Healthier Choices
Now more than ever, in this on-demand lifestyle of the 21st century, good quality sleep is an imperative. Poor quality sleep is the major cause of health issues such as heart conditions, weight gain, diabetes, depression, stress levels and poor memory function. Enhancing the quality of your sleep is a ZayZay priority. Considering you spend one-third of your life in bed, your choice of linen is more vital to your health than you may have thought.
Still Tired After a Full Night’s Sleep?
Completing your full sleep cycles is an imperative for restful sleep. A common cause of sleep disruption is body temperature fluctuation. It begins with the fact that overnight, your body can release as much 200 – 500 ml of water. No, that’s not just for menopausal women experiencing hot flashes. When your skin is moist or clammy, you toss and turn and kick off the linen. Then you get chilled and cover up again. This cycle continues throughout the night. These mini wake-ups happen unconsciously, so you’re not aware of the tiny disturbances (possibly up to 60 times an hour!). You wake up feeling less rested than you hoped. Ongoing sleep disruption is the equivalent of reducing those 8 hours of sleep you think you’ve had, down to four.
These “mini wake-ups” caused by body temperature fluctuation can prevent you from completing your full sleep cycles, with Stages 3 and 4 – the ‘deep sleep cycle’ being the most important. Awakening during slow-wave sleep, or deep sleep, has the largest negative impact on our performance throughout the day. Your sleep-wake patterns determine your hormone and stress levels, thus affecting your physical performance. A key function of sleep is to remove neurotoxins that build up in our brains during the day as well as restore the body.
Bed Linen is Not Just About Looks
The choice of fabric for one’s bed linen is important. In fact, it should be your first decision. It certainly was ours. It is vital to have fabric that allows good air circulation for optimum sleep quality. Our 100% certified Giza Egyptian cotton reduces body temperature fluctuations because it breathes. This breathing wicks the moisture from your body, keeping the air around your body at an even temperature. Your skin stays dry. Your sleep is restful.
Does Thread Count Play a Factor?
400 thread count is optimum for breathability. It is the perfect weave ratio because it allows better air circulation around your body for a more restful sleep. A higher thread count, while silkier to the touch, actually blocks proper air circulation because of its tighter weave. In fact, you are more likely to wake up clammy. Conversely, a low thread count is rougher on the skin, and its wicking properties are inferior. You may actually feel chilly. Synthetic fibres are simply an option to be avoided – they don’t breathe – regardless of thread count.
Soothing to Sensitive Skin
Our variety of long-staple cotton is naturally soft and very soothing to sensitive skin due to its extraordinarily smooth fibres. In fact, we recently heard from a client whose daughter suffers from eczema. After showering, she wraps herself in our linen to soothe her inflamed skin! Our fabric settles down her inflammation within a short period of time. Her sleep has improved as a consequence. We couldn’t be more thrilled.
Harmful Chemicals Used in Bed Linen
Shockingly, the use of chemicals in the manufacturing of bed linen, in fact textiles at large, is unregulated. You can sleep at night knowing ZayZay bed linen is free of toxic agents and is certified safe enough even for infants. Given the proximity to our skin, night after night, this matter deserves serious attention as it impacts your health and our planet’s too.
ZayZay uses the best quality fabric. By starting with superb raw materials as we have, it eliminates the need for toxic chemical agents. Our hand-picked Giza Egyptian cotton is a long-staple fibre that’s extra silky, remarkably strong, naturally soft and very white.
Attempting to achieve these characteristics, inferior quality cotton and synthetic fabrics are often treated with harsh chemicals or additives. These include whiteners, softeners, binders, stabilizers and other fixatives used in pre- and post treatments. Formaldehyde is commonly used to produce ‘wrinkle-free’ fabrics. In conventional textile printing petroleum-based inks are employed, these are especially harmful chemicals. Why do so many manufacturers choose this option? Because rotary printing and oil-based inks cost less.
We only use eco-friendly water based pigment inks. All of our inks are non-toxic so no harmful chemicals are used in the printing of your duvet cover. Our Giza Egyptian cotton holds colours more deeply with its amazing ability to absorb liquid. The result is a resilient vibrancy that maintains its colour fastness naturally.
Digital printing is exponentially kinder on the environment in its usage of water and energy than toxic petroleum-based inks typically used in traditional textile printing. In other words: your duvet cover has a significantly smaller carbon footprint than a traditionally manufactured bed covering. Learn more about our certifications.
Mind Body and Spirit
The beauty of vibrant colours and textures is that it not only transforms a space – your bed, but also your mood and spirit. A boost of colour is capable of shifting your patterns of thinking, removing the stresses of your day placing you into a more positive frame of mind ready to have a little fun. The ZayZay collection is designed as a spirit-reviving supplement. To interrupt the sameness or the grayness that is so prolific in home décor. Colour can work as therapy, inspire and invigorate the soul.