“I went camping and it was great, it’s just I was really cold.” A sentence many campers mention at least once during their outdoor careers. Let’s face it, once we are outdoors we are subject to the mercy of nature and at times nature just doesn’t want us to enjoy ourselves. Luckily for us these days we have ways and technology which enable us to endure even the coldest climates.
Here are some simple yet effective ways to warm yourself up.
1. Layers – If you have clothes, then layer up. The more layers you have the more air will get trapped and heated up around your body. This in turn will make you feel toasty and will help you stay warm even at night.
2. No Cotton – Cotton has it’s place, but it’s not in the outdoors. The reason being is that cotton holds moisture, takes a while to dry and draws heat away from your body. It might feel nice but if you are planning on staying warm think of grabbing yourself synthetic materials or best of all wool. Especially Marino Wool. Wool not only keeps you warm, it dries quickly and has a wicking effect which draws moisture away from your body. Best of all it is easy to clean and does not smell.
Click image for more information and to purchase a Woolen clothes (goes to Amazon)
3. Go to the toilet before sleep – Not only is it a pain to wake up halfway through the night and climb out of a warm sleeping bag to go for a pee but also if you are holding it in your body is exerting energy to keep the urine at body temperature. This energy could have otherwise been used to warm up the rest of you body
4. Get a barrier between yourself and the ground – While sleeping you will be in contact with the ground which is one of the major ways you loose heat during the night. If you can get a mattress or even a layer of vegetation (grass) you will save a lot of energy which will be used at warming the rest of your body up. I had the opportunity to use a few inflatable mattresses in my time and swear by the Exped. Comfortable, easy to store and insulated. Click the image for more information and to buy (link goes to Amazon).
5. Do simple exercises in your sleeping bag – There are 2 main types of sleeping bags, one are down (feathers) and the other are synthetic. Although they are both meant to keep you warm at night time they have 2 very different specific uses. In saying that a really good way to get warm in either one is to raise your body temperature through some movement in the sleeping bag. This will store the energy inside the bag and warm you up. Exercises such as push ups, crunches will do the job just fine.
6. Fill up a water bottle with hot water – One of the simplest and most effective ways to get your sleeping bag nice and warm is to get a hot water bottle and place it inside the bag with you. This will raise the temperature inside the bag and make you feel nice and warm. Before attempting this make sure that your bottle can withstand hot water. I always recommend the Nalgene as it’s one of the most robust bottles you can take out with you camping.
Click image for more information and to purchase a Nalgene (goes to Amazon)
If you found this article interesting and helpful make sure you Share it with your friends. Additionally if you have any other suggestions I could include in this post let me know in the comments below.
Thank you
Konrad
Show the Cold who"s Boss using these simple techniques to warm yourself up
