As England endures an unusually harsh winter, Holiday Inn has cooked up an intriguing way to keep customers comfortable: human bedwarmers. As a complementary service, select hotel locations will send a staffer dressed in a body-length fleece suit to roll around in your sheets for five minutes. As hotel spokesperson Jane Bednall tells Sky News, it's like "having a giant hot water bottle in your bed." Agreed, but will watching a stranger writhe about in your bed actually help anyone get a good night's sleep? (Watch a panel discuss human bed warmers)
It's strange, but there's science behind it: Offering "walking electric blankets" is "surely is one of the weirdest marketing gimmicks I've ever heard," says Barbara De Lollis in USA Today. But there is a scientific "theory behind this" idea: Dr. Chris Idzikowski at the Edinburgh Sleep Centre says a pre-warmed bed has been proven to help people sleep better.
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