If you’ve ever spent a night tossing and turning, unable to get comfortable enough to get sleep in bed, then you’re not alone. Most of the time, it’s temperature that’s to blame – if it’s really hot, then getting to sleep is a near-impossibility. Similarly, if the weather’s a little bit on the frosty side, then you’ll find that all-important night’s rest to be just as elusive.
Improve quality of sleep at night in bed
The quality of sleep we enjoy has an enormous bearing on our ability to think, concentrate, remember things and generally function. It can mean the difference between a productive day at the office and a stressful one, or between an exhilarating day spent running around a park and an exhausting one. Sleep is therefore a crucial factor of any healthy lifestyle. Since temperature plays such a large role in determining the quality of our sleep, we should devote careful thought to our choice of bedding.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the things one might consider before investing in bedding.
Synthetic bedding vs natural bedding
Humans need to preserve and exclude heat, but this isn’t a human exclusive. Almost every animal on the planet has evolved some way of maintaining their body heat at an ideal temperature. Earth is full of naturally insulating material. Generally speaking, ‘natural’ bedding comes in the form of feathers and down. In the world of bedding these are distinct from one another.
Feather and down bedding
Down is actually a variety of soft feather which sits underneath the topmost layer of feathers on a bird like a duck. Down feathers are densely-packed, and good at keeping the animal warm. Ducklings are covered in down, as their outer feathers have yet to grow.
In most cases, bedding will be comprised of a mixture of down and feathers. Softer duvets have a large proportion of down, while others are made entirely of down. The location of the source of feathers is important. Geese living in colder climates, like Siberia and Canada, must adapt thicker and lusher down layers that those living in more temperate zones.
What about synthetic bedding?
So where does synthetic bedding enter the equation? They are a cheaper, inferior alternative to natural fillings. But the truth is that modern synthetic fibres, like hollow fibre and microfiber, have come along tremendously in terms of the quality of their feel. Synthetic bedding also has the considerable advantage of being non-allergenic, meaning that sufferers of allergies can rest easily at night-time.
Which tog rating do I need for my bed?
If you’re buying a quilt, then perhaps the most important consideration is how thick it’s going to be. Togs is the thickness of a quilt. Tog rating is calculated using a precise mathematical formula. Specifically, a single tog is equivalent to 0.1 m2K/W, or ten times the temperature difference in centigrade between two sides of material when the flow of heat is a single watt per square metre.
Which duvets are warmest for bed?
If you’re now scratching your head, just know that the higher a quilt’s tog rating, the warmer it will be. A 4.5 quilt will be very lightweight, and suitable for the height of summer. A 13.5 tog quilt, by contrast, will be very heavy, and suitable only for the depths of winter. Naturally, most quilts will be somewhere in the middle.
Of course, you won’t appreciate just how warm you’re going to be beneath your new quilt until you get there. So you’ll need to be a little flexible when it comes to judging a quilt’s tog rating. It’s often best to opt for a quilt that’s slightly thinner than you think you need. If it gets especially cold, you can always lay a blanket across the top of your quilt. Feeling really cold? Stuff multiple thin quilts into the same quilt cover.
Bed time: what bedding should you buy for children?
Finally, it’s worth discussing the options available for children. If you’re buying for a small child, then you’ll need to approach things very differently. Children under 12 months old are never given quilts and pillows – they’re unable to push things away, and may suffocate. Use a special baby sleeping bag, if you want to.
Also, children tend to need much thinner quilts, as their body temperature is much higher during sleep. The first duvet you buy for a child should be very light – just three of four is best. As they get older, you can up the rating gradually.
