Choosing the right duvet is an important part of ensuring that you give yourself a great night’s sleep, and we certainly all have our own preferences when it comes to selecting which type to go for.
Whilst some of us prefer the feeling of being extra cosy and snuggled up, others might prefer a lighter duvet to keep you covered, but cool.
When it comes to purchasing a new duvet, there are a few considerations worth paying attention to that will help to guarantee that you’re getting the best night’s sleep possible, and give your body the time it needs to rest and recover.
So if you’re in the process of looking to purchase a new duvet, here is a quick guide to what things you might want to pay attention to.
Tog rating
How well we sleep can often be determined by our temperature in bed. During the cooler months, we want to be as warm and cosy as possible, meaning we ensure that every inch of our body is under wraps. However, during the summer months, it’s often the other way around as we struggle to stay cool enough.
Tog rating is a scale which rates the warmth of the duvet and the effectiveness of the material’s thermal insulation. The scale ranges from a low 1.5 tog duvet, designed to be lightweight and cool, to a much warmer duvet at a rating of 15.
The variety of tog ratings means that it’s important to bear in mind the current season when purchasing your duvet.
Winter
The chilly winter evenings call certainly call for a warmer duvet. SleepyPeople.com recommend a duvet with a rating of 10.5 to 15 depending on how cool the temperature is. They suggest that with 13.5 duvets being some of the most popular choices for winter, this is a great selection to help ensure that you are plenty warm enough.
Summer
During a hot summer, a 4.5 tog duvet will do the job in providing you with a light covering to keep you cool and comfortable. However, a cooler summer will call for something slightly warmer such as a 7.5 tog duvet, whilst also ensure that you aren’t too warm.
Autumn & Spring
The in-between months by which it isn’t cold enough to justify getting out the 13.5 tog duvet, nor will the 4.5 tog duvet keep you suitably warm means that you’ll probably be looking for something compromising both temperatures. Throughout the late autumn and early spring months, a 10 tog duvet would probably be the best option for keeping you warm, but not uncomfortably hot.
Filling
When it comes to choosing a new duvet, another consideration which you’ll have to think about is the type of filling that you opt for.
Natural fillings
Natural feather and down duvets are amongst some of the more popular duvet fillings due to the reason that they’re warm, soft and breathable.
The great thing about feather duvets is that the feathers themselves are soft and also tend to be heavier and larger in comparison to down, due to the and hair-like strands radiating from the quill tending to be thicker.
Down clusters are found underneath the outside feathers of the bird, usually on the stomach, therefore making them super soft. Down are similar in shape to dandelion heads, and because the cluster strands have a natural spring-back action unlike feathers which lie down, this helps to trap the air more effectively, creating better insulation.
Synthetic fillings
The advantages to choosing duvets with a synthetic filling are that they can often be less expensive than natural filling duvets. Synthetic filled duvets also have the advantage that they are a great alternative for people with allergies as highlighted in Home & Family’s article.
Wool
You might not have put wool as your first choice of duvet filling, however, wool duvets are proving to be increasingly popular! Wool is not only extremely warm, but it has also been shown to help improve sleep by 25% in an article published on Permaculture. The article discusses the unique properties of wool in that it can help to control the level of moisture on the skin and increase sleep.
As you can see, there are a number of considerations to make when it come to choosing your duvet. Whether it’s choosing a lighter tog duvet for the summer months, or a synthetic filled duvet to help keep allergies at bay, selecting the right duvet is important to help ensure that you are comfortable, so that ultimately you can enjoy a great night’s sleep.
