Follow
1. Go to bed Warm
Jumping jacks, push ups or something similar – just enough to warm yourself up but before you start sweating. If you getin a sleeping bag when you are cold you’ll likely stay cold.
2. Fuel up
If it’s going to be a very cold night consider a pre-bedtime snack that will keep the furnace burning. Slow burning fatty snacks like cheese; avoid refined sugars or caffeine.
3. Water
You need to be well hydrated to stay warm. How much water you drink within the hour or two before you go to sleep is determined by how fast you process it. If you need to get up early drinking a lot of water before bedding down will serve as a natural alarm clock – it can be tricky to time it right though. If nature calls in the middle of the night get up and go! Holding it in makes you colder.
4. Clothing
Change as much of your clothing as possible. The clothes you wore all day will be a bit damp and cold. If you wear them to bed you’ll have to warm your cold damp clothes up before you get warm yourself.
5. Hot water bottles
You may think about filling your water bottles with hot water, wrapping them with some spare clothing and warming up your sleeping bag before you get in it.
6. Wear a hat
We all loose a lot of heat from our heads. It’s not an old wive’s tale; wear a hat to keep your feet warm.
7. Keep your nose and mouth out of the sleeping bag
Scouts often think that if they crawl all the way into their sleeping bags they’ll be warmer but the moisture in your breath will make the bag and your clothing damp. A well-designed mummy style sleeping bag will allow you to close the bag so only your nose and mouth are exposed.
8. More Below than Above
Sleeping warm means insulating your self from the ground. A good insulating pad is important.
9. Sleeping bag socks
If you get cold feet at night consider keeping a dedicated pair of socks in your sleeping bag. Thick, non constricting fleece or wool socks worn only in the sleeping bag may be the answer to warm feet.
10. Fluff up you Bag
The insulation in your sleeping bag get’s compressed when you pack it so it must be fluffed up to be effective before you get inside. Do a through job and you’ll sleep warmer.
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Comments
We just finished a campout where the lows were in the low 20’s. I spent four weeks going over gear and skills for cold weather camping. I think the scouts had a good time, and no one froze in the night. Of course some did not change cloths for bed. I think they may learn one day.
I swear by a knit cap when I go to bed. So much so that I keep one in the bottom of my sleeping bag so I never have to worry about packing it or not.