The first time when you do go camping you will be overwhelmed at how cold it can really get at night, it certainly overwhelmed myself when I went after a long time, and totally forgot about the temperature drop and how cold it can get.
So, How To Make Sleeping Bags Warmer?
- How Does A Sleeping Bag Work
- Do Sleeping Bags Keep You War
- How does the heat stay trapped in the sleeping bag
- Different Insulation Types of sleeping bags
- What Is The Down Fill In A Sleeping Bag
- Down Fill Sleeping Bag
- Synthetic Sleeping Bags
- Is It Warmer To Wear Clothes In A Sleeping bag
- What Is GSM In A Sleeping Bag
- How To Increase Sleeping Bag Warmth
The most obvious thing to do is to wrap up warm during the day and night and to invest in a sleeping bag that keeps you as warm as possible at night. What you need to know is what kind of sleeping bag to use and how can you make the sleeping bag warmer. When you’re looking to buy your first sleeping bag, look out for the kind of material that is used to produce the bag, and remember that wearing the right clothing gear will certainly make a massive difference in staying warm.
It’s quite easy to look at the price of a sleeping bag and think to go cheaper would be better but I would highly recommend spending a bit of money and invest in a sleeping bag that will last for some time and keep most of the heat trapped in your sleeping bag.
There are ways around making your sleeping bag warmer and hopefully, in this post, I will high light some techniques that can certainly work.
How Does A sleeping Bag Work
Sleeping bags are a bed away from home, the object of the bag is to keep you warm while you sleep at night while camping in the woods, or countryside or even hiking in the mountains. The sleeping bag works by keeping you warm by trapping and holding dead air that is not circulating next to your body.
With your body it produces its own body heat, that heat that it generates warms up the air and the sleeping bag forms a barrier between the colder air outside and the cold ground. The less air space there is to heat the faster you can warm up.
Do Sleeping Bags Keep You Warm
In a short answer, sleeping bags are designed to keep you warm, the material that is used to keep you warm during the night is to help keep the heat from your body trapped.
How does the heat stay trapped in the sleeping bag
With the sleeping bag, the air around your body is trapped in the bag itself, the heat that is produced from your body’s metabolism is kept within the areas that your body is producing that heat. The sleeping bag acts as a barrier between say the cold air from outside and the air coming from the cold ground, if the space is smaller it warms up the sleeping bag alot quicker and retains the heat.
Different Insulation Types of sleeping bags
When it comes to buying a sleeping bag for your camping trip, it will all depend on the type of bag you buy and what kind of camping you will be doing. If your going camping during the summer time then using a sleeping bag will differ to going camping during the winter time or even going camping up in the mountains.
Each sleeping bag synthetics will differ the materials will differ aswell. The more high tech the material the warmer the sleeping bag and it will be because it will cater to your needs for the type of camping you’re going to do.
What Is The Down Fill In A Sleeping Bag
When it comes to choosing a sleeping bag, there are a number of things you need to understand to know what would be the right choice for your bag. The main thing is to understand when you will be camping as in what season of the year, the reason for this will determine the choice of your sleeping bag. In simple terms when it comes to buying a sleeping bag keep in mind about the filling in the sleeping bag that should determine your buying choice.
The filling in the sleeping bag helps trap your body heat, in the bag filling itself which helps keep you warm. There are two types of filling, down and synthetic, both can provide pockets for air to settle and trap that heat and both of them have their negatives and positives.
Down Fill Sleeping Bag
To understand how natures insulator can really work well, the down is the light plumage that lays under feathers and right next to the duck or gooses skin, it works as a good insulator. These plumes are made up of ultra-fine fibres that radiate from its centre, with smaller filaments that branch off each fibre. The actual plumes 3D structure creates a pocket of air that traps the heat and keeps you warm.
The fill power is what determines the quality of the down, the higher the quality the more space it will loft. A high quality down is super warm and super light, so if your sleeping bag has that kind of fill you will certainly be warm at night. If you’re looking for a good quality sleeping bag, look at the quality of the down, the sleeping bag might be a little pricey but it will last at least 10 years, so a good investment made once can last you many years or nights of camping.
Synthetic Sleeping Bags
Synthetic sleeping bags are filled out with either short staple fibres or long continuous filaments. With the short staple fibres, they tend to copy the 3D down plume structure and they tend to compress together well but with an issue with longevity. Eventually, they tend to break down sooner with being restuffed.
With the continuous filament, they weave long filament of variable diameter to create a durable high loft insulation but with an expense of it being compressed.
Is It Warmer To Wear Clothes In A Sleeping bag
When sleeping at night, you certainly won’t be able to sleep in a pair of shorts and t-shirt or even your pyjamas, due to the temperature drop at night. When you wear items of clothing it helps insulate more heat in the sleeping bag. So for example, if you were to wear a pair of long johns to sleep you have automatically insulated the heat and trapped it between you and the sleeping bag material aswell as your skin.
The kind of clothes will depend on how warm you wish to be at night, there seems to be a myth going around saying that it’s warmer if you sleep naked, honestly do not believe that at all. When you wrap up at night, the kind of clothes you wear will make a difference in the warmth of your sleeping bag. You want to make sure that you wear clothes where you do not sweat at night either, otherwise, you will end up with hands and feet that are cold while all the heat that your core body gives out will be trapped around that area.
What Is GSM In A Sleeping Bag
When it comes to GSM it stands for Grams Per Square Meter, this is referred to the thickness and density of the sleeping bag filling. If the number is alot higher then the sleeping bag will be alot more warmer. But do bare in mind that some sleeping bags do not tell you about the GSM so you might need to view the materials of the sleeping bag.
How To Increase Sleeping Bag Warmth
There are some simple little tricks that help you sleep alot more warmer at night in the sleeping bag, It’s not just about wearing clothes it’s other things that certainly do help. To ensure a good nights sleep in a warm sleeping bag follow the list below:
Your bag be a good fit: With this, I mean that you don’t necessarily need a sleeping bag that will handle -40 degree temperatures, but a sleeping bag that you can fit in and be able to toss and turn but still enough space to trap the heat and allow the heat to circulate in the bag.
Snack before bed: Having a midnight snack will certainly help keep your body heat moving around your body while you sleep which will keep you warm.
Cover Your Head: If you are not used to using the head part of your sleeping bag, make sure that you do cover your head when you sleep at night as alot of heat comes off the crown of your skull trapping that helps keep the warmth in your body.
Dress to allow space: Make sure that you don’t wear too many clothes and sweat out your sleeping bag, just enough to help trap the heat, and to make sure that the insulation does not get compressed too much which will allow the heat to escape.
Keep your feet warm: Make sure you do wear a pair of socks some warm thick ones would work well.
A sleeping pad: Using a sleeping pad to lay the sleeping bag on certainly makes a difference and helps, keep the bag off the ground so that you can avoid the cold air coming into the sleeping bag.