Healthy and Green Living

Tossing and turning on a hot summer’s night, it is hard to sink into a deep, peaceful night’s sleep. Bed clothing feels sticky and clingy, and perspiration seems to hang in the air, even with a fan or air conditioner.

Here are our recommendations for the best types of sheets to use in hot weather, a formula for lavender linen water, and more, to help you have cool and refreshing night’s sleeps on those muggy nights.

1. Sleep in 100 percent natural fiber sheets. The average person gives off a pint of perspiration during an eight-hour sleep, and natural fiber sheets breathe, absorb moisture, and wick the moisture off of you. Synthetic fabrics don’t breathe and encase you in your own perspiration. The sheets become damp and dank.

A good test for the absorbency of any fabric is to imagine using it as a rag to clean windows, or if possible, try using a corner of a sheet to see how it works for such a purpose. You learn in a flash that polyester doesn’t absorb moisture well at all, and neither does cotton if it has been coated with a finishing resin.

2. Wash your sheets every few days during a heat spell, as clean sheets against your skin on a hot night feel the very best. (We’d all agree, I think, that dirty sheets on a hot night are not a compelling combination!)

3. For sheets with a fresh, outdoor smell, hang washed sheets on the line to dry (assuming no pesticides are blowing in the wind in your neighborhood).

4. As far back as ancient Egyptian and Greek times, people used lavender, rosemary, tansy, and other herbs to freshen their linens. Homes were “sweetened” with garlands of lavender and mint. Here is a simple formula so that you can “sweeten” your linens, and if you aren’t sensitive to essential oils, even use it to freshen and uplift rooms. Lavender Linen Water.

5. Have a cool bath before slipping into the sheets. By washing off the day’s dirt and perspiration you begin the night fresh and clean, and your skin feels great against the sheets.