How a sleeping bag works (and how to stay warm in one)

Sleeping bags keep you warm by retaining your own body heat, while passing moisture through the bag to the atmosphere.  Most experts say that the body does not release as much heat during sleep, so the warmth your body gives off between the time you enter the bag and go to sleep has to help keep you warm through the night.  One activity that causes your body to release heat is digesting food.  On a cold night, drinking a cup of hot broth or cocoa can help you warm up your bag and lead to a comfortable night.  While retaining heat is good, sweating is not and is to be avoided at all costs.  Once you become sweaty, you are likely to become cold and miserable.  It is important to recognize when you are building up too much heat and ventilate the bag before sweating starts.  Underwear, and especially cotton underwear, retains moisture and if you get in your sleeping bag wearing the same t-shirt and underwear you wore all day, you are asking for a miserable night.   Smart campers will put on their fresh underwear for the next day as they are getting into their sleeping bag at night.  They will also put their clothes for the next morning inside their sleeping bag so that they can put on warm clothes in the morning rather than clothes that are cold.  (Yes, I know real men don’t carry “fresh” underwear for every day of their trip.  I wore the same clothes all week at Northern Tier too, but if it is really cold, you should swap underwear every day.  Air out the pair you are not wearing to make sure it is dry.  That is what I mean by fresh.  I don’t care if it is clean.)

This entry was posted on 16 November 2009 at 21:32 and is filed under Outdoors & Scouts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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