Is It Bad to Sleep With Your Feet Hanging off the Bed?


Feet Hanging off the Bed

Do you sleep well because your feet are hanging out of the bed? Is it actually comfortable for you? Or do you feel that it’s more like a problem for you?

Sleeping with your feet hanging out of the bed is not bad at all, if you don’t feel that it is a problem to you. It might be just fine, if you feel that it’s relaxing for you and it won’t cause any pain to you. There might be some benefits from sleeping your feet out of the bed, especially if your feet are not covered.

So for first get to this:

Some Great Benefits of Sleeping With Your Feet Hanging off the Bed

Whether we can benefit from sleeping with feet hanging off the bed differs from person to person, because no two people are the same when it comes to sleeping.

The benefits of sleeping your feet out of the end of the bed are mostly related to your body temperature. Some of us feel it’s much nicer to sleep when our feet feel warm, and some even want to wear socks during the night. It might feel nicer and easier to fall asleep when the feet and the whole body is warmer.

But, to many others, it feels much better to keep the feet cool during the night.

Actually, your body temperature may rise so high that you might automatically move your feet outside from under your duvet during your sleep. Or you might even move so much during the night that you wake up with your feet hanging out of your bed.

In this case you probably feel quite comfortable when your feet are out of the bed. It might even feel quite relaxing, and maybe it’s just a variation for your normal sleeping position. (If you don’t do so every night.)

But, in most cases, it might not be so comfortable. If that’s the case for you, then you probably don’t want to sleep like that. If you find out that during the night you move little by little and end up with your feet hanging out of the bed, what can you do?

How to Keep Your Feet on the Bed?

It might be a problem if you feel that it’s not comfortable for you to wake up with your feet off the bed. Or if you are for some reason scared of sleeping with your feet off the bed, but you still often end up in that sleeping position, even you don’t want to.

Some people may actually be really worried about something bad happening when they sleep their feet off the bed. For example, if you have a dog, you might be worried that your dog will bite your feet when you are sleeping, if your feet are hanging off the bed.

Or you might be worried that your spouse may walk around in the dark, and he or she will walk straight into your feet if your feet are hanging off the bed. It might be very startling to both of you.

So, it’s quite understandable to be worried about such a thing. But what specific actions can you take to solve this issue and not wake up with your feet hanging off the bed anymore?

Is your bed big enough for you?

Often this might be the main problem. It is a very irritating feeling if you can’t fit comfortably in your bed and often find out that your feet are out of the bed. Of course it’s normal to move a little while sleeping, but if you often wake up with your feet out of bed, it might be a sign that your bed is way too small.

Which size of a bed you should have?

Are you a single sleeper and want to have a bed that’s just the right size for you? Or maybe you and your spouse sleep in the same bed, and you want to sleep in a bed that suits both of you well? There are a few standard bed sizes, of which you can choose the right one for your use.

What options are there?

The four standard bed sizes differ a little from one country to another, but usually they are called:

  1. Double or Full bed, usually with dimensions of 54 inches (1,37 meters) wide and 75 inches (1,91 meters) long. This one might just fit two people, but if you are looking for a good solution for a space problem, this is most likely just too small for two. This size might be a better fit for the single sleeper.
  2. Usually, the next standard bed size is called Queen bed. It is 60 inches (1,52 meters) wide and 80 inches (2,03 meters) long. This one is probably a much better fit for two adults, but still, a bed that’s just 80 inches long might be too short for you, if you often have problems with keeping your feet on the bed.
  3. The third standard size is called King size. So, this already sounds much better than a regular one! It is usually 76 inches (1,93 meters) wide and 80 inches (2,03 meters) long, which means that if you are of average height, with this bed your problem should be solved. But wait, there is even more…
  4. California King size is the ultimate solution! Its standard measures are 72 inches (1,83 meters) wide and even 84 inches (2,13 meters) long! So, with a bed this size, most of us will solve the problem of feet hanging off the bed!

But what if you are so tall that an 84-inch bed is not long enough for you? Unfortunately, the standard sizes for beds are those described above. If you are tall and feel like you need a longer bed, the best solution is to order your own measure-made bed with the right measurements.

But will the bed size always solve the problem of your feet hanging out of the bed?

Not necessarily.

As mentioned, one possible cause for this problem might be if you move too much while sleeping. When you move during the night and you wake up with your legs out of the bed, it might be a sign that you need to solve this problem another way. But how?

First we need to know the answer to the question:

Why do you move so much during the night that you wake up with your feet hanging off the bed?

If you want to make sure that your feet will not be hanging off the bed when you wake up, you might first want to analyze your sleeping habits and try to figure out why you move so much that you wake up in this position.

You might feel too much pressure on some parts of your body, and that might be the reason why you move a lot during the night. Then, at some point, you might end up the position where your feet are hanging off the bed.

Another reason might be that you need your feet to be in a cooler environment, rather than in the warmth under the cover. Some people feel that their body temperature rises too much when they sleep. You might be one of them (or us). Your feet may feel like they are in need of more cooling, and that is why you will move them out from the cover and off the bed.

When you fall asleep, your body temperature is different from what it was when you were awake, and it doesn’t stay exactly the same during the whole night. Of course, the temperature in the room has its effects too.

So how can you solve the temperature issue, if you don’t want to wake up with your feet hanging out of the bed?

If you notice that the main reason for ending up in this position is that your body – and especially your feet – need to be in cooler, you might

  1. set your cover so that it won’t be on your feet. You might also want to
  2. set up some kind of an edge to the end of your bed and maybe to the sides too.

Then you simply can’t move your feet off the bed. You may think about using a soft edge material if you are worried that you might accidentally hit your foot on the edge during the night.

At times, some people feel that when they wake up with their legs or foot off the bed, the legs or feet feel swollen. What might be the reason for this?

It is because of the blood should flow freely in your feet. When your feet are hanging off the edge of the bed in an uncomfortable position, the blood flow might be disturbed or slowed down. This is why your feet might feel swollen.

That might be very annoying and you likely don’t want to feel that when you wake up.

How to make sure that your feet won’t swell during the sleep?sleeping on floor

  1. Get the edges for your bed, so that you can’t raise your feet over them.
  2. Try to sleep on the floor. What a crazy idea! But you can at least try it!
  3. When settling down to sleep, try to position yourself in the middle of the bed, so you won’t be likely to move your feet off the bed.

Back to the Original Question: Is It Really Bad to Sleep Your Feet Hanging off the Bed?

It really depends. In many cases it doesn’t bother the sleeper at all, but you need to figure out a solution if it is a big problem for you.

If you think it is disrupting your or your spouse’s sleep, it is probably an issue that needs to be solved. You may try any of the tips described above.

If you feel that none of these tips can solve your problem and you still suffer from this issue, it’s better to look for professional help. There might be a solution that you haven’t even thought about yourself!

On the other hand, if you feel that it is not a problem to you, then you can happily continue this sleeping habit.

There are so many different sleeping habits and positions that no one can say if any of them is right or wrong for you. It depends on each of us, and how we feel that this specific sleeping habit affects us.

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