5 Ways the Right Pajamas Can Help You Sleep Better

When the pace of our busy lives accelerates, sleep can often feel like a luxury. It’s the first “activity” to get cut from the schedule when we’re searching for extra hours in the day, and yet the cost of reducing shut-eye extends well beyond bad moods and lack of focus. Insufficient sleep has been linked with serious medical conditions, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity and hypertension. It’s safe to say that a quality night’s sleep is crucial to our health and well-being, and this is where the right pajamas can give you a boost.

You probably put a lot of thought into selecting the right outfit for an eventful day, or evening out. The right pajamas – whether cooling pajmas or regular women’s pajamas – make a big difference to the quality of your sleep and your overall health, so why not put some serious thought into that outfit too? Here are five ways the right pajamas can improve your sleep and support your wellness.

1. The Right PJs Increase Your Comfort

Who doesn’t love snuggling into bed at night in a soft set of pajamas? Feeling comfortable improves the length and quality of your sleep, whereas being bothered by a too-tight waistband or an itchy fabric is a reliable guarantee of acute insomnia. Be sure to evaluate the fit and hand-feel of your sleepwear before making a purchase, and pay attention to the textile.

2. Good Pajamas Help Regulate Your Body Temperature

You’re not weird if you tend to get chilly at night. Everyone’s core body temperature drops during nocturnal hours, reaching its lowest point in the wee hours of the morning, when you might have kicked off your covers. This is why high-quality temperature-appropriate pajamas (and bedding) are key to a healthy night of rest. In fact, thermoregulation is linked with the mechanism that regulates sleep, meaning temperature plays a central role in the onset and quality of your sleep, as well as the amount of time spent in different sleep stages.

Feeling too warm or too cold affects slumber, even in people who don’t suffer from insomnia. So it’s important to make sure you select pajamas that work with the ambient temperature and not against it. It might be summer outside, but if your bedroom air conditioning runs all night, the right pajamas will keep you comfortably warm. Similarly, if your bedmate radiates thermal units like a storage heater, you might need to wear lighter jammies even in the dead of winter. You want to maintain a comfortable sleep environment and get the best rest.

When you’re shopping for pajamas with an eye toward getting better sleep, here are some of the fabrics to look for:

Cooling Fabrics

• Cotton is soft and extra breathable, durable and stretchy (all of which make it ideal for both kid’s and adult pajamas). Supima cotton, especially, is super soft, resists shrinking and is light and breathable
• Silk is among the strongest fabrics in the world, and silk pajamas are breathable, super-soft and elegant and have natural thermal regulation properties. It keeps you cool when it’s warm and warm when it’s cold.
• Tencel or Lenzing Modal fabric, a semi-synthetic fabric that is often made partly from beech trees, has a light and airy weight.
• Bamboo materials have a similar feel to cotton, and are super lightweight and breathable. They’re also moisture-wicking.
• Linen: Extremely breathable and durable, but can feel rough and wrinkles

Warming fabrics

• Cozy, insulated flannel and knit and even fleece options are great for cold nights, and good for lounging around at home during the day as well.

3. Pajamas Support Good Hygiene

Did you know that our bodies release around 300,000 dead skin cells full of microorganisms every night? That comes out to over 40,000 per hour. We also produce about a quart of sweat each sleep cycle. Nude sleepers deposit all of the above directly onto their sheets. Clean, properly fitting pajamas, on the other hand – especially in moisture-wicking, breathable fabrics – will catch a good portion of everything your body sheds at night. They’re also easy to throw into the washing machine. (Please, please throw them into the washing machine at least once a week!)

4. They Contribute to a Healthy Nighttime Routine

Like a hot mug of Sleepytime tea and a good book, the act of donning pajamas is an important part of the bedtime ritual, signaling to your mind and your body that it’s time to wind down. PJs serve as a reminder for your upcoming bedtime, along with brushing your teeth, silencing phones, turning off screens, and easing into calm and quiet. Once you’re in sleepwear, you’re much less likely to start new activities or check your work email.

About one third of Americans say they have a hard time falling asleep at least a few nights each week, and an inconsistent sleep schedule bears some of the blame. Pajamas won’t solve that problem single-handedly, but they make for a logical step within a steady nighttime routine. It will help you stay on schedule for hitting your sleep goals. 

5. Pajamas Reinforce Your Personal Style and Dial Up Your Appeal

Pajamas are a lot like intimates; the public might not know what they look like or if they match, but you do. And pajamas that regulate your temperature and help you sleep better shouldn’t look like the PJ equivalent of granny panties. Also, old athletic shorts and baggy, discolored college t-shirts considered acceptable during your co-ed days should be retired permanently from your sleepwear rotation. Take some pride in your private attire! High-quality coordinating pajama sets are a sign of maturity and personal taste, and you won’t be ashamed to answer the door in them, should the need arise. And don’t we all feel better when we know we’re presentable?

In short, while there are many reasons why getting a full night of Zs can be a challenge, wearing the wrong pajamas for your body type doesn’t need to number among them. Great sleepwear is affordable and accessible, and you’ll never regret looking too good come bedtime. Multiple studies have proven that a night of quality rest sharpens your cognitive function, boosts your mood, makes your heart healthier, steadies your blood sugar, and aids in weight loss. With the right pajamas, you can wake up at the top of your game every morning.