What Should You Sleep In? Naked, Cotton or Bamboo
Short answer: What to sleep in depends on your night temperature: most people sleep best in light, loose nightwear in a breathable material such as bamboo viscose. Sleeping naked sounds cool but leaves the perspiration in the sheet, and cotton turns heavy and clammy if you perspire.
Naked is not automatically coolest
Without a layer against the skin, perspiration stays where it appears and evaporates slowly, because it only has the surface of the skin to do it from. A thin fabric spreads the moisture over a larger area. That is why most people actually sleep cooler with a light layer on.
What speaks for sleeping without clothes
There are no seams, no waistband and nothing that can wrap, and for some people that is decisive. The price is that the perspiration ends up in the sheet, which is not changed daily. If you change the sheet twice a week, nightwear is in practice the more hygienic option.
Cotton: familiar but slow
Cotton takes up a lot of moisture and holds on to it. It feels comfortable for the first hour and heavy and cool once the fabric is wet. For a cool night it is fine, and on a warm night it is the most common reason for waking clammy at three.
Bamboo viscose: the moisture is carried on
The material takes the moisture into the fibre itself and releases it slowly to the air, so the surface against the skin keeps feeling dry. That is why the same amount of perspiration feels entirely different. See bamboo nightwear for women and bamboo nightwear for men.
Synthetic fabrics do not belong in bed
Polyester and other dense synthetic fabrics take up almost no moisture and leave it on the skin. They are cheap and durable, but they are the worst option exactly where the skin is covered for eight hours without a break.
The bedding decides just as much
Whatever you wear, the bedding covers a larger area than the nightwear. A sheet that holds the moisture makes the rest irrelevant, and that applies especially to those who sleep naked. See the range under bamboo bedding in the usual sizes.
How to find your own answer
Try a thin layer for a week and nothing the next, with the same duvet and the same room. The difference shows at three in the morning and not when you lie down. It is the only way to decide, because bodies react differently.
Washing and hygiene
If you sleep naked, the sheet should be washed every three to four days. If you sleep in nightwear, the sheet lasts a week and the nightwear is washed after two to three nights. That is usually the easier of the two routines to keep in a busy week. See also bamboo and cotton and sleeping better with bamboo.
Frequently asked questions
Is it healthiest to sleep naked?
Not necessarily. The perspiration ends up in the sheet rather than in the nightwear, and the sheet is changed less often than nightwear is washed.
Which material is best to sleep in?
A thin, breathable fabric that moves moisture. Bamboo viscose does it best, cotton is slower, and dense synthetics do not belong in bed.
Why do I wake up clammy in cotton?
Because cotton holds the moisture in the fibre. The fabric turns heavy and cool as soon as the temperature falls again, and that is what wakes you.
See our range of bamboo sleepwear for women.
