Silk - The secret to a good night's sleep

Off the Sleep End!
Instant relief from congestion and night sweats

This is a mid-life quiz.  Check all that apply. If you score higher than 5, you’ve hit mid-life.  If you score higher than 10, you’ve hit it hard.  

• You sleep with someone who snores, has sleep apnea or sinus congestion
• His or her congested breathing causes them to emit short, sharpsnorts
• You wake up every time he or she snorts louder than 70 decibels
• Which is often.  And deafening.
• Mid-life hormones wake you up at least once per night, drenched
• You get up, stand on the icy bathroom tiles and blow-dry your body 
• You go back to bed and thrash around trying to find a dry spot
• The snorter awakes, somewhat irritated
• The only dry spot left in the bed is right next to the snorter, so you make your move
• The closer you get, the more irritated and restless the snorter becomes
• It’s too darn hot snuggling and the perspiration starts to flow again
• You back off to your original spot, organize the pillows around your ears to reduce snorting volume and thrust out a bare leg to moderate body temperature; Sometimes both of you go back to sleep.  Not often.     

Up until one month ago, I had not slept well in years for ALL of the above reasons.

But on Valentine’s Day I received the gift of a new kind of bedding and I’ve now had more than 30 nights in a row of solid 8-hour, deep restful sleep.  No perspiring.  No snorting.  Both of us wake refreshed each morning, we have lots of energy, and neither of us is ever too loud, too hot or too sweaty (except under the right circumstances).

It’s some kind of miracle. 

I was so excited by the vast improvement in our sleep that I tracked down the creator of my new SmartSilk bedding.  I reached Harry Walker in his  office.  He listened to my torrent of enthusiasm and questions with the patient ear of someone who is getting a lot of sleep.

How had he came up with silk-filled bedding that eliminated our night sweats, wakefulness and breathing problems the very first night we put it on our bed?

Harry Walker explained that a few years ago, his wife was menopausal and going crazy with sleep disturbances from night sweats.  She’d bought the finest ‘breathable’ down products for their bed but still wakened every night in a froth of perspiration. 

Harry, who’d spent years working in Montreal’s garment industry, knew a thing or two about the wicking properties of silk. He thought it might make an effective solution for his wife so he developed a prototype silk-filled duvet, mattress cover and pillow protector. They worked beautifully for his wife, so here he is, three years later, finally launching a much-tested, successfully proven new product that has just been awarded the Asthma and Allergy Friendly certification (www.asthmafriendly.com <http://www.asthmafriendly.com> ). 

But how does SmartSilk diminish the scourge of night sweats?

Silk is a thermal regulator.  Unlike down and some synthetics, which tend to collect and store moisture and heat, silk wicks humidity away from the skin surface and dissipates extra heat. SmartSilk products feature silk batting within a shell of pure cotton. It’s machine washable (cool delicate wash cycle, low tumble dry) and its benefits are clinically proven to improve after washing.

According to Harry, my delighted relief is typical.  “It’s different for everybody.  Some people still get warm surges but they’re not soaked anymore.  Other people have complete freedom from night sweats and sleep soundly through the night.”

And lots of sleepers experience dramatic relief from breathing problems. “My cousin has a deviated septum in his nose,” reports Harry Walker, “so he had trouble breathing at night.  He wondered if SmartSilk would help his stuffy nose. I told him surgery might be a better option but he insisted on trying it.  As soon as he spent his first night in the SmartSilk bedding he came back and told me that it had really reduced his congestion.”

When you consider that you spend a third of your life sleeping (or trying to), you might see this solution as an investment in your lifetime productivity level.  I sure do. 
 
SmartSilk products are warrantied against manufacturer’s defects for 5 years post-purchase. A SmartSilk queen-size mattress cover, duvet and two pillow protectors run about $700 with tax.  Shipping is free for orders over $150. 

TIP:  The cost of Chinese silk has escalated wildly so you might want to order before prices increase.   (www.smartsilk.com )<http://www.smartsilk.com> . 

BONUS TIP:  For fresh titbits about the fascinating symptoms of peri-menopause, visit the Red Hot Mamas (www.redhotmamas.org) <http://www.redhotmamas.org> .

Comments

[Thomas]

Hi Mag, we read your article with great interest! After trying every type of bedding product known to man (and woman of course) From air, spring, and space foam mattresses, foam and even bean stuffed pillows we still don't sleep well! (38 years of marital bliss to boot!)

I ordered a set of SmartSilk products first thing Monday morning and anxiously await their arrival!

I'll let you know how it turns out!

Thomas

[Val Reid]

I'm really interested in the Smartsilk bedding you bought. I have allergies and a shedding dog and my allergies have never been worse, so your article was great. I've been on the Smartsilk website but wanted to ask you if the difference is directly attributable to the mattress and pillow covers? Did you buy new pillows at the same time? I'm even thinking of replacing my down duvet with the Smartsilk one, but it's a large outlay of money and I want to make sure it's worth it. It didn't sound from your article as if you also bought the duvet, but I wondered if it was warm enough. I'm skeptical enough to not necessarily trust the on-line tributes.

I'd appreciate any feedback you have.
Val

[Daniel Hunter]

Hi Val,

I’m Mag’s husband and I’m the one with allergies that cause me congestion and to snore. We bought the mattress cover, pillow covers and duvet and love them all. Our house is cold so we put a hypoallergenic down duvet over the silk one to keep warm. The silk wicks the moisture away very efficiently while the down duvet used to keep heat and moisture next to our skin causing Mag and I to both wake up with night sweats especially when she has hot flashes. All of that is cleared up now.

We’ve tried a few combinations including the SmartSilk and what works best for us is to use all the silk products with sheets and duvet covers and the down comforter (also covered) when it’s really cold. We wash the sheets and duvet covers once a week in hot water to kill the dust mites and, if we don’t, then I start snoring again. We’ve also tried some old blankets over the SmartSilk and I start snoring right away. But as soon as we take them off the snoring goes away.

It has been quite amazing for us and I hope it helps you too.
Daniel

[Trudy Flynn]

I was wondering if your improved sleep came as a result of the duvet, mattress pad and pillow covers or were there silk sheets involved. Does it matter what kind of sheets you use?

thanks for the info

Trudy Flynn

[Daniel Hunter]

Hi Trudy,
Mag is busy with a book so I thought I'd answer your question.

We believe that all three parts contribute to our better sleep. I have allergies so covering the mattress and pillows helps to keep the dust mites away so I breathe better and don’t snore so we both have a better night for that reason.

Mag gets hot flashes so the mattress cover and duvet really help her because they wick away moisture helping her to cool. Before SmartSilk, Mag would be awake for at least two hours per night.

We use flannel sheets and duvet covers because we like the feel of flannel best. We sometimes switch to regular cotton sheets in the summer but our house is cold so we mostly stick with flannel. I don’t think the kind of sheets makes much difference but we do clean them in hot water once a week to kill the dust mites.

I hope this helps.
Daniel

[Eric]

Daniel, I have suffered from allergies all my life and now that our children have grown up and moved out, my wife and I got ourselves a dog and this didn’t help my allergy situation. My allergies made me stuffed up and restricted clear breathing and inhibited my sleep which made me tired. All of that is now a thing of the past and I am no longer stuffed up, breathe clearly and sleep soundly - without snoring and have pretty much eliminated migrane headaches as well. I thought I would pass on what I did to help alleviate my symptoms. Studies show that allergy conditions can be triggered by molds, dust and other indoor contaminants so I installed an in-line 3M filter into my furnace cold air return line and also installed UV ultra-violet light into the cold air return duct-work using a device called “Swordfish”. Swordfish helps alleviate symptoms by attacking triggers such as dust mites and molds by deactivating the DNA/RNA of micro organisms and killing fungi and bacteria in air duct systems (available at Canadian Tire and Home Hardware - check out http://www.swordfishuv.com/faq.aspx). I also installed a cold air return Hepa bypass filter. The in-line filter, the UV light and by-pass filters help clean the air in the entire house. Since I spend a third of my life sleeping in my bedroom, I installed a stand alone air filter called IQAir Cleanroom H13 Hepa air purifier for this room - check out http://www.bestfilters.com/iqair/iqair-cleanroom-h13-air-purifier/Page_1/iqh13.html
It’s a little bit expensive but I found it to be a worthwhile investment since it certainly made a big difference in air quality in that room. For a smaller budget I found that the Swordfish UV light made a big improvement for the air quality of the entire house and would certainly recommend it.
best wishes,
Eric

[Jocelyn]

Hi, Mag

Read about Smartsilk in your column and decided to buy the mattress protector and pillow covers.

Just wanted to let you know I really like them and am having better sleep at night since putting them on the bed. Am considering buying the duvet.

Many thanks for the info. I would not have known about Smartsilk otherwise.

Jocelyn

[Jean Buffi]

I just read your article on ironing in the Edmonton Examiner. I love to iron so I was interested in what the article said. Listing the points on how to iron a shirt just reinforced my method which was taught to me by my Grandmother. It is exactly the same and the method works beautifully. My husband quite often gets compliments on his ironed shirts. Many think they are sent out. Thanks again.

[Mag]

Jean,
So glad that your Grandmother and my Mum trained us in their brilliant system! We are darn lucky and so are the people whose shirts we iron!
Mag