The Challenge of Getting a Good Night’s Rest

It is not surprising to know that many things go into a good night’s rest. Most people will agree that a good mattress, a good pillow, and good sheets are essential for a good night’s rest. When we are considering bed sheet sizes, we should also consider the quality of the materials they are made with. Furthermore, those same elements are lauded whether you are staying home for the night or away in a chalet in the Swiss Alps on a skiing holiday with business associates. Why are these elements so important to us?

National Sleep Foundation

According to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), when a large representation of the population were asked questions about sleep on a scale from one to five, this is what they found: 93% said a comfortable mattress was extremely important; 91% agreed that a comfortable pillow was almost equally important; and, lastly, 86% were just as confident in saying that they also wanted to have the good feeling of sheets and bedding. Yes, nine of ten people all agreed that these three elements were all essential to what could be agreed upon as a good nights rest. The questionnaire didn’t drill down to specifics like fragrances and types of curtains, but it did reveal that most people prefer to have certain established comforts in order to consider themselves as having a good nights rest.

Other Elements in the Mix

The NSF also discovered that besides the above elements, there were other related comforts the panel found helpful for a good night of rest. A quiet room (74%), a clean bedroom (62%), cool room temperature (67%), a dark room (73%); lastly, air free from all allergens (63%). This selection of other elements for a good nights rest was also close to being unanimous for six of the ten questioned.

Other Considerations

There are many who consider stylish elements for a good night’s rest, such as silk bedding, or the count of threads on their sheets. According to Southernliving.com and others who have spent a lifetime working with bedding and bedspreads, the thread count is important, but it is not always reliable. Thread count depends upon the vertical and horizontal count of threads per square inch of quilting and some manufacturers will split the threads in order to make one thread two.

Thread Count and Ply Count

Having a higher thread count does not equate to having a more comfortable nights rest absolutely. In other words, according to our experts above, a thread can be single, double, or perhaps triple-ply. The practice is somewhat like splitting hairs, which requires a special technique in the manufacturing process, but the thread count doesn’t always enter the equation of the people above who would consider it perfect for a good nights rest.

Mattress Choice

Many people go to great lengths and spend extra to find the best mattresses for their good night’s sleep and it is important to them. Continuing in the NSF survey, many people have said that certain problems kept them from sleeping well on a mattress they considered not comfortable: tossing and turning (41%), or their partners were moving too much on the mattress (24%).

Head and Neck Support

Others considered the type of support the mattress gave to their body: lack of head and neck support (18%) or sagging mattress either on the edges or in the middle (17%), one person in the couple finds the mattress acceptable but the other not acceptable (17%), unacceptable temperature of the mattress (17%). Lastly, there were several people who complained the mattress was lacking in size for one or the other of the couple (11%), what the mattress was made of shifted throughout the night (10%), or the mattress was either too solid (8%), or not hard enough (5%).

Finding a Good Night’s Rest

As you can see, there are many elements which make a good night’s rest important for most people. The common elements of sleep can be diverse and of great personal preference; however, each of these elements is vital to what can be collectively and unanimously called a good night’s rest.