English for Today by Ganiu Abisoye Bamgbose (Dr GAB)
ON BED or IN BED?
When a person sleeps on the covers of a bed, the person is sleeping on it:
Some people prefer to sleep on their bed (this means they sleep on it without covering themselves). Note that the material used to cover oneself is called covers, blankets, sheets and so on (the s has to be added to the words).
When you sleep inside the covers of a bed, as in wrapped in the covers, you are sleeping in the bed:
People like to sleep on their beds when it’s cold. ✖️
People like to sleep in their beds when it’s cold. ✔️
Note that “sleep” and “bed” have other idiomatic usages. For instance, to say a person is good in bed is an expression referring to sexual activity.
GAB
