USE: 8hrs approx' most nights
QUICK READ: Wow... I'm a 100% certified wool convert now!
I heard about this product at the Survival Conference in Leeds. This is the most sciencey event in my calendar, and it was the science behind this woolen duvet that sold me the product, I simply had to give it a try. Woolmark tests had shown users had a lower heart rate using this product over others containing more conventional bedding insulation.
Presenting (and being a great salesman) on the day was Kevin Smithbone, a boffin from Fogarty. He talked about performance bedding materials, a subject he knows a lot about given his companies collaboration with Wool Mark doing sleep trials of large variety of different duvets and pillows. Of course his presentation was unlike those typical of the Survival, especially as the subject was much more about comfort than preservation of life.
Of course comfort has a huge bearing on performance clothing or sleeping-bags, but unlike performance sports-gear, bedding materials don't have a strict requirement to be light weight. In fact the first thing that I noticed about my new bedding as I pulled it from its packaging was its greater weight. I had been warned, in fact Kevin had mentioned that duvets too light will easier sit in the form of ripples across the bed, allowing drafts to go straight to the sleeper inside. Aside from drape, the duvet is dense but compressible, while the pillow is denser still and has only compressed over time to the optimum thickness for my head over about a week - but it did get there. I guess you can't expect memory pillow like performance from 'old technology' like this.
The weight of the duvet didn't take long to adjust to, in fact I now positively associate it with security - I've been bitten less by mosquitoes this year. Presumably they've been unable to find a way in under the covers! This leads on to the most remarkable factor about the duvet and pillow.
Let me paint the scene, I live on the top floor directly (no loft space) under a flat lead roof. I live very near the River Thames so it gets quite humid on a hot still evening and after a sunny day my bedroom is baking hot. So as you can imagine I'm used to sleeping under a duvet cover alone during the hot summer months. Of course, I've given the clue away already - I haven't stripped my duvet cover of duvet yet this year, there just has been no need to do so.
Perhaps this is no big deal for you? Perhaps you're not fussed about the need you have to kick off layers of bed-cover to prevent overheating? But if you are honest, I think you'd say that you don't like it, but it is just one of those things you've come to accept as something you've got to live with. Just like the fact that when settling down to sleep you need to turn the pillow over because the side you're on is burning your ears. Just like the fact that mosquitoes can bite right through your duvet cover!
Well now you can virtually eliminate kicking off your duvet as the thermometer climbs. You can rid yourself of the need to forever turn your pillow over. And perhaps, like me, you'll get bitten less by mosquitoes as the summer passes by?
Winter testing and aftercare trials to come :)
Check the best prices out for "Best Night's Sleep" Wool Duvet & Pillows here.
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