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Electric
Blankets: Nine Reasons They May Be the Best Thing Ever
Why didn't someone write this article years
ago?
If they had, I may not have lived for so long without an electric
blanket.
Instead,
I have suffered -- that's right, suffered -- with conventional
or non-electric blankets for most of my life. Until recently.
Yes, I finally got smart and bought an electric blanket several
months ago. Oh, dear electric blanket, where have you
been all my life?
Yes, I'll admit it. My deep passion for electric blankets
is a bit unusual. But after you finish reading this article
(and for your own good, I want you to read every word) you
may develop love for the blankets, too. Don't say I didn't
warn you.
Below are my nine reasons why electric blankets could take
conventional blankets into a back alley and beat the stuffing
out of them anytime.
1.
Eliminates the shock of getting into a cold bed
With
conventional blankets, they themselves do not provide any
warmth. They only act as insulators or holders of the heat
your body makes.
This means that when you first get into bed at night, the
bed will be cold no matter how many blankets are on the bed.
It will take a few minutes for your body to warm the bed.
This shock of coldness upon getting into bed stimulates your
body and brain, as opposed to relaxing it. In addition, when
you move around at night you likely move into cold areas of
the bed, which also can stimulate you and make sleeping less
sound.
An electric blanket, on the other hand, creates and provides
its own warmth. An electric blanket can be turned on before
going to bed (either manually or automatically) so that getting
into bed is an enjoyable and warm experience. This helps to
calm your body down and get to sleep easier. Also, when moving
around at night, you will find no cold areas of the bed that
will stimulate you, allowing you to stay in a relaxed state
and sleep better.
2. Easier to move around in
bed
I love how lightweight and thin an electric blanket is compared
to conventional blankets. Depending on how cold it is, you
may need up to 8-20 pounds of conventional blankets / comforters
on top of you to keep you warm at night. It's no wonder I
felt constricted and found it hard to move in bed when I used
conventional blankets.
By contrast, most electric blankets weight less than four
pounds and will likely keep you warmer than conventional blankets
/ comforters can. Moving around in bed is so easy with an
electric blanket because you don't have a small mountain of
blankets weighing down on you.
3. Getting warmer
or cooler is easy
Sometimes you want your bed to be warmer or cooler than you
normally have it, such as if you are sick and feel abnormally
cold or warm.
If you use conventional blankets and want to be warmer you'll
have to find another blanket and put it on the bed. If you
want to be cooler, you'll have to take a blanket off or find
a less thick blanket. That's a lot of work and can disrupt
your getting a good night's sleep!
With an electric blanket you simply adjust the thermostat
warmer or cooler. You can do this in about five seconds without
even getting out of bed.
4. Less expensive than conventional
blankets
Most electric blankets cost under $60. However, a typical
comforter that probably won't provide the same warmth as an
electric blanket usually costs at least $100 and can go much
higher.
5.
Can reduce your heating bill
I found that
when using conventional blankets, I needed to use my home's
central heat a lot at night. The reason is that while the blankets
did a fair job of keeping my body warm, my head was not as lucky.
It was, of course, above the blankets and did not benefit from
them very much.
As a result, I relied on my heater to keep my head from getting
cold. My electric blanket, however, not only keeps my body warm,
but it also keeps my head warm because it produces its own heat,
unlike conventional blankets.
Even though my head is above the electric blanket, the heat
generated from the blanket extends up to my head to keep it
warm. As a result, I am able to keep the central heat at a lower
temperature at night which saves me a lot of money. Hooray!
And, yes, it's true that an electric blanket uses power, unlike
conventional blankets. However, it usually costs less than 30
cents a night to operate an electric blanket. That's far less
money than is required for any other type of heating source,
especially central heating.
6. Health benefits
Some people claim that electric blankets are unhealthy. For
example, they say the blankets can cause cancer. There is no
study that I have seen to show this to be anywhere near conclusive.
Anyways, millions of people use electric blankets every night
and we are not all falling dead.
Others claim that the blankets cause dry skin. This may or may
not be true. I have had dry skin my whole life and have not
noticed any increased dryness since I've started using an electric
blanket. (Dare I say my skin is less dry?)
In fact, I claim that conventional blankets are unhealthy. How
so? It's simple. If electric blankets let you get a better,
more comfortable night's sleep, as I believe they do, then they
indirectly boost your immunity, energy level and mood. Now that's
healthy!
7. Happier couples
Some electric blankets are made for two people. They have separate
temperature controllers for each side. This can mean the end
to fighting that can takes place when one person is cold and
the other is too warm or over who gets the blankets in the middle
of a cold night. Electric blankets can allow both people to
sleep at their own preferred ideal temperature. In other words,
electric blankets can be a marriage saver.
8. Takes up less space when
storing
Prior to getting my electric blanket, I used at least of couple
of comforters / blankets in the winter on my bed. In the warmer
months, storing these blankets took up a lot of precious space
in one of my closets. By contrast, with its thinness and low
bulk, storing my electric blanket takes up only a small fraction
that the other blankets did.
9. Making the bed is easier and faster
If you use conventional blankets, making the bed can be needlessly
difficult and time consuming because you have to deal with the
weight and the bulk of the blankets. But an electric blanket
is lightweight and thin, which means that making the bed is
a snap by comparison.
Now there are some downsides of electric blankets that you should
know about. Electric blankets that are older than 10 years or
have been damaged, creased or frayed can be a fire hazard. In
fact, thousands of fires a year are caused by faulty electric
blankets. However, if you take good care of your blanket, follow
user instructions and replace it at least every 10 years, the
threat is minimal.
External
resources
Electricblanket.net
Wikipedia
article
National
Cancer Institute article
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