Hot water bottles can cause burns

It should be “Experts recommend that one removes hot water bottles from inside one’s futon before going to sleep.”

Except that hot water bottles are not “hot” hot, skippy. If you had bothered to actually watch the video (I know, I know – expecting people to know what they are talking about before posting to a blog… what am I thinking?) you would have learned that the news video was talking about the danger posed by objects that just feel “comfortably warm”, and that prolonged direct contact with such an object will cause a burn that develops very slowly, and as a consequence can go quite deep into the body. A hot water bottle is generally not “hot” enough to cause the pain normally associated with being burned, and so people will not drop it or move away from it as they would if it was hot enough to cause pain or an instant burn.

Last winter (Tohoku), I slept with two blankets, a down comforter, flannel pajamas, smart wool socks, and a knit hat. And I was still cold. The yutampo is awesome. This video is not enough to deter me.

I’ve heard of the common superstition of people avoiding sleeping with their head pointed north, but I’ve never heard of that one before.

It requires about 6-10 hours for direct contact with an object with 44 Celcius degrees to cause burns. As 44 Celcius degrees is comparable to a (very) hot shower, I think, it can happen. Maybe, falling asleep in the kotatsu can cause burns too.