The cicadas are buzzing, the sun is blazing, and the children are running free. That can only mean one thing: summer is upon us. And if you’re living in a southern state, you know that it gets hot, so you need to find the right material for your bedding.
Cotton is the perfect addition to any summertime bed setup. If you’re looking for reasons to choose cotton bedding during the summer months, you’ve come to the right place.
Lightweight
During the chilly winter months, nothing is better than the comforting weight of a dozen blankets piled on top of you. But when the temperature doesn’t get lower than 80 degrees, even in the middle of the night, that extra weight can feel downright oppressive. For a truly comfortable night’s sleep in the summer, you need to reduce your bedding’s weight. That means fewer pieces of bedding and—just as importantly—lighter bedding.
When you’re looking for lightweight bedding, cotton bedding is a perfect choice. Cotton bed sheets with a lower thread count are crisp and airy, while cotton quilts are a lighter blanket alternative to bulky duvets or comforters.
Breathable
When you fall asleep, your overall body temperature drops. This sounds great for those sticky summer nights. Except when your body temperature drops, all that heat leaves your body. If you have stifling bedding, that heat stays trapped right beside you, leading to some hot, uncomfortable nights.
To avoid this, the best kinds of summer bedding are the kinds that keep enough heat close to your body to keep you comfortable and release the rest. In other words, you want breathable sheets. And of all the bedding materials available today, cotton remains one of the most breathable materials out there.
Light Colored
If you follow the world of high fashion, you know that spring and summer are the seasons to wear light-colored clothes. And this isn’t just because they look nice. Light-colored fabric tends to reflect heat while dark-colored fabric absorbs it. So if you go outside wearing a black T-shirt in the middle of July, chances are you’ll be a lot more uncomfortable than the person who wore the white shirt.
We aren’t exactly strolling down the street wearing our bedsheets. Even so, the sunlight coming through our bedroom windows during the day can still heat up our rooms and sheets. Because of that, white bedding is still likely to be the cooler choice.
Moisture-Wicking
Usually, we think of sweating as something we do when we’re performing manual labor in the hot sun, hence the phrase “working up a sweat.” But we can still work up a sweat while we’re lying perfectly still, especially in the summer. And lying in a pool of your own sweat, along with being particularly grody, is uncomfortable and will make the air around you feel even more hot and humid.
The solution? Look for bedding that’s moisture-wicking. In other words, the fabric takes moisture and pulls it away from the body, then dries quickly. Often people associate the image of “moisture-wicking fabric” with the material you find in exercise clothes. However, there are plenty of other, more sleep-friendly options for moisture-wicking fabric. Cotton, for instance, is excellent at wicking sweat for a more comfortable night’s sleep.
Low-Maintenance
Even if sheets are moisture-wicking, that doesn’t mean there isn’t still sweat dried into the fabric. And along with that, sweat, dust, dirt, and dead skin cells also get trapped in those fibers, especially with all the time we spend outside in the summer. If you don’t want to sleep surrounded by all that nastiness, you’ll probably want to wash your bed sheets a little more often this time of year.
But not all bedding can handle that extra washing. Cotton sheets, however, are durable and known for being easier to wash than other sheets, making them a good choice for the season.
Perfect for Clotheslines
Many of us have fond memories of parents or grandparents hanging bedsheets on clotheslines because they were used to not having access to a machine dryer. However, there are a lot of benefits to drying clothing this way, especially on bright, sunny summer days. For example:
- The sunlight helps kill germs
- Less time in the dryer prevents damage to the fabric
- The fresh air makes sheets smell nice
- Smaller energy bill
- Conserves natural resources
However, sunlight can often bleach sheets, so air drying sheets isn’t always feasible for everyone. If you have natural white cotton sheets, though, you can easily air dry your sheets. And the bleaching effects of the sun will help improve the color.
Hypoallergenic
People usually associate spring with allergies, but summer has its own collection of things that make us sniffle, from ragweed and nettle to good old-fashioned dust. And surprisingly, your sheets can affect your allergy symptoms. All fabric is made up of tiny fibers, and even though they feel solid, there are tiny gaps in between those fibers. And those gaps are the perfect size for dust, pollen, and other allergens to get trapped.
Cotton sheets are tightly woven—even crisp, refreshing, low-thread-count ones. That creates fewer crevices for allergens to hide out, making them friendlier to your nose. And if allergens do get caught in your sheets, you know that you can easily wash cotton bedding to get them out. You may want to avoid line drying them if your allergies are really bad, though, since most allergens live outside.
Gentle on the Skin
Summer can be rough on our skin between the beating sun and extended times in the dirt and grime of the great outdoors. So when you lay your head down at night, it’s natural to want a set of bedding that will be kinder to your skin. Polyester sheets are known to increase skin irritation, even exacerbating skin conditions like eczema. Natural fabrics are typically gentler on sensitive skin. And natural, sustainably sourced cotton will treat your skin well.
Summer is here, and cotton bedding is the best choice for these months. With Red Land Cotton’s luxury cotton bedding and towels made in the USA, you can be prepared to welcome in the season with joy.
