Most people spend a third of their lives in bed getting sleep. It's no surprise that you want your bed as comfortable as you can make it. Here's how to buy the right bedsheets to make your next night's sleep a great one.
Pick a fabric. Cotton has a more natural feel, but can cause skin irritations with some people. If you're sensitive to regular cotton bed linens, try bed sheets made from organic cotton. Remember that cotton also has a tendency to shrink and wrinkle. Sheets made from polyester (or a polyester blend with cotton) are synthetic, meaning they're fabricated. These sheets don't wrinkle much, don't have allergens and are less likely to shrink than cotton. Satin and silk bedsheets are thin but they feel great against the skin.
Measure your bed. Make sure the fitted sheet is deep enough for your mattress thickness. Most beds are standard size and sheets are easy to find for your twin, double, queen or king-sized beds. There's also specialty sizes such as California King and extra long twin that require custom sized bed linens. For thicker mattresses, buy deep-pocket fitted sheets.
Read the package, or label, to see the bed sheet set's thread count, that determines how many horizontal and vertical threads are in each square inch of material. The higher the thread count, the softer the material feels. Below 300, the sheets tend to be scratchy. Anything below 175 is a waste of money, no matter how little they cost. Sheets with thread counts of 600 or more tend to be thin unless they are two-ply. That's another factor to note. The ply multiplies the thread count, so a two-ply sheet with a 180-thread count has the feel of a 360-count sheet.
Buy bed sheets accessories such as bed sheet straps. They strap onto the bed sheets under the mattress and keep the sheet from easily falling off while you're sleeping.
Consider flannel in winter. Heavy thread count flannel sheets are soft and they can be so warm you can sleep under the sheet and a blanket without a heavy comforter.