The Best Bedding to Stay Cool for Summer

Summer is fast approaching and although it calls for fun in the sun and quality time spent with family and friends, once all the fun is had, getting into bed at night can be quite disappointing and even annoying. There isn't anything worse than not being able to get a good night's sleep, and hot summer nights don't make it easy to get some good quality sleep.

Luckily there are some very practical steps you can take to cool down at night and one of the most important things you should consider when trying to cool down at night is your bedding. Ensuring that you have the best bedding materials for summer is essential. There are many people who are just unaware that there is specific bedding for summer months that they could be using.

Not only is it cost-effective to consider summer bedding first as you can save a lot of money on other cooling methods such as air conditioning, but it is also quite easy to find summer bedding once you know what to look out for.

Let's take a look at some of the best things you should consider when buying summer bedding in Australia.

Make sure you have the best bedding material for summer.

This is arguably the biggest and most important factor to getting a good nights sleep in the warmer months of the year. Your sheets play a vital role in how you get your sleep, as sheets impact your body temperature massively. Ensuring you have the correct sheets and the correct material composition in your sheets is essential for achieving a night of good, restful sleep.

Let's look at what sheets you should be looking at putting on your bed in summer.

What type of sheets should you have on your bed in summer?

Firstly, before you consider what material sheet is most appropriate for your needs, you should consider the type of sheets you need. The most popular bedding configuration in Australia is to have a full sheet set on your bed, which includes:

• A Fitted Sheet

The sheet which fits snug over your mattress and usually has elastic sewn in around the bottom of it that holds it on your mattress.

• A Flat Sheet

The sheet which lays on top of the fitted sheet and is typically placed on top of you when you get into bed

• Pillowcases

Depending on the size of your bed, a full sheet set will come with either one or two pillowcases for you to slip over your pillows.

Recently however, a new configuration has been making it's appearance on more and more Australian's beds. A fitted sheet combo is one of the newest trends in bedding, and can be quite helpful in summer. A fitted sheet combo consists of:

• A Fitted Sheet

The sheet which fits snug over your mattress and usually has elastic sewn in around the bottom of it that holds it on your mattress.

• Pillowcases

Depending on the size of your bed, a full sheet set will come with either one or two pillowcases for you to slip over your pillows.

Notice there isn't a flat sheet?

Fitted Sheet Combos are great in summer, as simply taking away the flat sheet from your bed decreases the amount of layers your bedding will have. The golden rule with staying cool in summer, is to decrease your layers.

Some people find this unsettling as it can be seen as unclean, but it is one way to decrease your body temperature in summer.

What material composition should your bed sheets be made out of for summer?

The next most important thing to consider when choosing the right sheets for those warmer nights in summer, is to choose the best material.

The best bedding material for summer is one that is very breathable and lightweight. Materials such as cotton, linen and natural fibres such as bamboo are the best choices for staying cool at night and bed sheets made out of these materials are the best choice for the summer months.

Materials such as polyester, flannelette or microfibre are not breathable and are not recommended for summer bedding.

Cotton, linen and bamboo are cooler sheets as they allow more air to pass through. This also means that these materials don’t trap in the heat as it is able to escape. A material that is less breathable traps in the air, also trapping in heat. This is really helpful in winter, but absolutely not what you want in warm weather.

Reduce the layers on your bed

As stated before, the golden rule of staying cooler in summer is to reduce the layers on you. As you add more and more layers of sheets, blankets, quilts, duvet covers and throws you start to warm up quite quickly. Adding more layers is great in winter, as it does not allow for heat to escape, but that is disastrous in summer.

Let's go step by step to figure out how and what layers you should remove to keep cool:

Step 1: Remove all unnecessary layers on your bed

This is the easiest thing you can do right now to get a cooler nights sleep. If you have blankets or throws on your bed, take them off.

Step 2: Find out what sheets you have on your bed and potentially remove some.

As mentioned above, reducing layers also includes your sheets. You have to make a decision on what you think is going to be the best thing for your body. Do you need a flat sheet or not? Getting rid of the flat sheet is the cooler option, but might mean you have to wash your bedding products more often as you don't have a layer between you and your quilt cover etc.

It is recommended you keep the fitted sheet and pillowcases as they help protect your mattress and your pillows, but we also recommend adding mattress protectors to your mattress and adding pillow protectors to your pillows to increase the longevity of your bedding.

Step 3: Make sure your quilt / doona is appropriate for summer.

The next layer you should be paying attention to is what would be on top of your flat sheet. Typically this is a quilt / doona with a lovely quilt cover to both make your room look amazing but also to protect the quilt / doona. Making sure your doona is lightweight and breathable is essential for summer.

Quilts can be filled with many different materials such as down and feather, microfibre, cotton and wool. The coolest material for the filling of your quilt is either cotton or down and feather. Just ensure it has a higher percentage of feathers than down, as the down is what traps more heat.

Most doonas will typically have a GSM weight, which is very helpful in determining the weight of the quilt before taking it out and putting it on your bed. Take note of this, and remember that the higher the GSM, the more it will trap in heat, and the heavier it will be.

Step 4: Consider replacing certain layers with something else.

In summer some people prefer to take off their doona and doona cover completely and replace it with a lightweight breathable blanket. Cotton blankets are quite handy for this, and still provide some weight on top of you as you sleep. This is helpful for those who really cannot sleep without some weight on them, but can't handle the heat that is trapped when there are lots of layers on top of you.

Keep you and your bedding cool other ways

There are a few more things that you can consider after taking into consideration everything else we have spoken about above. There are some things you might not have even considered would be warming you up at night that actually are! Let's have a look at some other ways you can cool yourself in summer.

Cooling gel foam pillows

Cooling gel pillows are a great way to cool your head when you get into bed. These pillows have a cooling gel layer which provides temperature regulation for your head, providing a refreshing night's sleep.

Cooling gel mattress toppers

Similar to cooling gel pillows, cooling gel toppers are quite helpful for people who after doing everything else possible, still get quite hot. These toppers also have a cooling gel layer to help reduce heat from the mattress.

Temperature regulators

It's the 21st century, and we have a vast amount of technology at our fingertips. You can now find beds that have temperature controls and will cool or heat your mattress to the temperature you set. If you manage to get your hands on one of these beds, I can't imagine you would be complaining anytime soon about temperature!

If you want any help in choosing the best summer bedding for you or if you want any more information about our full range of summer sheets and quilts, we have a team of experts ready to help you! You can contact us via email or give us a call! You can get our contact details.