Heated Mattress Pads - Electric Heating Bed Mattress Covers

Heated mattresses are a common way to ward off winter chills to make sleeping more comfortable throughout the winter months. These are used by people of all ages to stay warm at night or, in other cases, to combat some of the aches and pains associated with some medical conditions or the general wear and tear of everyday life.

They can be turned on early before you climb into bed to warm it up or left on all throughout the night if you choose to, and some do, and will both aid you in getting a restful night's sleep but also relax your muscles and destress you after a long day.

They are available with numerous features and style variations which offer extra ease of use and comfort over a plain topper with no extra bells and whistles. You can find low voltage cordless electric mattress pads or corded versions which feature adjustable heat settings and auto shutoff safety features which cover the entire bed area. You can also find those which focus heat to various parts of the bed, so if your feet are cold but the rest of you feels fine, you can control them so they only heat up the lower part of the bed rather than the whole thing.

These heatable mattress covers have come a long way since the original electric blankets hit the market offering greatly improved functionality and better safety features so you can continue to enjoy your nice warm bed long after making your purchase.

There are some great reasons why people buy heated electric mattress underblankets, ranging from saving money to alleviating medical conditions. Some of the benefits are outlined below.

Insomnia affects millions of people and just about every one of us has been through one of those nights where you just can not get to sleep or get back to sleep after waking up in the middle of the night. Sometimes it's the cold which keeps you from dozing off, and usually an extremity like cold hands or feet. Electric blankets can remove this as an issue and some even have heating zones so you can specifically target an area so as, for example, to warm up just your feet.

Regardless of sleep issues, heated mattress toppers are a great way for everyone to warm up the bed before they go to bed every night, taking that initial chill off of the sheets and helping you get to sleep faster and stay warm throughout the night.

Some people use them solely as bed warming under blankets, turning them on 10 - 20 minutes before they go to bed and then switching them off again before they get between the sheets.

Others set them to a lower temperature and keep them on all night to provide a constant heat until morning. Whichever way suits you best, these heatable electric mattress covers will keep you snug and warm all night.

You can also save money using a heatable mattress topper as many users take the opportunity to turn down their heater thermostat several degrees over night.

Experts say you save around 3% off the cost of your heating bill for every 1 degree you turn down your optimal thermostat setting, so you have the opportunity to save some big bucks each winter.

Electric underblanket retailers claim you should be able to turn down your heating up to 15% lower giving you the chance to potentially save quite a bit of cash. Turning down the heat 7 degrees over night could lower your bill by 20% for those 8 hours per day you spend sleeping.

The therapeutic effects of heat is nothing to new to anyone who has ever suffered from a joint or muscle injury, or who has a medical condition such as arthritis which is alleviated by the application of heat or a rise in ambient temperature.

Electric heated mattress pads are a great benefit to anyone with these kinds of medical conditions as they allow you to get a better night's sleep by alleviating those aches and pains at night which make it hard to fall asleep and harder to stay asleep.

They are also great when you are feeling poorly through catching some kind of flu or other bug going around your locale.

Make sure when you buy a heatable electric underblanket that you are buying the right size for your bed. These are not a one size fits all solution but rather, like buying a normal wool blanket or bedcover sheet, you have to buy the corresponding size to match your bed if you want it to fit correctly. So, you want to buy a queen size electric mattress pad to fit a queen sized bed and king size heated mattress topper for a king size bed and so on.

There are some things to be cautious about when thinking about buying a one of these for yourself or for someone else. Safety is an important consideration as there are a number of conditions under which their use is not recommended. Be sure to read the manufacturers instructions on how to treat your purchase so as not to endanger the user or damage the product itself.

Some of the things which you should be aware of include:

1. You should avoid them coming into contact with water, which means, they definitely should not be used on a water bed as there is a chance of a malfunction and a small chance of electrocution if the bed should leak.

2. Children should not use these and neither should anyone with poor heat sensitivity as that can lead to dangerous overheating if the user doesn't know how hot the padding it getting.

3. If the material housing the wiring is torn or frayed then throw it away, especially if there are exposed wires.

4. The pad contains a criss-crossing of wires which heat up with application of electricity. The pad should never be heavily folded, and you should prevent situations like having kids jumping up and down on them as this can break those wires and cause malfunction or more serious issues.

Your manufacturer will have included usage instructions and warnings within the packaging and this is one of those times you really do need to real it. How to wash it is also something you will want to know and that should all be in the instructions specific to your particular model.

You may be able to find some used or second hand heated mattress covers for sale on sites like eBay but my advice is to stay away from them. Period.

All the safety advice about these products tells you to be very wary of damage, wear and its age. You have little real verifiable information about the history of a used product like this so you could be inviting in a whole heap of trouble.

Besides, it's been on someone else's bed and who knows what it has been through there...eww! Plus, bedbugs...there's always those persistent little critters to worry about.

Always buy this kind of thing new, its the safest option.