While many people don’t give it a single thought, bed sheets have a tremendous impact on our quality of sleep every night. It’s not until you get a chance to experience a quality night’s sleep in luxury sheets that you realize that you’ve missed all of these years.
I remember my first stay at a luxury hotel. I booked a room at their sister hotel for a business-class room, and they were overbooked when I arrived. Much to my surprise, I was sent across the street to their luxury hotel branch in a junior suite. I maintain two significant memories of that week.
My first memory was that the bathroom was as large as some hotel rooms I’d stayed in before. That was a pretty big deal to me having plenty of road warrior experiences for work.
My second memory was the feeling of sheer luxury as I crawled into that bed. I don’t remember anything particularly special about the mattress. I remember the soft, thick sheets and instant sensation of cozy as I snuggled into bed. People asked me what my favorite part of that trip was, and they laugh when I say going to bed, but it was true.
That was my moment of reckoning that yes, sheets have a massive impact on the quality of sleep.
When shopping for sheets, always look to the quality of the sheets over any cute little designs or patterns. You might get lucky and achieve both, but the quality sheet makers understand that a high-quality sheet might very well outlast your bedroom décor, so you’ll find top-quality sheets mostly in solid colors or subtle patterns that will look as good as they feel for a couple of redecorating projects along the way. Buying quality bed sheets not only improves your quality of sleep, but they pay for themselves over time with fewer needs to replace them.
Those bed in a bag sets, as cute and convenient as they are, are almost always made of a synthetic blend of cotton and polyester, or worse yet, rayon. Synthetic fabrics trap your body heat at the same time that your body is trying to expel heat to protect your organs at rest. That trapped heat pocket you wind up sleeping in is what causes much of the tossing and turning, leading to an inferior quality of sleep, which leads to one groggy person in the morning.
If you remember anything, remember that most extremely high thread count fabrics are probably a synthetic blend of fibers, which brings with it the body temperature regulation problems. Some manufacturers add a coating to the threads to make them feel very soft. That coating dissipates over time and washings, leaving sheets not nearly as smooth as they once were.
Natural fiber fabrics allow your body to breathe while sleeping. The heat your body wants to expel is allowed to escape. You will find yourself tossing and turning less, and wake from the best rest of your life. That is how quality bed sheets have a positive impact on your quality of sleep.
Cotton is renowned for its breathability and strength for bed sheets, and once was the gold standard. Synthetic fabrics came along and lured us with perfection right out of the drier, and nobody had to iron (or feel guilty about not ironing) their sheets again. Today, decades later, we circled back to appreciate cotton once again as we realize the quality of sleep we’ve missed out on for years.
Today’s cotton comes in standard cotton, which is the industry standard for strength. Egyptian cotton has longer fibers than conventional cotton. These longer fibers woven together create a softer feeling sheet to the touch. Pima cotton is very similar to Egyptian cotton, but it is made exclusively in Peru.
For the touch and feel of your cotton sheets, you have a choice of percale or sateen, which are different types of weaves to provide a different texture. Percale has that cool and crisp feeling, while sateen is very soft and luxurious to the touch.
For those suffering anxiety, many believe that pesticides contribute to anxious tendencies. They would be careful to only select organic cotton sheet sets or their beds, for those cotton plants were grown in a pesticide-free environment.
Bamboo has increased in popularity as an exceptionally strong and soft fabric for garments and now can also be found in bed sheets, usually as a blend with another material to keep costs reasonable but still high quality.
Eucalyptus percale sheets and Eucalyptus Tencel are another natural fiber that sometimes blends with cotton for a fabric that is moisture-wicking and anti-bacterial with a beautifully soft finish that maintains its softness over time. In addition to the luxurious feel, eucalyptus sheets are also wrinkle resistant.
Luxury bed sheets are not only a good investment in quality and durability, but also important because of the impact they have on your quality of sleep. When you spend a third of your life recharging your body for the next day, investing in the tools to impact the perfect night’s slumber not only enables you to wake up alert and refreshed, but it also impacts those around you.
At work, your quality of sleep reflects on your ability to make critical decisions and resolve problems with less effort. Your mood elevates, making interactions pleasurable for everyone you interact with. You find you can concentrate better and accomplish more with a steady stream of quality sleep.
While at home, because work felt less tiresome, you have more energy to interact with your family or play with your cat, whichever the case may be. You will be more energized to get chores done in the middle of the week instead of suffering the drudgery of the weekend to-do list.
The impact of bedsheets and your quality of sleep not only impacts you positively but also everyone that is around you.
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