bed etiquette?

May 18, 2009 9:11 AM

Do you sleep with tucked-in sheets?

Specifically, do you tuck the top sheet into the bottom end of the mattress? And why?

My friends and I are having a very heated discussion about the proper sheet-etiquette. Two of us think that sleeping with tucked-in sheets is a nightmarish abomination, while the other two think that sleeping with untucked sheets is barbaric and unnatural. We want statistically significant results to prove who is correct in their practice.

Also, as a follow up, if you do sleep with an untucked top sheet, when/if you make the bed do you tuck it and then untuck when you sleep?

posted by speef to Society & Culture (109 answers total)

Hate the tuck. Fiance loves the tuck. So our bed is half tucked, half not.

I never make the bed.
posted by nitsuj at 9:15 AM on May 18, 2009

We sleep untucked. We also make the bed untucked.
posted by robinpME at 9:16 AM on May 18, 2009

If I didn't tuck, Mr. Rabbit would pull all the bedclothes off of me and onto his side of the floor by 3am every night.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 9:16 AM on May 18, 2009 [2 favorites]

I don't sleep with sheets (except a fitted one over the mattress) for precisely this reason. Tucked in? It makes no sense, since I'd untuck it to sleep in, anyway. Untuck? Messy and ugly. Solution? Abandon this unnecessary piece of cloth altogether, and get me a nice comforter and cover.
posted by raztaj at 9:16 AM on May 18, 2009 [5 favorites]

I can't stand pressure on my toes when I'm sleeping, my wife likes it. So when we make the bed we tuck in her side and leave my side untucked. If we make the bed alone we tend to make it the way we prefer and the other person just adjusts it at bedtime.
posted by Mitheral at 9:16 AM on May 18, 2009

Bonobo the Great sleeps untucked.
posted by bonobothegreat at 9:18 AM on May 18, 2009

I tuck the sheet so that I can always find it if I've kicked them off in the night. Otherwise, it ends up lost on the floor and I perceive it as dustier. SO likes it untucked (or no sheet at all, just a comforter). So our sheet always ends up untucked and on the floor anyway. I hope your preference is resoundingly disconfirmed so I can take the evidence to him, too.
posted by parkerjackson at 9:18 AM on May 18, 2009

I use a fitted bed mattress and a fitted sheet over my bed. Both are tucked under the mattress. However, since these are fitted, it seems reasonable and functional to tuck them in.

My layer of blankets (covers that I can actually lay under) include a small thin sheet, a slightly warmer knitted blanket, and a huge bulky blanket for the cold winters when I want to form a blanket cocoon. I do not tuck in any sheet or blanket that I plan on sleeping under.

If you are not going to sleep under a sheet or blanket, then it probably makes sense to tuck it in so it stays in place from the tossing and turning of a sleep-filled night. If you are going to sleep under it, then tucking it in is an amazing annoyance.

My two cents.
posted by seppyk at 9:18 AM on May 18, 2009

Untucked. My feet move during the night and it is uncomfortable when they push on a tucked sheet.
posted by soelo at 9:18 AM on May 18, 2009

I tuck when I make the bed and enjoy a couple of nights of clean, neat, smooth sheets. By the end of the week (change sheets weekly) though, the bed is a wreck, sheets and blanket higgledy-piggledy from where I've tossed them around sleeping or shoved them here and there to get them out of the way when lounging on the bed. So I'm fine with both, but I like the feel of tucked sheets better as long as it's not really hot.
posted by frobozz at 9:19 AM on May 18, 2009 [1 favorite]

I only tuck in the top sheet when it's really cold. I wouldn't mind having tucked-in sheets the rest of the time but I'm kind of lazy, and whenever I try tucking it in I hear my mother's voice in my head telling me to do so, which is kind of unpleasant.
posted by madcaptenor at 9:19 AM on May 18, 2009

Most of the year I sleep untucked so my feet can breathe. On the coldest days we might opt for a tuck. We leave it untucked for making, too. We have a trunk at the foot of the bed, which hides any sloppy appearance.
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 9:20 AM on May 18, 2009

I tuck in the top sheet, but I'm also 5'1". (Go ahead and short-sheet me, tall persons. I dare you.)
posted by maudlin at 9:21 AM on May 18, 2009 [2 favorites]

I hate, hate, hate sleeping in tucked sheets. Either my feet get hot or I feel pinned down. I think the way of etiquette probably lies in compromise, not a prescribed standard, and if you sleep by yourself who cares. As far as making the bed, I usually leave it untucked but not if the sheet is going to hang down to the floor, which would look bad.
posted by crapmatic at 9:21 AM on May 18, 2009

Tucked.

However, I wonder if this is a function of living in a very cold place. I find that untucked is much draftier than tucked, which is a problem when your bedroom gets down to 55 degrees at night. In warmer climates, not so much.
posted by anastasiav at 9:22 AM on May 18, 2009

My wife and I tuck when we make the bed, but we sleep untucked. Not really sure why.
posted by Grither at 9:25 AM on May 18, 2009

Tucked and tucked! I like the blanket tucked, too. Personally, I like the feeling, but mostly I find that if the sheet and blanket are tucked under the end of the mattress, it makes making the bed much easier in the morning.
posted by Shohn at 9:26 AM on May 18, 2009

Why is there a heated argument about this? I like to be able to poke my toes out so I sleep with untucked sheets, but I tuck in the top sheet on the guest bed so that, if said guest prefers tucked in sheets, they won't have to essentially re-make the bed themselves.

I'm serious, why is this even controversial amongst your friends? Some people like pressure on their toes, some don't.
posted by muddgirl at 9:28 AM on May 18, 2009 [1 favorite]

I tuck my sheets when I make my bed after I wash my bedding, but in-between washes, everything pretty much stays untucked, as most mornings the only think I can do is try and make the sheets and the blankets look a little less haphazard before I leave for work.
posted by alynnk at 9:29 AM on May 18, 2009

Tucked, but loosely tucked so my toes can kick free and breathe while I'm not looking.
posted by grippycat at 9:30 AM on May 18, 2009

I like to start tucked. It feels so nice and cozy. And without fail, within 15 minutes, a sudden, violent untucking occurs. How can my toes play in the night if they are imprisoned?
posted by zerokey at 9:32 AM on May 18, 2009 [1 favorite]

I make it tucked and sleep untucked. Consequently I make the bed very infrequently. I live in a warm climate, in case that's an important data point.
posted by penduluum at 9:33 AM on May 18, 2009

Tucked sheet and blanket (and boy am I glad my wife tucks, too). I'm tallish (6' even), and I've grown used to the feeling of hanging my toes off the end of the bed (I sleep face-down) with my feet tightly wrapped by sheet.

During the winter, we also add a duvet, and we don't tuck it in, probably just because it's not large enough to still cover us if it's tucked in.
posted by Plutor at 9:35 AM on May 18, 2009

As robinpME said above, we sleep untucked and make the bed untucked. Neither of us likes the pressure on our toes.
posted by Lynsey at 9:35 AM on May 18, 2009

Sheets tucked, blanket tucked. It feels more secure, makes things less likely to slide off during the night, and it's easier to make the bed in the morning. I live in a fairly cool place, climate-wise.
posted by oozy rat in a sanitary zoo at 9:38 AM on May 18, 2009

Duvet. No top sheet. Top sheets are an abomination, tucked or untucked.
posted by The corpse in the library at 9:39 AM on May 18, 2009 [4 favorites]

Military training teaches to tuck the sheets. How else will a quarter bounce?
posted by JJ86 at 9:40 AM on May 18, 2009

Tucked. Pressure on toes from the sheet is irrelevant when you have cats who sleep on your feet.
posted by rtha at 9:41 AM on May 18, 2009 [1 favorite]

I hate tucked in sheets. I must turn the sheet into a tent that covers me completely (and I can't cover my head when the sheet is tucked in - I'm 6'4.
posted by Happydaz at 9:42 AM on May 18, 2009

Always tucked. Mr. anderjen yanks constantly and violently on the blankets all damn night, and if I didn't tuck, I would get no covers at all. If my toes need freedom, I stick 'em out the side.

Jeez, it didn't even occur to me til now that anyone would purposely not tuck. What an idea.
posted by anderjen at 9:44 AM on May 18, 2009 [3 favorites]

I've always tucked, but just the bottom. Since I am a side sleeper, there isn't really any pressure on my toes. But I tend to stick one leg out from the side of of the sheets when I need a cooling down cycle. Tucking also just keeps the bed neater, and easier to make up.
posted by kimdog at 9:44 AM on May 18, 2009

No top sheet. Just gets in the way. Instead, a nice duvet cover.
posted by Capri at 9:44 AM on May 18, 2009 [1 favorite]

Same as Plutor: I'm 6'2" and the sheet must always be tucked, even though my feet extend past the bottom of the bed.

I like the middle blanket tucked as well, and then the duvet on top is loose.
posted by relucent at 9:45 AM on May 18, 2009

Untucked, always. Then again, I'm 6'3" and the thought of sleeping with my feet on the bed seems very foreign to me.

Don't get me started on the freaks that sleep while wearing socks...
posted by Ufez Jones at 9:47 AM on May 18, 2009

At home, my partner and I never use a top sheet and never make the bed. (We use separate blankets, which sort of eliminates any possibility of ever making the bed.) But at hotels, I absolutely hate the tuck-in and dismantle it as soon as I get into the bed. I move my legs around a lot while I sleep, including sometimes dangling a knee or a foot over the side, and the tuck-in makes that impossible.

I think my partner is more neutral -- he does not object to the tuck-in, nor does he object to my undoing of it.

In short: hate the tuck-in both because it restrains my movement and because it means sharing bedclothes with my partner, which is a good way to guarantee a bad night's sleep.
posted by pluckemin at 9:47 AM on May 18, 2009

Duvet, no sheet. Maybe this is a cultural thing; almost all the people I know here in the UK would say the same. Sheets on top of the bed are something that's been in a real decline here since the 70s, except in hotels and hospitals. Even my parents (in their 70s) ditched the sheets twenty years ago. Life's too short for all that nonsense.

But if I have to choose I'd say tucked at the bottom but not at the sides.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 9:54 AM on May 18, 2009

Tucked. I get cold feet.
posted by Pollomacho at 9:56 AM on May 18, 2009

Tucked-in sheets that press on your toes are actually made out of evil.
posted by madmethods at 9:58 AM on May 18, 2009

Definitely tucked.
I actually feel like I can move more freely in a tucked in bed. When sheets are loose and untucked my legs are more prone to getting tangled and eventually tied up in the sheets. Being unable to move my legs is terrifying.
A well made bed, complete with hospital corners, solves that problem. I guess it would be harder to move your legs vertically... but, I don't know why I would need to. I could just turn to the side to produce the same movements.

Tucked in also helps when you have a partner who likes to pull all the sheets and cocoon themselves inside.
posted by simplethings at 9:58 AM on May 18, 2009

Nightmarish abomination. I'm tall and have large feet, it's quite uncomfortable to have tucked, usually means sheets end up too short or crushing my toes.

Hotel beds infuriate me for this reason, it often takes heavy yanking to untuck the damned things.
posted by paultopia at 9:59 AM on May 18, 2009

Tucked for sure. I cannot sleep when the sheets are all tangled up. It is a loose tuck though, so plenty of room for leg movement. I do untuck the sides when at a hotel. Tucked way far up the side is just restricting.
posted by ephemerista at 10:03 AM on May 18, 2009

Untucked. I move around a lot, and I like sticking my feet out of the blanket on warm nights. And I hate making beds. I do like a well-made bed every now and then, like at a hotel or somewhere.

I abandoned using top sheets a few years ago because, tucked or not, I always ended up kicking them to the bottom of the bed eventually.
posted by Metroid Baby at 10:05 AM on May 18, 2009

Fitted bottom sheet, untucked top.

Too much work, and really uncomfortable on the feet. The first thing I do in hotel beds is kick the sheets free so that my feet aren't imprisoned.
posted by the luke parker fiasco at 10:05 AM on May 18, 2009

Another for the "duvet, no top-sheet needed." It is the best of both worlds: freedom for the tootsies, and easy-peasy bed-making.
posted by paisley sheep at 10:16 AM on May 18, 2009

Even -thinking- about having tucked sheets on my toes is making me uncomfortable. Then again, I also despise wearing socks most of the time, too. My feet are almost always hot and I'll wear sandals in winter if there's not snow on the ground where I'll be walking.

Untucked all the time, and if it wasn't for my husband we probably wouldn't even have a top flat sheet on the bed at all, but eventually he got me accustomed to that and now I prefer it.

I'm short (5'4") but usually sleep with lots of pillows and my feet hanging off the bottom and out from under the sheet.
posted by miratime at 10:29 AM on May 18, 2009

Tucked, tucked, tucked. I can't stand the sensation of my feet sticking out, cold and unprotected. I'm afraid that something will attack them (most likely a housecat, but you never know what's wandering in the dark). If the covers have for some reason come untucked and I can't be bothered to retuck them, I will fold the covers under my own body, effectively short-sheeting myself into a satisfying cocoon.
posted by Faint of Butt at 10:30 AM on May 18, 2009

Three beds in my house. Fitted and flat sheets, and at least 2 blankets on each. Nothing is ever tucked in.
posted by Zarya at 10:31 AM on May 18, 2009

Tucked (not only tucked, but hospital corners!) when the bed is made and for the first few nights; eventually they come apart which means that my boyfriend steals all the covers. So I prefer them tucked, but won't remake the whole bed--at best I'll sloppily retuck my side if it gets on my nerves too much.

muddgirl, I'm with you that this is a bizarre thing to get worked up about. But my ex actually listed this as a reason for dumping me, so apparently it's important to some people.
posted by peanut_mcgillicuty at 10:32 AM on May 18, 2009

Here's an interesting theory that pans out in my family.

I can't stand untucked. The tighter the better
Sister untucked.
Brother - tucked.

When I was born I was swaddled.

When my sister was born 2 years later my mother swaddled her in the hospital and the nurses came in and took apart the swaddling saying it was bad for the baby. Henceforth she remained unswaddled.

My brother was born 5 years after that and my mom laid a blanket on top of him and the nurses came in and swaddled him. He remained swaddled as an infant.

Interesting. I've never done a larger survey but would be interested in seeing how that played out.
posted by Sophie1 at 10:32 AM on May 18, 2009 [1 favorite]

I hate the feeling of tucked-in sheets, but if they're not tucked, my husband is a sheet-stealer. So we tuck, but I dislike it.
posted by MeghanC at 10:34 AM on May 18, 2009

Another mixed marriage here (she prefers a cocoon-like tuck at bottom and both sides, as tight as humanly possible; I don't have strong feelings about it but generally prefer a loose bottom tuck but open at the sides.)

Whenever we change the sheets we tuck it her way, and for a night or two we both get into bed by carefully sliding in from the top of the bed so as not to disarrange her careful side tucking. That eventually pulls loose and we leave it that way until the next laundry cycle.
posted by ook at 10:36 AM on May 18, 2009

Untucked. You can't stick the ol' barometer/cooling fin out there if the sheets is all tucked in-like.
posted by Aquaman at 10:40 AM on May 18, 2009

I like 'em tucked, my wife doesn't, so we tuck in my side. Also:

> I'm serious, why is this even controversial amongst your friends? Some people like pressure on their toes, some don't.

This. Why do you need to invent a "correctness" issue?
posted by languagehat at 10:44 AM on May 18, 2009

Tucked down at the bottom, loose at the sides, hospital corners. My quilt and duvet aren't tucked, but they're long enough to have significant hang down the end of the mattress. It's essential to me that the sheets be smooth and unbunched on top and below me. I have insomnia and am very sensitive to textures on my skin, so reading about sleep on loose, wrinkly, shifting untucked sheets just gave me a full body shiver.

I also like the sense of being safely cocooned by the crisp sheet envelope. If I'm hot, I just stick a foot out the side Whenever I sleep in my British friend's guest room (with a bottom sheet and covered duvet), the feeling of excessive breeze and freedom that results from the untucked duvet is a bit unsettling. Also, I suspect the practice involves scads more duvet cover washing than I ever engaged in since I hate getting the heavy feather thing back inside.
posted by mostlymartha at 10:44 AM on May 18, 2009

I hate having the sheet tucked in. I do not tuck it in when I make my bed.
posted by number9dream at 10:46 AM on May 18, 2009

Untucked. I always thought the tucking was just to make things look tidy. nthing duvet, fitted sheet, and no flat sheet.
posted by benign at 10:47 AM on May 18, 2009

Untucked. My guy is longer than our bed and his feet have to hang off at night.

In my days of singledom, I went out of my way to make sure my sheet was tucked in as tight as I could get it. Now i just go without the cocoon!
posted by Aleen at 10:49 AM on May 18, 2009

Loose tuck for sheets at the bottom, open at sides. Husband will end up with all the sheets/covers if there isn't some anchoring.

On the top sheet aside, you can have my top sheet when you pry it from my cold, dead hands. I get hot under the blanket too easily, but I feel weird and naked sleeping without something on me. The top sheet allows for the feeling of coverage while being cool and breezy.
posted by misskaz at 10:59 AM on May 18, 2009

I'm 6-2 and have size 12 feet. Sheets should always be tucked. How do they stay on if they're not tucked? Makes no sense and I have never heard of leaving the sheets untucked. It's like sleeping in an unmade bed.
posted by Zambrano at 11:00 AM on May 18, 2009

make the bed untucked, sleep with the sheet untucked.

i just polled my roommates (the 2 that are home):
- 1 makes the bed with tucked sheets, sleeps with them untucked
- 1 doesn't tuck or sleep with the tuck
posted by gursky at 11:08 AM on May 18, 2009

Self: Only a duvet above me, which is crammed into the gap between the bed and the wall at the foot of the bed. This tucking extends about 6" up the side of the bed.

Parents: Sheet on top, then duvet, then throw if they get cold. Sheet is tucked very tightly, duvet not so, nor throw.

Sibling: Wriggles way too much for tucked-ness, but complains a lot about being cold in the night.
posted by Solomon at 11:16 AM on May 18, 2009

Wanted to add, if you like tight bottom sheets, try a set of Grippits. They pull the bottom sheet nice and tight.
posted by Solomon at 11:19 AM on May 18, 2009

I make the bed tucked, so I lose the sheet or get tangled up during the night. However, when I crawl into a freshly made bed, I loosen the tuckage a little so I can move, but not to the point of untucking. I lneed enough room to hang my feet off the bed but still have them surrounded by sheet. (I'm not super tall, but I don't like punching the wall in the middle of the night.)

If I come untucked in the middle of the night (or if I'm under a blanket on the couch), I tuck the end under my feet. This is something I was doing long before I had a cat that attacks toes.

Cold feet, warm climate.
posted by natabat at 11:20 AM on May 18, 2009

How do they stay on if they're not tucked?

Uh, gravity? Some adjustment may be required in the night but this is common with two people in a bed, no matter how much the sheets/blankets are tucked in.
posted by muddgirl at 11:21 AM on May 18, 2009

Tucked, with hospital corners. Would end up on the floor otherwise. Plus, when they are tucked, making the bed is just a quick tug on the 'head end.'
posted by CaptApollo at 11:34 AM on May 18, 2009

I have cleverly contrived to avoid this argument by not having a top sheet. Except in summer, and then I use ONLY a top sheet. Untucked. Otherwise it's one blanket or one comforter. Easy!
posted by Cygnet at 11:35 AM on May 18, 2009

Sheets should always be tucked. How do they stay on if they're not tucked? Makes no sense and I have never heard of leaving the sheets untucked. It's like sleeping in an unmade bed.

You are one seriously opinionated dude. :-)

I can't imagine sleeping with tucked sheets. My dad used to make me make the bed with "hospital corners" when I'd visit him as a kid. Aside from being a hassle to do, the pressure feeling sucked balls.
posted by adamdschneider at 11:53 AM on May 18, 2009

Untucked, but always assumed I was, indeed, barbaric. I was taught how to make a bed properly as a youngster and didn't know untucking was even a possibility until I was out on my own, eating cookies for breakfast, and sleeping in untucked sheets.
posted by Mavri at 11:56 AM on May 18, 2009 [2 favorites]

I tuck in the top sheet and two blankets (summer or winter, as the temperature in my apartment is the same in either) at the foot of the bed, but not on the sides. On the rare occasions I make my bed, I do not tuck in the sides.

Two of us think that sleeping with tucked-in sheets is a nightmarish abomination, while the other two think that sleeping with untucked sheets is barbaric and unnatural.

What is a barbaric, unnatural, nightmarish abomination is for you to refrain from arranging your bed how you please, just because someone tells you it's wrong.

We want statistically significant results to prove who is correct in their practice.

Statistically significant results are achieved by taking a proper random sample, not by counting self-selected commenters on a thread on a website with self-selected members.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 12:04 PM on May 18, 2009 [2 favorites]

Untucked. And if I'm in a hotel, I have to untuck all three sides before I go to sleep.

I leave mine untucked when I make the bed, but my quilt is also big enough to cover the sheet completely, so you don't see any of it.

My boyfriend would steal the sheets if he could, but we usually have one cat on each side of us weighing them down.
posted by amarynth at 12:06 PM on May 18, 2009

Tucked in. And if the side gets untucked, sometimes I'll fix it in the middle of the night if I get up for a glass of water or something.

Only exception is if I'm sleeping in a place where I feel unsafe or is just unfamiliar; then I'll purposely leave the sheet untucked because I don't like the feeling of being constrained.
posted by Kadin2048 at 12:44 PM on May 18, 2009

I personally like things tucked in. But, I also have had enough encounters with enough people's personal sleeping preferences to know that there is an entire cointinuum of tuckage amid the population, from "hospital corners at all times" all the way to "omigod the sheets are TOUCHING me NOOOOOOO". Trying to establish which is the One True Way is probably a fools' errand.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:46 PM on May 18, 2009

Duvet, no top sheet. I've always kicked top sheets off and made a mess of things. Duvets are much easier to make presentable in the morning, and they can be hung out the window and aired out as well.
posted by charmcityblues at 12:51 PM on May 18, 2009

Contrary to opinions expressed above, I'm a 5'1" side-sleeper, and I sleep untucked. (Though I do make the bed tucked, just for the 16-hour appearance of neatness.
posted by punchdrunkhistory at 1:06 PM on May 18, 2009

This: cocoon-like tuck at bottom and both sides, as tight as humanly possible

If I am sleeping alone, I have been known to make the bed as tightly as possible and slide myself in from the top, for that delightful feeling of no wrinkles whatsoever. I do not like feeling the wrinkles in the sheets around my feet - I like a smooth expanse against my skin. I have been known to get up and re-tuck the sheets in the middle of the night. I am what you might call a claustro-phile.

Unfortunately, my husband prefers untucked, so the bed is half-tucked, and I almost never get the nice smooth sheets.

To add to the data: I am 5'2". I have no idea if I was swaddled. I grew up in Virginia, in a relatively warm climate, but with definite winters. I move very little during the night (when I do the slide-in maneuver described above, I have sometimes woken up with everything just as tight as when I fell asleep, and still in the same position. Bliss).
posted by timepiece at 1:23 PM on May 18, 2009

My friends and I are having a very heated discussion about the proper sheet-etiquette.

Well, if you have a regular bed partner this is one of those things you will need to figure out, possibly by having half tucked and half untucked.

If you have a sudden and unexpected bed partner, you could always ask what they like and politely do that even if you don't usually swing that way. People often explore other things in bed when they have a new bed partner.

If you get the feeling that someone might be a potential new bed-sharer, you could ask how they like it in bed, then you will know exactly what to do for your guest so they will enjoy sharing your bed and possibly wish to visit again. That is the best etiquette.
posted by yohko at 1:29 PM on May 18, 2009

Hit post too quick and forgot to answer the chatfiltery bit. I like to mix it up, tucked or not depending on what I'm in the mood for. Usually I start a set of sheets tucked and gradually switch to untucked.
posted by yohko at 1:32 PM on May 18, 2009

I don't only not have a top sheet, I don't even use a mattress! Quilts, floor, sleep ON topsheet, then covered quilt above me.

This was the wife's contrivance, but I'm a savage, unruly dog who'll sleep anywhere flat and covered and, really, if you need the tuck, can't you just fold the quilt under your feet when you sleep?

My one sleep peculiarity is that I need to have bunches of cloth holding my feet at a certain angle (I sleep on my back). If they drop below this angle, I wake up and rekick the blanket into place. My wife's a flappy, squirmy, roaming sleeper who weaves herself into one of three or four blankets on the bed every 2-3 hours depending on the temperature, without ever even waking up, so the cocoon approach also keeps my covers away from her grabby narcoleptic klepto paws.

Also, why do people make beds? I totally don't get it. Ya takes yer blanket, ya flaps it out across the mattress before ya sleeps, and then yer in yer bed. My mom tried to force me to make my bed when I was a kid. That never went over, and I slept well despite it.

Oh, and stop saying duvet, you poncy OCD insomniacs. It's a quilt, and that's as good a solid English word as I've ever had the pleasure of hearing.
posted by saysthis at 1:34 PM on May 18, 2009

I untuck the top sheet if someone else has tucked it in. (This only ever happens when I stay in a hotel.) I do not tuck on the rare occasion when I make the bed.
posted by Bruce H. at 1:57 PM on May 18, 2009

No sheets, four blankets. All untucked.
posted by puckish at 1:58 PM on May 18, 2009

Tucked in, plz.
posted by Atreides at 2:05 PM on May 18, 2009

I thought I knew what 'tucked' and 'untucked' meant, as well as the term 'cocoon', but after reading all the comments here, I wonder if I'm using different definitions.

When the sheets are tucked under the mattress on the sides or bottom of the bed, I feel like I'm sleeping in a tent without any covers on me since my own sides feel open air.

I never really thought about the 'toe pressure' either.

What I like to do is wrap myself up in the sheet/blanket and tuck it under my own body, like a cocoon, but it sounds like other people here define a cocoon as the sheet being tucked under the mattress instead.

So I keep wondering if there's some level of miscommunication going on here since there are some die-hard 'tucked' people here that sound similar to my mindset, yet I would assume I should be agreeing with the 'untucked' crowd... Or maybe, since I tuck everything under my own body, does that flavor me tucked instead?
posted by johnstein at 2:09 PM on May 18, 2009 [1 favorite]

I, like some posters above, have abandoned top-sheets altogether. Obsolete technology originally invented to keep your angry thetans from getting out....now we all know better. As for my blanket? Untucked fo sho.
posted by Gainesvillain at 2:18 PM on May 18, 2009 [1 favorite]

Normally I have duvet and no sheet - I use a sheet alone during the hottest months, but it remains untucked. If I'm in a hotel I have to untuck the sheets to get comfy.

I also wear socks to bed. How can anyone sleep with cold feet?
posted by penguinliz at 2:32 PM on May 18, 2009

I got raised to tuck. My over-6-foot exes were all untuckers. I can deal with sleeping with both, but prefer tucked. Mainly because of (a) lost sheets wandering off, and (b) cold fee and cold weather. I loathe the untuckedness when it isn't summer, and I don't want to sleep in socks just because the boyfriend wiggled in his sleep and up went the sheets. In summer, it's not as much of an issue.

Left to my own devices in the summer, I'll just yank the sheets down, or sleep on top, or just shove my feet out the sides. Same great "free" feel, minus the bed mess.
posted by jenfullmoon at 3:08 PM on May 18, 2009

Untucked from the mattress, but then I tuck them under my feet. I make the bed untucked.
posted by hooray at 4:08 PM on May 18, 2009 [1 favorite]

Tucked and always a top sheet. Otherwise you're washing your duvet cover every week, and that's a huge pain in the butt, getting it on and off the duvet. Feathers everywhere...
posted by gaspode at 4:17 PM on May 18, 2009

If I sleep with a top sheet, I like it tucked very tightly. But nowadays, I just sleep with a duvet because I'm too lazy to make the bed with a tucked top sheet. I am a very small person (just below 5 feet), my feet get cold very easily, I don't like having any part of me (except my head) exposed when I sleep. My duvet is the Chinese silk type that wraps around you and automatically swaddles you when you sleep beneath it... so it makes up for some of the snugness I forego by sleeping without a tucked top sheet.
posted by aielen at 4:27 PM on May 18, 2009

Tucked in. Otherwise the monster under the bed has easy access...
posted by in the methow at 4:27 PM on May 18, 2009

I sleep with a duvet with a duvet cover on it and no top sheet. No tucking or un-tucking necessary.

I have been known to *make* the bed with the top sheet tucked in and then ceremoniously untuck it upon entering. I have a strange habit of always sleeping with my body covered and my feet sticking out from the blankets. This is not possible if I am imprisoned within a tucked sheet.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 4:41 PM on May 18, 2009

Nthing duvet and no top-sheet, along with socks. When I am at a hotel or a guest someplace, I either sleep on top of the sheet or untuck the whole thing. I really don't like that feeling of being sealed in.
posted by natalie b at 4:44 PM on May 18, 2009

saysthis: "Oh, and stop saying duvet, you poncy OCD insomniacs. It's a quilt, and that's as good a solid English word as I've ever had the pleasure of hearing."

Quilts and duvets are different things. I say this as a quilter who sleeps under a duvet.
posted by The corpse in the library at 5:19 PM on May 18, 2009

saysthis: "Oh, and stop saying duvet, you poncy OCD insomniacs. "

Duvets have covers. You wouldn't cover a quilt.

That's like "stop saying cookie, it's a pastry". Yeah, maybe technically one is a type of the other, but in usual practice, there are distinct differences.

Oh no, derailing.
posted by Plutor at 7:05 PM on May 18, 2009

I'm 6'-5", so my feet hang over the edge of just about any bed, which makes tucking the sheets some kind of hideous torture. Unless it's really cold out, the first thing I'll do when I get in any bed with tucked sheets is liberate myself, but I keep them untucked at home, and make the bed by just arranging the different insulation layers on top of the mattress in a somewhat orderly fashion.
posted by LionIndex at 8:02 PM on May 18, 2009

Yep, this is why God made duvets. Which are not quilts, not even close.
posted by CunningLinguist at 8:23 PM on May 18, 2009

The correct way is to go to bed with the sheets tucked, and wake up the next morning untucked.

So say we all.
posted by Space Kitty at 10:55 PM on May 18, 2009 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I just added up all of the opinions. I included significant others' or roommates' votes where included. There was some fudging, since I tried to intepret preference (for instance, I decided Aleen preferred tucked and her SO preferred un-tucked, despite reality). I interpreted "loose tuck" (like grippycat) to be a preference for tucking. I also ignored people who sleep European-style (my own term) with only a blanket/duvet/quilt and without a top sheet. Also, yohko is the only completely ambivalent responder.

But the results are in: 52 votes for tucking, 52 votes against tucking. It doesn't get any more authoritative than that.
posted by Plutor at 6:08 AM on May 19, 2009

They tuck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to but they do.
They give you all the quilts they have
And add some pillows just for you.

One more vote for tucking, one more vote against duvet.
posted by maudlin at 6:42 AM on May 19, 2009

made. tucked once a week, then violently (but liberatingly) untucked that night. to be untucked until the next wash.

sleep. always untucked. always. 6'3' and size 11 feet. how could you not untuck without being left with bound chinese-style feet? ouch.
posted by micklaw at 6:58 AM on May 19, 2009

Untucked. I need to be able to stick a foot out to cool down at some point in the night. The first thing I do when getting into a tucked bed is loosen up the foot area; hate that confined feeling.

Course at home my cats sleep on either side of me so I get hemmed in anyway, but not around the feet.
posted by bink at 7:29 AM on May 19, 2009

I grew up with tucked in sheets, but my partner doesn't like it so I've learned to go untucked and now I actually enjoy having more freedom for the feet! We don't tuck it in when we make the bed - it stays untucked all the time.
posted by marginaliana at 7:39 AM on May 19, 2009

And during the winter we sleep with a duvet and no top sheet. We only use the sheet during the summer.
posted by marginaliana at 7:40 AM on May 19, 2009

Untucked?! That's crazy talk! I have a fitted bottom sheet, a tucked (with hospital corners) top sheet and an untucked duvet (with a duvet cover). If I get too warm my feet go out the side of the bed. BUT I'm 5'4" and if pushed I'll admit that tucked might be a wee bit uncomfortable for tall people.
posted by deborah at 2:30 PM on May 19, 2009

Ever since I started having toe cramps, I prefer untucked. I would prefer tucked if there were a little tent-space with superstructure so I could sleep on my back with my toes up, but not being crushed. Basically, footie-sheets.
posted by cairnish at 2:53 PM on May 19, 2009

Here you go, cairnish!
posted by The corpse in the library at 3:24 PM on May 19, 2009 [1 favorite]

That's what I'm talkin' about. Thanks!
posted by cairnish at 7:10 AM on May 20, 2009

Ok look, my feet need to breathe. If, by some weird circumstance they are cold and I would like to have a blanket over them, they must have direct access to outside ventilation. This is so true in fact, that I sleep on top of the sheets, under a completely untucked blanket. Just the though of putting my feet in a tucked in bed makes my gums itch. (oh, the hor-ror! I'm getting a little claustrophobic just thinking about it.)

When I sleep at a hotel, the first thing I do before going to bed is pull the top sheet out from tuck position.
posted by Kimberly at 1:43 PM on May 20, 2009

My husband and I both hate (hate hate HATE) the feeling of things pressing down on our feet. We leave the sheets untucked at the bottom and improvise a spacer from an oversized clipboard (clip the top sheet and blankets on the clipboard, then wedge it between the mattress and the bedframe so it holds the blankets up), but that FootTent blanket support that The corpse in the library posted... OMG WANT ONE SO BAD.
posted by Lexica at 8:16 PM on May 20, 2009

Duvets and quilts are functionally the same, because many quilts are not machine washable, and need to be covered.

DERAIL IT!

(it's mostly over anyway)
posted by saysthis at 11:59 PM on May 20, 2009