Long ago, when someone wrote The Night Before Christmas, they understood that for seniors going to bed with a head covering in the winter can be a good idea. “And Ma in her kerchief and I in my cap, had just settled down for a long winter’s nap.” I’ve asked around. Brother Ernie actually wears a cap at night which is understandable since he doesn’t have a full complement of hair anymore. I, with plenty of hair, often cover my head for a while when I go to bed on a cold night with the blanket until the rest of me has warmed up. Then I come out because I like to breathe fresh air.
My internist, who is more than ten years younger than me, turns up the heat in his office, saying he is always cold. If he’s cold, how about his patients who sit on the table half-naked while he is completely clothed with a white doctor coat over all? Poor baby! I ask him if he wears socks to bed like I do. No, but he wears long johns under his pajama bottoms! I like him because he tends to tell it like it is.
For some years now I’ve gone to bed during the winter with socks on, having read that you sleep better if you have warm feet. After a while, once the feet were warm, off came the socks because they annoyed me. Now I’ve moved to a new phase in which my feet are happy to keep the socks on all night. Brother Bob wears slippers (!) to bed. To each his own.
Old, cold folks abound. They want to wear sweaters in the nursing homes despite the fact that they are usually kept warmer than most homes just because old folks are always cold. I read in the Professional Guide to Signs & Symptoms: Usually developing gradually, this increased sensitivity to cold temperatures reflects damage to the body’s temperature-regulating mechanism, based on interactions between the hypothalamus and the thyroid gland. Typically, the symptom results from a tumor or a hormonal deficiency. In elderly patients, cold intolerance reflects normal age-related physiologic changes.
One of my very best Christmas gifts this year was a set of Sonoma long johns, apparently no longer available a Kohl’s. Made of a nylon/cotton blend I absolutely love them – they are like a second skin. They wash like a dream and I’ve worn them almost constantly since Christmas. Both indoors and outdoors they are a blessing. I note at Amazon there are similar Cuddl Duds long johns in black or white, on sale for 19.95.
Omigosh, look what I’ve done. I wanted to share the wonderfulness of these undies and I seem to have done it. It’s not the easiest thing in the world and the little picture seems to come and go without apparent reason. Lord, help me.