Yeah, I know, it’s the first day of spring, but it’s still cold where I live so this is in my mind.
Personally: Warming up the bed before I get in - yea! Sleeping with the blanket on - nay. Warm sheets are good, being baked all night, not so much.
So say I!
My Nan was a big believer in electric blankets. Every time I came to visit, it would be … “I’ll just pop on the nice electric blanket for you”, “No, no, it’s fine.” “Oh, it’ll be no trouble at all!”
Thing is, I actually hate having hot sheets. I love a nice cool bed to slip into. So I’d be unable to prevent her sneaking the electric blanket on because she thought I was just being polite. Later, when I went to bed I’d have to turn off the blanket, rip the sheets off, fan them for half an hour, and then get into bed when it was a decent temperature.
Of course, if I could make her still be around she could bake the bed for me all she liked 
Though she did once say she thought being 100 sounded awful, and she’d be up to 105 by this stage!
(but I’d still secretly be ripping off sheets and fanning behind her back :p)
Agreed.
Not that I wouldn’t enjoy being baked all night if I were in a really cold environment. But in addition to avoiding the possibility of overbaking, warming the bed before you get in but then turning the blanket off allows you to sleep worry-free. No concerns over weird radiation, electrical shorts, or whatever hideous and improbably scenarios you can imagine.
I have found that cats enjoy snuggling on electric blankets. From my perspective, this is another reason to pre-heat with them, but not leave them on all night.
I also like the bed — slightly — warm when getting in, but I hate the feeling of having my feet confined and for some reason an electric blanket exacerbates that feeling. The solution for me is an electric mattress pad: since the warmth comes from below, it’s not nearly as oppressive (for want of a better word). I can’t find a link that isn’t some form of commercial, but if you were to Google “electric mattress pad” you’d get all you can stomach.
The controls don’t offer enough customization. Why not incorporate a timer, too?
Warm beds are good. I favor use of electric blankets during the cold months.
When I lived in a house heated only by a woodstove, the downstairs was toasty warm, but the bedroom upstairs could be downright chilly. One night it was 10C up there. I prefer to sleep in a cool room and pile on the duvet and blankets, but this was cold! Getting into bed and trying to warm the sheets and blankets with just body heat meant lying curled up and shivering for the first ten minutes or so. Getting an electric blanket for Christmas changed all that. I could click it on a few minutes before bed and slip into lovely warm sheets. Then turn it off and drift off to sleep. If I woke up with a bit of a chill, I could turn it on for a few minutes, warm up and go back to sleep.
Now, having hit a certain age, I’m more likely to wake up too hot and kick all the blankets off for a while, but I still appreciate the luxury of pre-heated sheets.
I like flannel sheets in the winter. They are warm when you get into bed. No need for an electric blanket.
I like cool sheets too. So I vote “no” for electric blankets. Although when we have our annual few weeks of -30F, I use polar fleece sheets.
BUT…I have an electric throw (basically an electric flannel blanket) that I love cuddling up in while I watch TV when it’s cold out. My dogs love it too!
Yes. I have both mattress pads and blankets using the “Safe & Warm” technology (low voltage DC power) in my house.
the link says
so, as a regular old electric blanket user, what am I risking? 
Sorry, the description says “non-hazardous low voltage technology is safer than others on the market…”
The old style of electric blankets threw off sizable EM fields:
American Journal of Epidemiology excerpt (pdf):
“Chronic exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMFs) in the range of 50-60 Hz has been hypothesized to increase female breast cancer risk (1-3). In-home electrical appliances often provide the highest magnetic field levels experienced in the residence, with electric blankets being among the largest sources.”
Is this true or woo? The limited study that I linked to was careful to say that results of the study are not conclusive, but why take the chance?
I agree with Moooom. Warm the bed prior to getting in, but turn off EB for sleeping.
We have an electric mattress pad, but we’ve found that the blanket works better for us. Plus dual controls are a must - I’m inclined to be cold but spousal unit is always throwing blankets off. Our bedroom temp hovers in the low 60s, and he puts the ceiling fan on. The pre-heated bed is a life-saver for me… and him, for that matter. 
It’s weird - I’m always fully dressed before heading to bed, including shoes and socks, but my feet and legs always seem to feel cold. Pre-heating the bed saves me from having to wear socks to bed, only to wake up and tear them off at some point.
No, thank you! I prefer to be chilly rather than toasty when I go to bed. Even on the coldest nights, with the home heat set at 68, my feet stay outside the covers all night.
My wife has one cranked to 11 all night, snoring away. I lay awake, basting in my own juices all night, as far away on the other side of the bed as I can get. My arm actually hangs off and rests on the nightstand.
I vote “NO!” :mad:
We have an electric mattress pad, and before that we would stick an electric throw blanket under the top sheet down at the foot end. I hate having a hot bed, but when it’s cold enough it really is nice crawling in to a bed that doesn’t feel like the inside of a fridge. I turn my side on long enough to take the major chill out of the sheets, while my husband usually keeps his side on a low setting all night.
Very much “yea”…
I like a cold room and chilly sheets. I like the sheets to warm up slowly and naturally from my body heat. By the time the sheets are warm, I’m done reading for the night and ready to fall asleep.
Heated mattress pad for me. It has a feet only setting that we like. Pets love it.