THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BED LINENS FOR YOUR SLEEP & WELL-BEING

The secret is out! The aesthetics of your bed and the quality of your bed linens have a significant impact on your sleep quality and therefore on your physical and psychological well-being. A poor night’s sleep has a negative impact on, amongst other things, your cognitive performance. However, many of us don’t consider this when choosing which bed sheets to buy or when styling our beds.

Sleep hygiene & bedroom design

The term “sleep hygiene” is used to describe a combination of lifestyle habits and sleeping conditions that support consistent and good quality sleep. Creating a bedroom environment that is conducive to achieving this is part of this concept. This includes the visual design, the practical set-up and the choice of fabrics. Your bed linens and any textiles used to adorn your bed are an integral part of your bedroom micro-environment. They therefore deserve sufficient care, attention and thought.

In this blog post we will look at the importance of aesthetics and the use of textiles on our health when it comes to the dressing of our bed. We will also outline our mission as a company to change the way in which we view our bed sheets.

The aesthetics

The bedroom should be a warm and welcoming space. One in which you can experience profound relaxation, and which evokes the sense of truly being at home. When you cross the threshold into your sleep quarters you should get that feeling of having escaped from the day’s trials and tribulations. It should be akin to breathing out deeply and letting everything go, thus feeling lighter physically and emotionally.

The design of the room, including the dressing of the bed itself, should reflect your personal style and generate the calmness which is essential for promoting high quality sleep. Considering the intimacy of the bedroom your bed, once styled, should evoke feelings of contentment and tranquility. Fortunately, as we work on a bespoke basis at ECRU you can rest assured that the final outcome will be exactly to your own desires.

In addition to your own personal tastes, the significant of colour should be considered as it plays an important part in creating a particular mood. At ECRU we have chosen to work predominantly with neutral tones as they provide the sense of calm and comfort necessary for unwinding. We love classic all white bedding, white signifying luxury and cleanliness, inviting the desire to be in one’s bed.

And whilst we are not afraid of a hint of colour in the styling, bedding accessories and embroidery, our preference remains with shades and designs that retain an element of calm. You therefore won’t see any vibrant colours or bold patterns in our fabric collection.

There are other elements that have an impact on our psychological well-bring either consciously or not. A well-made and thoughtfully styled bed creates a sense of tranquility and readiness for sleep. With this mindset, we are better prepared for a good night of undisturbed sleep. When the styling of our bed replicates the experience of being in a luxury hotel our mind subconsciously transports us to being on holiday, thereby relaxing the mind and body.

The tactile element

Beyond the aesthetics of the bed is the tactile element of the fabrics which you choose. Bed linens clearly have direct contact with the skin during the hours of sleep, on average 6-8 hours per night, and therefore provide the foremost comfort or discomfort whilst we are in bed.

The materials from which your bed linens are made and the way in which the materials are woven can affect your quality of sleep by influencing your skin and body temperatures. Some fabrics are better suited to “hot sleepers” and certain seasons. Individual preference in terms of the feel of the fabric against the skin also needs to be considered.

As we work with our clients individually and solely on a bespoke basis, we can provide personal advice on which fabrics to select based on your sleeping habits and preferences. We can also offer guidance on how to use fabrics on a seasonal basis for the best sleep. In addition, during the “ECRU at Home” design consultation, which we offer as a standard part of our design process, you can feel our fabrics in the comfort of your own home before making your final decision. Alternatively, as we believe in the importance of touch, we also offer the option to purchase fabric samples to peruse at your own leisure. As a service this is of course not readily available when buying linens “off-the-shelf”.  

Additionally, the actual quality of the fabric has a significant impact on how well we sleep. A higher quality fabric feels softer and is therefore more comfortable. Waking up after onset of sleep is reduced as a result, leading to more consistent and better-quality sleep.  On the other hand, a poor-quality fabric can irritate or scratch the skin. This alone creates discomfort but also often causes fragmented sleep due to increased tossing and turning throughout the night.

At ECRU we work only with natural fibres such as cotton, linen and silk as these provide far superior sleep comfort than man-made fibres such as polyester which we would actively discourage using. Furthermore, we have carefully selected only the finest Italian fabrics woven from long staple fibres resulting in very high-quality fabrics which are exquisitely soft and deliciously smooth.

Last but by no means least, our fabrics are chemical free which is much better for your skin and your overall health. We care about the well-being of our clients and therefore all the fabrics in our bed linen collection have the OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certification. This is a benchmark for textile-safety from yarn to finished product and certifies the absence of harmful substances. This certificate is reviewed on an annual basis so you can rest assured that you are safe in selecting to bespoke your bed linens with ECRU.

Our mission

Our mission as a brand is to redefine the standards of luxury in the bedroom. We want to change the perception of what is considered acceptable when it comes to our bed linen and the way in which our bed is styled. We want to achieve this through raising awareness about the contribution high quality bed linens and the aesthetic of the bed make to our health and well-being.

A closing comment

A closing comment from our owner and creative director Saskia Ilsen Nunn.

“We see a need to invest more in our linens and the dressing of our bed. After all we finance costly gym memberships because movement and exercise are good for our health. However many of us are willing to sleep under sheets which have a negative impact on our sleep quality which, in turn, affects our longevity. It is not consistent. Investment in high quality bed linens is ultimately an investment in your health and well-being.”

We would be delighted for you to discover the ECRU collection. You can find out more on our website www.ecrulinen.com or you can email us at admin@ecrulinen.com