Engagement ring on or off?

March 23, 2008 8:52 AM

Should I sleep with my engagement ring on or take it off?

Should I sleep with my engagement ring on or take it off? What do you do? What does your wife do? I realize that this is probably personal preference but am curious anyway. Thanks!

posted by rglass to clothing, beauty, & fashion (33 answers total)

Why would you take it off? I'm not married or engaged but I sleep with my rings on... and I think so did / does most of my family (tho admittedly some of them because they can't get the ring off anymore anyway).

Is it too tight / uncomfortable? Too loose / likely to fall off?
In both cases I suggest having it adjusted.

Taking it off is just a recipe for losing it. Well, at least if you're scatterbrained.

But as you said that's probably personal preference...
posted by ClarissaWAM at 9:00 AM on March 23, 2008

If you wear a watch, you can put the band through the ring and clasp it shut each night when you take it off. You're much less likely to misplace your watch than your ring.
posted by 1 at 9:04 AM on March 23, 2008 [3 favorites]

It might depend on how you sleep. I sleep on my stomach with my hands under my head, so a diamond ring under my face would be uncomfortable.
posted by HotPatatta at 9:05 AM on March 23, 2008 [1 favorite]

I sleep with my engagement & wedding rings on.
posted by tastybrains at 9:07 AM on March 23, 2008

I used to sleep with my engagement ring on and lost a stone.

Now I just wear my wedding ring, anyway, but I take that off at night, too.
posted by sugarfish at 9:07 AM on March 23, 2008

No! I don't wear much jewelry at all, so I really wanted to get used to having a ring on. But I kept scratching up my face at night.
posted by Coffeemate at 9:09 AM on March 23, 2008

Does it have a diamond or other stone on it? If so, is the diamond or stone in a setting that's flush with the surface of the ring, or in a setting that sticks out a little? If so, don't wear it to sleep.

(When I was once engaged, I started off wearing the ring (a diamond sort that stuck out a bit) to sleep, etc., and realized that not only was I having trouble sleeping for fear I'd destroy the ring in my sleep, but that the ring was also getting dirtier/sweatier much faster that way. As I recall, I quit wearing it to sleep.)
posted by limeonaire at 9:11 AM on March 23, 2008

If you could lose your stone while sleeping, your ring needs to be reset since it won't hold up to daily life.

I sleep with my rings on, lest I lose them.
posted by astruc at 9:42 AM on March 23, 2008

I wear my wedding ring and engagement ring (and two other rings) all the time except when working with really messy stuff in the kitchen (e.g., sitcky dough) or swimming.

On the other hand, the stone in my engagement ring isn't really big and poky. I think if it were, I would need to reconsider for fear of injury (of course, fear of injury is a big reason my stone isn't big and poky!).
posted by leahwrenn at 9:42 AM on March 23, 2008

I sleep with my engagement ring on. The setting is such that there are no prongs or other pointy surfaces with which I could injure myself in my sleep. I take it off to shower and if I'm doing manual or messy work, like changing the oil in my car or painting.

When I was engaged previously, I had a ring with a pronged setting, and I'd wake up with it caught in my hair or with scratches on my face, so I would take it off to sleep.
posted by bedhead at 9:57 AM on March 23, 2008

I put my ring in the same place every night. If I slept in it, I would have it tangled in my hair. And, my hands puff up when I get hot.
posted by Medieval Maven at 10:10 AM on March 23, 2008

I like to sleep free! I puff up a lot at night and find sleeping in rings to be very uncomfortable. I've always taken all my jewelry off (including simple hoop earrings) to sleep, and I continue the habit with my wedding ring.

I usually put my wedding ring back on right before leaving the house in the morning and take it off as soon as I get home from work. Recently I was home sick for a few days and didn't wear it at all.
posted by Squeak Attack at 10:10 AM on March 23, 2008

I never take my wedding ring off, and I don't have an engagement ring. If I did have one, I'd sleep with it on, too, unless I tended to scratch myself with it or something.
posted by gaspode at 10:11 AM on March 23, 2008

I wear it to sleep, but I usually spin it around toward my palm so the prongs won't catch on stuff.
posted by vewystwange at 10:23 AM on March 23, 2008

I take all my jewelry off to sleep except for a thin-chain necklace. I'm very uncomfortable with jewelry on anywhere while sleeping. I keep it in a small box in the same place each night. I also don't wear rings while cooking, cleaning, painting, doing carpentry or gardening. I also find them uncomfortable to wear when typing for a long period of time.

In a nutshell, I wear the diamond for work, going out in the evening/on weekends, or in situations where I am not likely to be in danger of losing the diamond. The simple wedding band I'll wear more often.

I'm haunted by my mother's story of losing her engagement ring in the garbage disposal while cooking when it slipped off of her finger (she did get it back eventually). And my father-in-law's story of losing his wedding ring in Lake Michigan while sailing (he did not get it back). YMMV.
posted by jeanmari at 10:36 AM on March 23, 2008

I don't sleep with my rings on because they bother me at night.

I also don't exercise or shower with them on. I go to the gym first thing in the morning and shower there. As a result, I usually do not wear my rings to work. That's unfortunate.

I also remove my rings after I wash my hands. I don't like the way water feels between my rings and my fingers.

I do wear a small bracelet all the time. It doesn't bother me.

The thought of sleeping with earrings on makes me want to vomit. Perhaps I have tactile issues?
posted by beachhead2 at 10:39 AM on March 23, 2008

I take it off when I sleep. I don't want it to get tangled in my hair or scratch myself. Plus there's just something that squicks me out about wearing the ring when I pour shampoo and soap in my hand during the shower, so it's just easier to take it off the night before. Though I don't take it off when I wash my hands, so I guess it doesn't really matter. It took a few months before I got a routine down of putting it in the same place every night.
posted by lilac girl at 10:41 AM on March 23, 2008

I always took my engagement ring off when sleeping. My fingers tend to swell a bit when I sleep, and it would be pretty uncomfortable. As long as you keep it in the same place every night so you don't lose it, I see nothing wrong with taking it off.
posted by nikksioux at 10:58 AM on March 23, 2008

I take my engagement and wedding rings off to sleep, because my fingers sometimes swell a bit and it feels icky when I wake up with rings on. But I'm also completely freaked out by the prospect of one of the cats deciding to play bat-the-shiny-object during the night--I've lost other rings that way in the past--so I have a little, ring-sized, metal box with a cover that I put them in every night, and also when I shower. There's also a little dish next to the kitchen sink, where I put them when I take them off to wash dishes.

But apparently most people don't have puffy sleep finger issues (on preview, I guess there's a few of us), so now I'm kind of wondering about that...
posted by paleography at 11:00 AM on March 23, 2008

I take them OFF when I sleep. I found it annoying to wake up with huge ring indentations in my fingers, and the stone on my engagement ring stuck out quite a bit, so it would sometimes leave marks on other parts of my body. I have a pretty little glass (shot glass size) that I keep in the bathroom near the vanity. I keep my wedding and engagement ring in it whenever I'm not wearing them. I always know where they are and never worry about losing them.
posted by Bella Sebastian at 11:04 AM on March 23, 2008

I take my rings (engagement and wedding) off a lot - when I'm exercising, when I'm showering, when I'm doing the dishes or other types of cleaning and when I'm asleep. The key is to leave them in the same spot all the time, consistently, so you don't forget where you put them down. I used to put both rings back in their boxes, but now I just put them in the unused soap dish by my bathroom sink. I take them off at night to wash my face and brush my teeth and then in the morning, after I've showered and put on makeup, I put them back on again.

I'm another whose fingers puff up a little bit at night, so taking off the rings is also a less painful option.
posted by sutel at 11:11 AM on March 23, 2008

I take my rings off and put them though the band of my watch. I can't sleep with them on. My hands swell at night and they get caught in my hair.
posted by nimsey lou at 1:26 PM on March 23, 2008

I sleep with my wedding band on. When I was formerly engaged, I had a ring with a setting that stuck out but still slept in it. I also sleep in earrings and a necklace. I'm used to keeping all my jewelry on all the time since I got old enough to wear it. I only take the ring off before a shower and when I'm working with anything icky. The rest stays on unless I'm cleaning it.
posted by CwgrlUp at 1:41 PM on March 23, 2008

I sleep with mine on because I'm deathly afraid of losing it, and also because I don't ever want to take it off. It's of the pronged, sticky-outy variety. Then again, I also make sure the toilet lid is shut and the drain is closed every time I take it off in the bathroom. Have I mentioned I'm deathly afraid of losing it?

The cat would probably swat it off the nightstand and I'd never see it again.
posted by fiercecupcake at 2:00 PM on March 23, 2008

I take my weddin ring and engagement ring off because otherwise I would scratch myself with them while I'm asleep. I don't wear *any* jewelry to bed, actually.
posted by ersatzkat at 2:13 PM on March 23, 2008

Like others above, I find that if I sleep wearing rings I awake less refreshed. I prefer to sleep unencumbered, and keep a decorative bowl on my bedside table to put my rings in overnight. I put my wedding and engagement rings back on as soon as I've showered each morning. No big deal.
posted by hot soup girl at 2:25 PM on March 23, 2008 [1 favorite]

I spend 3-4 nights in hotel rooms each week. If you prefer to take your jewelry off when you sleep or shower, it's a good idea to develop the habit of putting them inside your suitcase, perhaps inside one of the inner pockets. That way, you don't have to remember where you put them (and your routine will be off since you're sleeping in a strange place) and if you forget to put them back on, you aren't at risk of leaving them behind and you're at less risk of losing them to dishonest staff (not much of a problem, really).
posted by carmicha at 3:05 PM on March 23, 2008

I leave the wedding band on; Mrs. Doohickie takes off the engagement and wedding rings at night.
posted by Doohickie at 3:18 PM on March 23, 2008

I get contact dermatitis if I wear my smooth sliver ring all the time. Taking it off to sleep is enough to prevent that though, for the most part. I loop it through my watch each night (same deal, the plastic rubs and I eventually start to react) or, if I'm not wearing the watch, I slip the ring on the arm of my glasses. The glasses then go into their case. This is partially so I don't lose anything and partially so my kitten doesn't run off with the ring.
posted by shelleycat at 3:57 PM on March 23, 2008

i don't have an engagement ring, but i have jewelry that is very dear to me that i wear daily. i always take it off to sleep.

if you're worried about whether or not it's inappropriate to take it off, go with what makes you most comfortable. a lot of men (and women) who do manual labor, factory work, or work with their hands take their wedding rings off for safety. many (if not all) surgeons take them off to scrub their hands and perform surgery. it's not wrong or ungracious to take it off.
posted by thinkingwoman at 4:10 PM on March 23, 2008

When I was married, I wore my wedding ring set all the time. I have bigger knuckles, so taking off the rings was a few minute struggle even with oil or soap as lubricants. My engagement ring stuck out very far, and after a few months I developed a callous on my ring finger. After that, it no longer hurt to stick my hand into my jean pocket.

Why not try wearing it all the time and see if it is uncomfortable? It seems that you are newly engaged (congrats!), and many people you tell about the engagement will want to see your ring.
posted by Monday at 11:03 AM on March 24, 2008

I take my wedding band off to give my skin a chance to breathe.
posted by Four Flavors at 3:21 PM on March 27, 2008

I don't have a ring yet, but my fiancee (usually) takes hers off at night, usually threading it on the earpiece of her glasses so it doesn't get lost.
posted by FlyingMonkey at 4:14 PM on April 5, 2008