Staying Warm in a Sleeping Bag
Staying warm and comfortable in low temperatures is
more than a matter of simply buying the right sleeping bag with excellent
ratings and some professional endorsements.
A quality sleeping bag will certainly go a long way towards keeping
yourself nestled in a pleasant envelope of body heat, but you would do well
to take extra precautions and follow some simple tips to ensure that you
aren’t shivering for dear life as the temperature drops.
·
Don’t
Invite Moisture. Sleeping
bag interiors lose much of their warmth retention capability if you’re
soaking wet, particularly if the bag is filled with down, with is very
susceptible to dampness. Make
sure you dry off, particularly if you’ve gotten caught outside in rain or
snow, or consider changing into a new set of dry clothes.
Also, avoid breathing into the bag, as your breath contains moisture
that may be trapped within.
·
Dress
For Warmth. This doesn’t
mean piling on the clothing layers, as body heat needs to escape into the
bag, where it can be captured and stored in the bag’s insulation.
Wear thick socks to keep your feet, which are a primary avenue for
the escape of heat from your body, warm and toasty.
Other escape routes for body heat are your head and your hands, for
which you can wear a hat and gloves, respectively.
·
Prepare Yourself. Make sure
that you are eating and drinking properly so that your body produces its own
heat without any problems.
Before you enter the sleeping bag, make sure you’ve emptied your bladder –
the waste water that collects could draw heat away from your body.
Run in place a little or do some light aerobic exercises to get your
body temperature up a bit, though not to the point that you start sweating.
Like starting up a cold engine, doing this will place your body in a
better position to produce the warmth it needs for the sleeping bag to trap.
·
Prepare Your Bag. Straight
out of the compression sack, your sleeping bag may need some time to expand,
particularly if it is a bag with down fill.
Fluff it and spread it out so that it reaches your desired loft.
If you feel that your feet won’t be sufficiently insulated, stash the
bottom of your sleeping bag in your backpack for added protection.
·
Fill
the Bag If Necessary.
Sometimes, due to variances in height, you may find yourself with some extra
space in your bag, which you don’t want too much of, as it’ll be harder to
heat overall. Try stuffing a
sweater or some layer of winter clothing in the empty space to plug it up.
Alternately, you could try heating water, pouring it into a water
bottle, wrapping the bottle with some clothing and placing it in with you.
Not only will you have an additional heat source in the bag, but
you’ll also have clean water to drink in the morning.
·
Use A
Sleeping Pad. Many sleeping
bags do not come with heavy insulation underneath the bag.
Invest in a sleeping pad to place between the floor and the bag,
which will prevent the bottom of the bag from releasing heat into the
ground.
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