Well, why? I’ve never been able to figure it out. How does it get so darn cold under there? Nothing else in the house is that cold. Somebody please explain this to me, so I can explain it to my six year old and maintain my godlike status.
Under what pillow, the one under your head? It’s dark under there, the forced-air heating can’t get to it, and neither can your body heat.
Assumably because the pillow is a good insulator, as is the mattress.
But insulation by itself wouldn’t make the underside cold–. I think what echo’s asking is, why isn’t it room temperature, like everything else in the house?
The bed is cold when one first gets in… I bet the bed is as cold as under the pillow, before you get in.
I like Nametag and Speaker’s explanations.
EXACTLY, Ethilrist.
What, is there a heat sink under the pillows on my bed? And under the covers as well, like GfH brings up?
Remember that your body can’t sense absolute temperature, only relative temperature. So when you’re snuggled up in your nice warm bed, the spot under the pillow seems very cold by comparison.
Have you tried walking up to your pillow and sticking your hand underneath it in the middle of the day, or before anyone has gotten into the bed? I suspect that upi would find it to be approximately room temperature.
Better yet, try a thermometer, to avoid your subjective observations being biased by what you expect. Stick it under the pillow and see what it reads. Compare to room temperature. Then, when you’re all snuggled up in bed, see what it reads. I’m guess it will actually be a bit warmer than the daytime reading, although to you it will feel cooler.
[Steve Martin voice]
That’s not a pillow!
[/Steve Martin voice]
Oh, fine, I KNEW somebody would get around to facts.
Podkayne, I’ll take a calibrated thermometer home tonight (just went and got one, actually), and I’ll let you know what it reads. Just for the record, I’ll be using an ASTM 15F, calibrated from -5/215 degrees Fahrenheit.
More to follow as data accumulates.
Got home, took a reading on top of the covers - 63.5F. Put the thermometer under the pillow and waited for 5 minutes - 62F. A total of a degree and a half! Whoohoo! Not believing, I stuck my hand under the pillow, only to sense that, yep, it’s cold under there - just not as cold as I thought it was.
I guess that Nametag and Speaker for the Dead were right, as was Podkayne. It just FEELS way colder under there than it really is.
There’s nothing more exhilarating than empirical verification.
Bed-ghosts.
Scientifically proven to leach heat out from under your pillow. They stay there because they don’t get on with the monsters under the bed.
They also steal your dreams.
Hey, you actually did it! I’m impressed! Excellent follow-through. Isn’t science keen?
It’s the little things like that that make me happy.
[hi-jack]
[nit-pick]
[Steve Martin voice]
Those aren’t pillows!
[/Steve Martin voice]
[/nit-pick]
[/hi-jack]
Echo try this if you can.
I’m suspecting that * Podkane* is right about relitive tempature.
Please, if you can stay awake long enough, compare the tempatures inside the blankets, under the pillow, ontop the pillow, (where you’ve been laying) and the air temp of the room.
I’m betting the underside of the pillow will feel cooler than the room tempature, yet be slightly higher. Neither will be feel higher, nor be higher than the temps where the body has laid.
I’m awaiting your responce!
Hmm, ok.
I was a little worried about what Mrs. Echo would think when she saw me bringing a 15 inch thermometer into bed, “It’s not oral, is it?”. Fortunately, she heard me giggling and asked what was going on.
Inside the blankets - 85 F
Under my neck, inside the pillow case - 89 F
Under the pillow - 73 F
Outside the covers - 73 F
It was nice and warm under the covers and it did feel colder under the pillow than outside the covers. I can understand it being colder under the pillow with a 12 degree difference, but why not on top of the covers?
I dunno, I just work here.
Echo You ROCK, Thanks. Bless the wife for putting up with it.
I’m not too sure what it means either. But you just comfirmed a suspicion for me. (What it means however, I have no clue)
Damn, were’s Unca Cecil when ya need him?
Could it be we just expect it to be colder under the pillow than it would be in the room itself and we are just deluding ourselves? I rekkin’ it don’t matter much on a sleepless night in August when you’re looking for the cold spot.
There’s an old saying (the origin of which I know not) describing someone who is composed and unflustered as being:
“Cool as the other side of the pillow.”
I would imagine that the characteristics of the pillow case would have some effect on the sensation as well, e.g., satin fabric with it’s relatively hard and smooth finish is (probably) a better conductor or heat than, say, cotton or fleece, so it would also feel cooler to the cheek area. No evidence, just my humble opinion.