apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

FYI - "Magnets have also been claimed to increase circulation. This claim is false. If it were true, placing a magnet on the skin would make the area under the magnet become red, which it does not. Moreover, a well-designed study that actually measured blood flow has found no increase."

http://www.quackwatch.org/04ConsumerEducation/QA/magnet.html

I wanted to note that the above commenter is correct. Magnets have no influence on circulation. It's a hoax. Please do not waste your money on these items.

To note: *If* magnets did have any influence on circulation (eg, blood was attracted to the magnet) it would cause the blood to "pool" where the magnets were, which means that tissue distal to the magnet would not receive adequate blood flow and would become ischemic (low O2) and possibly necrotic (dead). Magnets, if the had any effect, would be a bad thing to put on!

The best method of making a bedroom warmer at night, other than sleeping under a down comforter, is to insulate the windows with draperies interlined with "bump" interlining.

Why not just try a space heater or a heated blanket. They work better than magnets. LOL!!

What a crock. A fool and their money . . .

for when it's really cold, my recipe to keep warm is: a down mattress (the comforter store has good fat ones that feel like sleeping in a cloud), a down comforter, down pillows, flannel sheets, a hot water bottle, cute socks and a hat. mmmm toasty!

Heh heh heh. Magnets!

Hooray! I was ready to come in this thread and lay down some serious skepticism. I see that Campari, Bobby, Sunspot and others have come to the aid of the gullible.

Rationalism: 1
Quackery: 0

I'm a health editor, and it drives me nuts when people keep perpetuating the completely disproven magnet theory as fact. You're warm because sheepskin is warm. end of story!

would the magnets work even if i have iron poor blood?

i'm agree with abby, i use a down bed on my mattress and a down comforter, wonderful to sleep in that cocoon.

Nix any magnets closer than 6 inch to you if you have a pacemaker !!!

why anyone would feel good about resting on a dead sheep is beyond me!!

Live sheep move too much to be comfortable...

...is that from experience?...

LOL Jason!

However, I would put in a word for sheepskin mattress pads (sans magnets). I got a SNUGFLEECE brand sheepskin and I *know* that I sleep much more soundly - and it saved me from having to buy a new mattress.

Personally, I find a warm (human) body the best defense against a cold night. :)

Agreed! A live animal (human) is better than a dead one.

I live in Australia and I have to say it never gets cold enough down here for those very useful suggestions from Abby, although that said, I do take a hot water bottle to bed in the depths of Winter. However, I can say that I used to have a woolen underlay, and it was actually very scratchy, not pleasant at all. But I've never heard of magnetised woollen underlays...can't say where that wacky idea came from but they certainly don't retail here in the mainstream department stores.

You poor cynical people! The magnets actually do work, but you have to douse them liberally with genuine snake oil in order to their therapeutic effects to be fully realized. If yours didn't work, you must have been using them wrong.

word to the wise....anything that supposedly "cleans out TOXINS" is total bs...your body is pretty good about getting rid of any so called "toxins" that could do you any harm.

A hot bath and a few hot flashes are all I need to keep warm at night. Oh, and my hot husband and the 3 cats.

I find it disturbing that AT -- in its quest to sell housewares -- will not only post but RE-post scientific claims that are doubtful at best and fraudulent at worst.

If "we" at AT promote pseudo-science as truth even in the face of strong debunking evidence, how does this reflect on the site's pronouncements about what's "green"?