The awkward case

Sleeping hot in a cold house

The room says one rung and your body says another. This happens constantly and the ladder handles it badly on its own.

One garment cannot do both jobs

A cold room and a hot sleeper is the case where a single piece always loses. Buy for the room and you wake up damp at two. Buy for yourself and you are cold getting into bed and cold again at six when the heating is off.

The answer is two thin layers instead of one thick one, which is the same trick that works outdoors and for the same reason. Two layers can become one layer without you leaving the bed. A fleece one piece cannot become anything.

What to put where

Underneath, something from the Light rung: cotton jersey or modal, close but not tight. Its job is to move moisture off you, and cotton does that adequately and cheaply. Over the top, a thermal or waffle knit from the Warm rung, or a robe you can drop on the floor at midnight.

What does not work is two heavy layers. Fleece over fleece traps everything, and you will end up back where you started with more laundry.

The people this is really for

Anyone whose heating goes off on a timer. Anyone sharing a bed with someone who runs at a different temperature, which is most people. And anyone in a house where the bedroom is the coldest room and the argument about the thermostat has already been lost.