Oura Ring
Ring-worn sleep and readiness tracker
On record from 5 of 62 tracked people: 2 do it, 3 have discussed it - Gear$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Blue-light blocking glasses
Amber lenses worn in the evening: popular, and genuinely contested
On record from 4 of 62 tracked people: 3 do it, 1 has discussed it - Gear$$$Expensive: Several hundred dollars and up.
Eight Sleep
Mattress cover that actively heats and cools each side of the bed
On record from 3 of 62 tracked people: 3 do it - Gear$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Light therapy lamp
Bright artificial light for dark mornings when sunlight is not available
On record from 3 of 62 tracked people: 2 do it, 1 recommends it - Gear$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Sleep eye mask
A cloth mask that blocks light at the eyes when a room cannot be made dark
On record from 3 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it, 2 recommend it
Gear entry · notes paraphrased from cited sources, quoted excerpts copied from the transcript they link to. Not medical advice. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or reviewed by anyone listed. How this works.