Are Electric Blankets Safe? What You Need to Know

Alternative to Electric Blanket

With the potential dangers associated with electric blankets, the question becomes, “are electric blankets our only option?” Fortunately, we are not without alternatives to a heating pad or heated blankets. If you have

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If you are concerned about the safety of using an electric blanket, there are quite a few options and even safer alternatives to help keep you warm.

Below are a few safe options to explore.

Throw Blankets

That's right.— Try a good, old-fashioned, non-electric blanket to get snug as a bug. This continues to be the easiest way to warm up your bed and keep you warm all night long. When it's time to choose a blanket, make sure it will help you stay warm.

The warmest materials for blankets are cotton, wool, cashmere, and fleece. You can always double down on warmth by making sure your bed sheets are made from these warmer materials. Just be sure to follow the washing instructions with those wool and cashmere ones.

If one is warm, then two will certainly be warmer. If you're still cold, keep piling on the blankets until you're completely warm.

Water-Heated Blanket

A study found that an increased core temperature can cause a significant decline in sleep efficiency – the total time a person is asleep in bed. This can occur by creating a continuously heated environment, interfering with our body's sleep cycles.

With the help of the best cooling blanket, you can improve your sleep! The Cool Luxe is a 15-pound cooling weighted blanket that helps you settle into deep sleep that won't trap your body heat. How? Well, it circulates channels of water to neutralize ambient temperature from 55-115°F. It can be used as a heating blanket or weighted blanket.

Why Water? Water has natural thermal advantages that make our temperature-regulated weighted blanket very effective in heating and cooling.

Flannel Sheet

To help you keep your bed warm, try removing your standard sheets and replacing them with flannel sheets. Flannel traps heat in insulating air pockets. So, when in bed, your body heat is trapped, and the pockets help retain it. Basically, it insulates you while you’re sleeping.

Did You Know: Even though you aren’t in your bed, the pockets continue to retain the warm air.

Pajamas

Sometimes a warm set of pajamas is all it takes to keep cozy when it's cold out. There are plenty of fabrics to choose from to keep warm for a great night's sleep. Flannel, wool, cotton, fleece, silk, and thermal are just a few that help you stay warm during the cold weather, making getting out of bed during the night a little easier.

Sleeping Tip: If you’re concerned about getting too warm, flannel is the most breathable listed above.

Like Ralphie in the movie "Christmas Story," you could even channel your inner childhood and wear a bright pink bunny suit with big floppy ears to stay warm.

Sleeping with Socks

As strange as it seems, there are benefits to sleeping with socks. When thinking about wearing socks to sleep, it’s expected to think your feet would overheat. But, in reality, doing so may assist in lowering the body’s core temperature regulation, helping you achieve better sleep.

Not only does wearing them help you get better sleep, but a study reported that individuals who sleep with them fell asleep faster. [6]

Do You Wear Socks in Bed? Twenty-eight percent of people love wearing socks when they go to bed while 44% mentioned they hate going to bed with them on. [7]

Hot Water Bottles

Regardless of how old-fashioned it may be, the hot water bottle is still effective in keeping you warm. Holding a plastic container with boiling hot water at the foot of your bed is hardly peril-free.

In addition to the safety risks associated with using this antiquated method, there is also a time limit to the efficacy of this method.

The heat dissipates with every minute the hot water bottle is exposed to the laws of thermodynamics. But you won't have to worry about setting your alarm because once the heat wears off, the cold will wake you up!

Sleep Tip: Are you interested in giving this method a try? Leave the hot water bottle underneath your blanket for approximately 5-10 minutes before you plan to enter the bed. At this point, it's going to be nice and warm!

While there are concerns about the safety of electric blankets, if you have a new electric blanket, there’s only a minimal risk of fires or burns.

The same can’t be said for old, damaged, or improperly used electric blankets, which are responsible for the majority of incidents of electric blankets causing fires and burning people.

If you like sleeping with an electric blanket on your bed and don’t know how old your electric blanket is, consider getting a new one because:

• New electric blankets include safety features, such as a rheostat control, that reduce the risk of fire and burns.
• According to Columbia University, 99 percent of all electric blanket fires are caused by those that are 10 years old or older.
• Older blankets may not have internal temperature controls to turn them off before they get too hot.

Keep reading to learn more about the potential dangers of electric blankets and how to avoid them.

How to avoid potential safety risks

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There are steps you can take to reduce risks from a potentially dangerous heated blanket, including:

• Look for a tag indicating that the blanket has been tested and approved by a nationally recognized independent testing agency, such as Underwriters Laboratories (UL).
• Don’t buy a secondhand electric blanket.
• Avoid blankets that show signs of excessive wear, such as tears, discolorations, scorch marks, frayed electrical cord, or damaged temperature control.
• Don’t use an electric blanket that has wires and attachments that don’t fit tightly and properly.
• Hold the blanket up to the light. If you see embedded heating wires that are damaged or displaced, don’t use the blanket.

How to use an electric blanket safely

Even though modern heating blankets are considered generally safe, they should be used correctly. Suggestions for proper use include:

• When you’re not using your blanket, turn it off.
• Don’t use more than one electric blanket at a time.
• Don’t use an electric blanket and a heating pad at the same time.
• To avoid accidental switching on, don’t plug your blanket into an electrical outlet that’s controlled by a light switch.
• Don’t wash an electric blanket.
• Don’t dry-clean an electric blanket.
• If your blanket doesn’t have a timer, turn it off before you go to sleep.
• Don’t lie or sit on top of an electric blanket.
• Don’t tuck the edges of an electric blanket under the mattress.
• Don’t pile pillows, blankets, books, toys, or other items on top of an electric blanket.
• Avoid using both a hot water bottle and an electric blanket at the same time.
• Don’t plug in or switch on a wet electric blanket.
• Don’t use an electric blanket with an adjustable, hospital-style bed or a waterbed.
• When storing an electric blanket, gently roll it or hang it up. If you must fold it, fold with as few creases as possible.
• Don’t turn on, or leave on, an electric blanket that’s been folded or balled up.

If you have any concerns about an electric blanket, unplug it. It can still be used as a regular blanket.

The electric blanket and cancer connection

For years, the correlation between electric and magnetic fields (EMFs) and cancer have been debated.

According to the National Cancer Institute, electric blankets are a source for extremely low frequency electric and magnetic fields (ELF-EMFs), as are power lines, electrical wiring, and electrical appliances such as hair dryers and shavers.

The National Cancer Institute indicates that “no mechanism by which ELF-EMFs or radiofrequency radiation could cause cancer has been identified.”

Berkeley Wellness also indicates that there’s “no convincing evidence that typical exposures to EMFs pose any risk” of causing cancer.

Electric blankets and diabetes

If you have diabetes, your doctor may discourage your use of electric blankets and heating pads.

A complication of diabetes for some people is neuropathy (nerve damage). This may affect your ability to feel if an electric blanket or heating pad is inappropriately hot.

If you don’t dial down or remove an electric blanket or heating pad that’s too hot, it could result in overheating and even burns.

According to the Mayo Clinic, if you have diabetes and want to use an electric blanket, consider using it to warm up your bed before bedtime and then turn off the blanket or remove it before getting into the bed.

Electric blankets and poor circulation

If you have poor blood circulation, you could be insensitive to heat.

Consult with your doctor before using an electric blanket or heating pad for the same reasons mentioned above for people with diabetes and neuropathy.

Takeaway

New electric blankets are a minimal safety risk, but old, damaged, or improperly used electric blankets can pose a risk for fire or burns.

Electric blankets can be a factor in overheating for pregnant women, and many health organizations recommend discontinuing use during pregnancy.

Although there have been many studies regarding the relationship between the extremely low frequency electric and magnetic fields (ELF-EMFs) generated by electric blankets and cancer, no proof of a cause and effect has been found.

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