Tips for a successful sleep with the Simone nightgown

If you’ve been wearing your nightgown for a while, perhaps you’ve seen positive results and you are finally feeling like you got your sleep back. The cover-flipping is minimal, you’re waking up dry, happy and kicking those night sweats out of your life! If that’s you, then congratulations!! We’re so happy we’ve been able to help you get your sleep back.

But maybe you haven’t seen the results you were hoping for and you’re still cover-flipping, waking up damp to wet and exhausted. If this is the case, not to worry, we’ve got some tips to help you try to improve your sleep.

Summary:

A cold room (based on personal preference) is essential to preventing night sweats triggers
Avoid fabrics that lock in heat and moisture:
- polyester sheets and comforters
- high thread count cotton (over 350 thread count)
- wool duvets
Use bed linens that promote wicking and draw heat away from your body:
- Hemp blend sheets
- Linen sheets
- 300 thread count 100% cotton sheets
- Rayon sheets
- Wool blankets

Night Sweats and Your Room Temperature

Keeping your bedroom temperature low is important for your overall comfort level. Everyone’s definition of “low” will be different, but the general range is considered to be 16C/60F to 20C/72F for better sleeping. Your goal is to find the room temperature that will not prompt you break into night sweats. You’ll know just by sensing it if it’s too warm for you.

A room temperature that’s too warm will definitely trigger night sweats so monitor your room temperature and open windows, turn down the heat or use lighter covers if you can't turn it down any more.

Bed Linens and Your Nightgown

The type of fabric of your sheets, blankets and duvet/comforter is really important for a comfortable night’s sleep, even with your Simone nightgown.

I like to use the house example a lot: Your body is the furnace while your bed linens act as the insulation. And, as with houses, that insulation can be very tight or leaky.

how a house and furnace as an example of sleeping with night sweats

house analogy for sleeping under different fabrics

With night sweats, your body acts as an erratic furnace, spewing off heat and moisture unpredictably in an effort to cool you down (even though you don’t need it). So, contrary to your home, you actually want a breathable, “leaky” environment so the warm air and moisture from your body have somewhere to go.

If your bed linens are made of fabrics that aren't breathable or are more insulating, you are trapping the heat inside your covers in a “tightly insulated” environment. Even if your nightgown wicks away moisture and heat, if they don’t have anywhere to go, they will stay close by and even stay in your nightgown.

You can sleep more comfortably when all the fabrics around you permit moisture and heat to escape - in other words, you want a "leaky" house.

What are the best bed linen fabrics to sleep in when you have night sweats?

What we want are sheets and blankets or duvets that can draw heat and moisture away from your body and let it escape to the outside.

The best fabrics are:

Hemp blended sheets: Most hemp fabric is blended with cotton or lyocell. The reason we prefer blends over 100% hemp fabric is that hemp can be quite stiff and rough at first. However, in terms of effectiveness at wicking away heat and moisture, it's extremely effective. Hemp linens last a really long time and get softer with use. They wear in, they don’t wear out.

Hemp blends (hemp + cotton or lyocell) are softer fabrics right away, so they’re comfortable immediately. The drawback is that hemp blended sheets are a challenge to find and are very expensive because they are not common.

Linen: Similar to hemp, linen sheets will help draw heat and moisture away from you towards the outside where the heat and moisture can evaporate. Linen sheets are also durable, but can be stiff when you first start using them. However, linen sheets last a really long time, but they are also very expensive.

200-300 thread count 100% cotton sheets: while we aren’t a huge fan of cotton for night sweats because of its absorbency, cotton sheets are easier to find and more reasonably priced than any of the other options we’ve mentioned. Lightly woven cotton sheets will allow for heat to escape - also choose percale over sateen weaves as the weave is looser and permits heat to escape better than sateen.

Rayon sheets: rayon is a highly breathable fabric and very good at wicking moisture. Rayon doesn’t tend to retain a lot of heat either so if you opt to change your duvet for a wool blanket, you might need two or a really heavy one. The advantage of rayon sheets is that they are easy to find and can be reasonably priced. You don’t need to buy special bamboo rayon/viscose sheets because their cooling and wicking properties are just the same as regular rayon sheets. While rayon sheets are widely available, they are delicate, pill and tear easily, so they won’t last as long as other fabrics.

Tencel/lyocell sheets: often marketed as eucalyptus, which is what most Tencel fabric is made from, these sheets are also great moisture-wicking and heat-managing linens. Tencel is even more breathable and heat-managing than rayon. However, like rayon it can pill and tear easily, so always treat Tencel fabric with care.

Wool or cotton blankets: Wool or cotton blankets are great for night sweats, because they tend to keep you warm without overheating you. Perhaps surprisingly, despite our lukewarm love of cotton sheets, cotton blankets are great for night sweats. Why? Because they will pull the moisture from the sheets and let it evaporate to the outside. While cotton isn't as insulating as wool, it's ideal for warmer climates.

Wool blankets are ideal for night sweats' sufferers. They add just the right amount of insulation, and pull heat and moisture away from your sheets and body where it can evaporate to the outside. Having said that, wool duvets aren't as great - read below for fabrics to avoid with night sweats.

Which bed linen fabrics should you avoid?

There are common bed linens fabrics that will promote night sweats because they lock heat next to you.

Polyester and other synthetic fabrics: polyester is a petrochemical product (derived from petroleum). It is basically like sleeping in plastic wrap. It is not breathable and will keep heat and sweat next to you. The sweat has to have somewhere to go once it’s drawn through your nightgown, but if it’s coming up against a plastic wall of sheets or duvet, it will stay on your nightgown with nowhere to escape.

High thread count cotton: Cotton is a highly absorbent fabric, but it doesn’t like to let go of water so it’s slow drying. Worse, if you are using a tightly woven (high thread count), luxurious, cotton sheets, it will keep the moisture next to you for longer than will be comfortable. In addition, all the moisture that’s been wicked away from your skin will end up being absorbed by the cotton bedding so your sheets will still be damp.

Wool: While I am not a huge fan of wool duvets for night sweats sufferers, a wool blanket is ideal. Wool is a natural insulator and loves water. But due to its fibre shape, it will draw moisture away from your skin, and it will also keep you warm. As your erratic personal furnace continues to spew off heat, a wool duvet will keep all that heat trapped next to you. Under a wool blanket, however, the heating might be absolutely perfect. Just thick enough to keep some heat in, but not too much so you aren’t overheating. So,

wool duvets = probably too hot

wool blankets = great for sleeping (one or two depending on how thick they are and how cold your room is)

Silk: this is one of those fabrics that’s a bit of a conundrum. Silk sheets feel blissfully cool when you first slide into them, but after a few minutes they can feel hot. Like wool, silk is an insulating fabric. When the heat comes from within your body, you are heating up your sleeping environment, and the silk will keep all that heat trapped next to you, triggering more night sweats. Further, silk cannot manage moisture well. It takes time for silk to absorb or wick it away from you and it will stay next to you. Avoid silk sheets if you’re a night sweats sufferer (they are, however, great if you’re a cold sleeper).

Finally, our nightgown is most effective when there is enough time between night sweats that it has had time to fully dry before the next one starts. Give yourself the best chance of success by identifying your triggers and avoiding them and using more effective linens to help draw away moisture and heat fast.

If you’re following these guidelines and are still having problems, consider some alternative therapies, or seeking help from a menopause practitioner.