Do Silk Sheets Keep You Cool?

Are you one that thinks about how to get a quality night sleep, especially on those hot and humid days? Getting the temperature in your room just right can be quite a challenge. Getting the right bed sheets might be just what you’ve been missing out on all along.

Silk sheets are perfect for those hot sweaty nights because they keep you cool.

As the name suggests, silk sheets made from silk fabric and are comfy, cool, breathable, and absorbent.

They have a luxurious feel to them and they also keep you cool during the summer months. The fact that they’re soft and smooth is just an extra bonus when it comes to their benefits for your comfort levels while you sleep.

Silky-Jersey Fitted Sheet 100% Cotton - Fits Any...
USTIDE Satin Bedding Set Super Soft Breathable...
MiMi's Warehouse Collection Grey Super King 6...
Name
Silky-Jersey Fitted Sheet 100% Cotton - Fits Any...
USTIDE Satin Bedding Set Super Soft Breathable...
MiMi's Warehouse Collection Grey Super King 6...
Dimensions
‎37 x 26.8 x 6.8 cm
‎40.9 x 31.5 x 8.7 cm
‎38.1 x 28.9 x 10 cm
Item Weight
1.28 Kilograms
2.53 Kilograms
2.17 Kilograms
Silky-Jersey Fitted Sheet 100% Cotton - Fits Any...
Name
Silky-Jersey Fitted Sheet 100% Cotton - Fits Any...
Dimensions
‎37 x 26.8 x 6.8 cm
Item Weight
1.28 Kilograms
USTIDE Satin Bedding Set Super Soft Breathable...
Name
USTIDE Satin Bedding Set Super Soft Breathable...
Dimensions
‎40.9 x 31.5 x 8.7 cm
Item Weight
2.53 Kilograms
MiMi's Warehouse Collection Grey Super King 6...
Name
MiMi's Warehouse Collection Grey Super King 6...
Dimensions
‎38.1 x 28.9 x 10 cm
Item Weight
2.17 Kilograms

Last update on 2024-03-20  / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

Above is a look at some cheap easy to try silk sheet options. The rest of this article, will be explaining why silk sheets keep you cool at night.

Reasons Why You Feel Warmer When You Sleep At Night

Biologically, your body has an in-built thermostat called the hypothalamus. This human body temperature regulator helps to release hormones once it gets signals from your body’s vital organs such as the skin, blood vessels, and sweat glands.

See also  How To Stay Warm Hunting In The Cold

So, if you’re shivering or sweating, your hypothalamus responds to both internal and external factors and tries to maintain it at the normal body temperature of thirty-seven degrees Celsius.

There are other reasons why you feel warmer at night and they include:

Your body’s circadian rhythm: Getting warm when you sleep at night is a normal bodily function and it happens whether you sleep under a blanket or not. It is how your body is designed, your internal clock (aka circadian rhythm) does this to control your sleep cycle.

Female hormones: For women, hormones are a leading contributing factor to changes in their body temperature. On days leading to your period, you might feel hotter than usual at night. This can also happen during a pregnancy, when the high levels of estrogen in your blood make you hot and certainly disturbs sleep patterns. Women going through menopause and perimenopause also have erratic estrogen hormonal levels that cause blood to rush under your skin’s surface.

You could be combating an illness: If you are running a fever and have a high body temperature, or you are on medication, your body tries to regulate your metabolism and this causes more rise in your body temperature.

Sleeping in a hot room: Sleeping in a hot humid room can also account for a drop in your body temperature. Sleeping in a room with temperatures below twenty degrees Celsius will keep you cool all night. If it gets too cool for your liking, you always have the option of slipping under a blanket.

Wrong choice of bedding and comforters: Using non-breathable beddings like polyester will result in your body heat being trapped within the covers and will no doubt spike your temperature when you sleep. Try replacing all your beddings with silk materials as they are breathable and you’d have a great night’s rest.

Reasons to Sleep with a Silk Bedding

Remember that when you sleep your body’s internal clock is responsible for making you warmer and this is because of the principle of heat transfer.

See also  When Does Central Heating Need Flushing?

When your skin comes in contact with any material, some level of heat transfer occurs with the end goal of having your skin’s temperature and the material’s temperature being the same.

For a non-breathable material, more of your body heat will be transferred into it but won’t be dissipated into the environment. Breathable materials on the other hand release heat into the surroundings which will help you keep cool.

So, let’s deep dive into how silk bedding keeps you cool all night.

Silk Sheets are highly breathable

If you want to have a blissful night’s rest, you have to consider how important airflow is to your night goal. Using beddings and comforters that hinder airflow will make you feel uncomfortably hot as you sleep.

This is because thick materials are used to provide thermal insulation. This is a situation whereby heat is trapped and heat transfer is slowed down. It’s like wearing a leather jacket on a hot, humid day. You’d be guaranteed to sweat loads within a few minutes.

Breathable materials like silk reduce thermal insulation allowing evaporation to occur and heat to flow freely through it. This allows your skin to cool each night.

Silk is absorbent

Waking up covered in your sweat is not a good feeling. If this happens over a long time, you’ll be bound to have rashes all over your skin. Silk absorbs excess sweat from your skin.

An easy way to differentiate beddings made of 100% silk and those mixed with other materials is their degree of absorbance. Pure silk absorbs all moisture while those that are mixed do not absorb all moisture.

Using pure silk materials may not be fully advisable because microbes could dwell within your sweat. Processed silk beddings however have been chemically treated to have antimicrobial properties that prevent these sweat-borne bacteria from dwelling in your sheets.

See also  Is Styrofoam Good for Insulation

Also, the mixed silk variants are easier to clean because they do not easily absorb stains and spills.

Factors to Consider Before Buying Silk Sheets

With the two factors, breathability and absorbency having been discussed, one must admit that they are the superior beddings for keeping cool during sleep. However, not all silk beddings are the same. Various manufacturers make them meaning that their standards will vary. Hence you should watch out for these factors before buying a silk spread of your own.

Thread Count: You’ve probably come across this term countless times when buying sheets before. It’s a measure of the number of threads you have per square inch of your sheet. Buying low thread count sheets is best advised because their thermal insulation is low. However, this means that you’ll be sacrificing the durability of your bedding.

To achieve some sort of balance between durability and comfortability, buying silk sheets with a thread count of three hundred is recommended by most experts.

Mode of Washing: This doesn’t affect your sleep but it could be a bother to you in the long run. Because most silk sheets have to be hand-washed, they aren’t very practical especially when it’s for a queen-sized bed.

Look for machine washable silk sheets. They are usually those that are mixed with synthetic materials or natural fibers such as bamboo and cotton.

Material: Remember that 100% all-natural silk is a great absorber of sweat. It is also highly breathable and absorbent, conducting all heat to your surroundings. However, you shouldn’t go for all-natural silk sheets. Instead, opt for those blended with other materials because they are chemically treated to prevent bacteria that dwell in sweat from breeding on your sheets. Also, they offer you all the benefits of all-natural silk and more.

Final Thoughts

Silk sheets will definitely work well to cool your skin at night while you sleep because they are absorbent and breathable. Their ability to dissipate heat also makes them perfect bed covers.

Remember that you should opt for silk blends and use the information provided above before buying a silk bed set.