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New Testing Suggests SHEEX Help You Sleep Cooler – May Lead to Deeper, More Restorative Sleep
July 16, 2009
Sleep problems in the U.S. are remarkably widespread, affecting roughly three out of four American adults, according to research by the National Sleep Foundation. Consequently, a great deal of attention has been paid to the circumstances surrounding poor sleep, along with strategies for how to improve it.
The implications are not merely academic. Sleep – not only the right amount of it but also the right quality – impacts not just day-to-day performance but also "the overall quality of our lives," according to the National Sleep Foundation. Addressing the causes of poor quality sleep, therefore, has ramifications for millions.
Though many factors contribute to sleep quality, the sleep environment itself plays a critical role, and sleep researchers routinely highlight temperature as one of the most important components in creating an environment for optimal sleep. As advised by the University of Maryland Medical Center, "a cool (not cold) bedroom is often the most conducive to sleep." The National Sleep Foundation further notes that "temperatures above 75 degrees Fahrenheit and below 54 degrees will disrupt sleep," with 65 degrees being the ideal sleep temperature for most individuals, according to the Foundation.
A lower environmental temperature is not the only thermal factor associated with improved sleep. Researchers have noted a nightly drop in body temperature among healthy, normal adults during sleep. This natural cycle, when inhibited or not functioning properly, can disrupt sleep and delay sleep onset, according to medical researchers at Cornell University. Conversely, the researchers note, a rapid decline in body temperature not only accelerates sleep onset but also "may facilitate an entry into the deeper stages of sleep."
Maintaining an appropriately cool sleep environment and accommodating the body's natural tendency to cool itself at night, therefore, should be a top priority for individuals interested in optimizing their sleep quality. SHEEX performance bedding, crafted from advanced fabrics that maximize breathability and heat transfer, is uniquely capable of promoting cool, comfortable – and therefore better – sleep.
Testing conducted at the North Carolina State University Center for Research on Textile Protection and Comfort has confirmed that SHEEX provide a cooler sleeping environment than cotton. SHEEX performance bedding was tested side-by-side with commercially available cotton bed sheets in a series of procedures designed to measure each product's heat- and moisture-transport properties as well as warm/cool-to-touch thermal transport capabilities.
Across all tests, SHEEX outperformed cotton, demonstrating SHEEX's superiority in establishing and maintaining thermal comfort during sleep. This advantage is evident to users from the very onset, as NCSU testing confirms that, on average, SHEEX offer improved heat transfer upon initial contact with the skin, resulting in a cooler-to-the-touch feeling.
During sleep, SHEEX help to maintain thermal comfort by trapping less body heat and breathing better than cotton. Testing has demonstrated that SHEEX transfer heat away from the body up to two times more effectively than cotton. This is critically important not only for sustained comfort during sleep, but also in terms of enabling the body to cool itself as rapidly as possible to facilitate sleep onset. In addition to trapping less heat, SHEEX breathe better than cotton – up to 46 percent better, giving SHEEX a strong advantage in terms of ventilation and heat and moisture transfer.
The SHEEX performance advantage over cotton holds true for simulated dry and wet skin conditions, confirming that SHEEX are better suited than cotton at managing moisture (e.g., sweat) to maintain thermal comfort. In addition to wicking moisture away from the skin through capillary action, the fabric's advanced breathability further enables heat and moisture transfer through evaporative cooling. As a result, the user is kept cooler, drier and more comfortable than with cotton.
It is important to consider these test results in the context of our understanding of the physiological mechanisms of sleep onset and maintenance, as described by scientific research, along with the known impacts of temperature as a critical component of sleep environment. We can say with confidence that SHEEX performance bedding holds a distinct advantage over cotton in enabling, accommodating and maintaining optimum thermal conditions for sleep, which in turn can lead to faster sleep initiation and deeper, more restorative sleep.