Sleeping under a blanket even when hot… a psychological thing?

Jonathan Warren

Author: Jonathan Warren

19.06.2013

News

86522179(1)Have you ever wondered why you feel the need to be under the covers even when it's too hot to do it comfortably? One contributor to popular community-based site Reddit explained, from the point of view of a psychology major, what it's all about. Under the pseudonym of that-freakin-guy, the writer explained how we have many more senses than "just the regular five you know of", and that the sensation of feeling protected is very important to us - biologically-speaking, it starts when we're in the womb as part of an "air-tight water-sealed capsule". He continued: "After we're born, things tend to change a bit. No more water surrounding us constantly, but now we have blankets which do a pretty great job in and of themselves. Blankets replicate that feeling of water around us, because they activate the somatic sense for pressure which is a fond memory we have of the womb pre-birth. It's not exactly a memory, just a part of our biological development." While he was unsure of his conclusions, the writer nonetheless opened a massive debate on the site - you can read the discussion here.