Proper Use of a Sleeping Bag

USING A SLEEPING BAG & PACKING IT

 All sleeping bags come with stuff sacks. However, many people don’t understand that a stuff sack is made to hold the sleeping bag stuffed into it. I get phone calls from people asking how to get the bag into the stuff sack; I then ask if they have rolled it up as tight as possible and they say yes. I then tell them that they will more than likely have a heart attack before they succeed. I then tell them to take one end of the sleeping bag and put it in the stuff sack and put more in behind the original stuffing and push it to the bottom and just continue to stuff the bag into the stuff sack always pushing the bag to the bottom as much as possible. They then find that this stuffing of the bag into the stuff sack works.

Now let us talk about how best the sleeping bag will work for you; this is based upon if the sleeping bag has a proper temperature rating. Here I will categorically state that I do not know of any other company that sells sleeping bags (those that do sell sleeping bags do not make them) that are accurately rated as Wiggy bags are.

All of the materials used for the Wiggy’s bags to include the shell and lining fabrics as well as the insulation are synthetic and therefore are not affected by moisture in any of its forms; vapor, liquid of frost. The materials may get wet but the performance specifically of the insulation; Lamilite the single most important component never stops doing what its purpose is; to stifle the heat that one produces while in the sleeping bag from getting out. This is a very significant attribute; why (?) becauseif the heat your body is producing gets out of the bag a series of actions take place that will further contribute to not sleeping. You have consumed a significant meal and the food you have consumed is actually the fuel for a living animal human or otherwise. The slower the heat leaves the sleeping bag the slower your body metabolizes or consumes the fuel. The slower the fuel is consumed the longer you will stay warm within the sleeping bag and as a consequence the longer you will sleep. If, the heat within the sleeping bag moves out of the bag quickly the more rapid your body will metabolize the food or fuel you have put in it. The body functions independent of your desirers and your body is always working at equalizing the heat movement away from it. The slower the heat movement away from your body the slower the heat production and conversely the fast the heat movement away from the body, the faster the heat production. If you have gone to sleep and after about 2 to 3 hours you find yourself waking up because you are beginning to experience being cold it is a direct result of having consumed all of your fuel, i.e. food.

If the sleeping bag you are using is rated for say zero degrees and it happens to be a Wiggy bag you will note that if you happen to be in a tent on a decent ground pad; the Wiggy ground pad is exceptional, you will note that you have slept basically for 8 hours. However since not one of the other sleeping bag brands rated for zero degrees will not perform the same. The specific reason happens to be the so called insulation that is used. Those companies that employ polyester fiberfill use only chopped staple fiber because they buy product made for them in China and that is what is available since the continuous filament fiber product is only made in the USA and as I have stated before these companies will not buy the continuous filament fiber and ship it there. The US military does use the continuous filament fiber but there bags are all quilted at this time with the exception of what they get from me and the weights they use are significantly lighter than what I use so the end result in both cases civilian and military are sleeping bags that do not trap the users body heat effectively. An additional negative aspect of these quilted bags is the fact that when exposed to water the water happens to get trapped along the quilt lines. The water then absorbs heat to further cooling of the person in the sleeping bag. That contributes further to the reason they are not sleeping, another reason why the person is cold. THERE ARE NO SUCH PEOPLE WHO ARE COLD SLEEPERS YOU DO NOT SLEEP WHEN YOU ARE COLD!

To this day I an asked for lighter weight and more compactible sleeping bags and my stock answer is a question. Just tell me the coldest temperature that you intend to experience and I will advise you which bag is best suited for your purpose. Now they ask about weight and I tell them, in the event they respond with the same rated bag at a lower weight I repeat the weight of my bag and tell them it will perform while some other brand will not. Then of course I am asked if my bag will fit into the sleeping bag pocket of such and such backpack. My response is that the companies that make these backpacks never came to me to see which of my bags will fit into the sleeping bag pocket so I do not know. But I assure them that it probably will not. I do suggest that they tie the sleeping bag to either the top or bottom of the pack. Of course these peoples purpose may very well be to not only go as light as possible but to find out how uncomfortable they can be and still survive.

To review; stuff the sleeping bag in the stuff sack, understand that you are the heat source and that the sleeping bag is made to contain the heat you produce for as long as possible and that the source of your fuel is the food you consume.

HAPPY CAMPING!