For me, a good nights sleep is worth its weight in gold. I mean I’m not sure how you’d measure it – answers in a comment box – but still, I think we can all get on board with where I’m coming from, get your 8 hours and you can be ready to take on the world feeling fresh and sharp.
Now, because I’m a stickler for detail (some have even accused me of having OCD) I like to my bedroom to give me the best chance of getting those quality zeds.
Some things are more obvious than others so let’s start with them:
- NO phones, tablets, laptops, Tamagotchi’s, ok Tamagotchi’s are ok but definitely none of those pesky devices that give out the blue light of awakenment. I have Philips Hue set up in the flat and the settings ‘energised’ and ‘awake’ both give out the same blue light. Get this out of your bedroom life – preferably an hour before going to sleep actually.
- Have a routine. Seems simple but actually harder than it looks to achieve. Those that master it though will be able to achieve an excellent sleep cycle where alarm clocks will be a thing of the past. (Although I’d probably still set one unless you have a very forgiving boss just in case!)
- Get the right temperature. Super important if you are going to get uninterrupted sleep which you need to achieve REM (the deep sleep where all the real good dreams are and body repairing happens). Gadgets such as NEST can be a great help here in regulating the temperature at night. Ideally, you want the room to be between 18.5˚ – 19.5˚.
Now here’s where the fun started. All of the things listed above are absolutely important but let’s be honest they don’t add much and can be a bit of a drag. Not allowed this, don’t stay up and enjoy this… blah blah. What really made a difference for me is when it came to decking out my bed.
2916 hours. 121.5 days. 33% of your year is spent in bed so I’m all about making that the best experience possible for me and whoever might be lucky enough to be there too (boom boom!).
I’ve been doing some research and came across the guys at eve who are doing things a bit differently in the world of mattresses, pillows, and duvets, all founded on the backdrop that the current model is super outdated – which is true. Who wants to wait 8 weeks for a mattress and pay over the odds?
The products that have currently enter my abode are the eve duvet and eve pillows and this is what I think…
The Duvet:
I’ve opted for the 4.5 tog spring/summer version (there is a 9 tog autumn/winter edition too) being as my flat is pretty well in insulated and I’m in London, not Altnaharra (officially the coldest place in Britain).
Unboxing it, like with all eve products was a pleasure in itself. I respect the effort that has gone into the detail that ensures the from the very first time you have contact with the product is a premium one.
Some background for you… Duvets with natural fillings (down/feather) are widely seen as being of a far superior quality than synthetic duvets. There’s a good reason for this: down and feathers are engineered by evolution to keep birds at a constant body temperature, warming them in cold weather, and cooling them in hot weather. The eve duvet will provide the same benefits. How cool is that?!
On top of this, down/feather filled duvets have a much longer lifespan on average than duvets with synthetic fills. Although there are good synthetic options out there, it seems none have quite been able to match the level of insulation, moisture- wicking, and breathability offered by a good quality down/feather duvet.
Duck Vs Goose. One feather to rule them all. No this isn’t a bad Top Gun meets Lord of the Rings film, stick with me you’ll see…
As you know I don’t like to leave any stone unturned so having spoken to the team at eve I found out that they choose new white duck down/feather as opposed to goose down/feather because they found that the relative benefits of a goose down/feather duvet do not warrant the increase in price that these duvets have to sell at (goose down/feather is a much more expensive raw material). The cost:benefit ratio of a good quality duck down duvet works more in favour of us, the customer than that of a goose down/feather duvet.
Also, get this… the duck down/feather that eve use has a fill power (a measure of how ‘fluffy’ the filling is) of 9. Many of the goose down duvets on the market (the ones that are perceived to be of a higher quality) will also have fill powers of around 9 (sometimes even lower!). This means people are paying a lot more money for the same warmth-giving properties, simply because of the ‘goose’ label and that ain’t right!
So how does this duvet stack up? Very very well is the answer. I kid you not every night’s sleep since I’ve had this has felt like I’ve been in a luxury hotel! Take a bow eve, take a bow you have created an excellent duvet.
Overall rating: 5/5.
This is, without doubt the best thing to enter my flat in a long time.
The Pillow:
Again faultless when it comes to the delivery and presentation of the product. Clear updates all the way (by text and email) as to when and where my pillows would be delivered and a pleasure unboxing them and adding to my duvet.
The promise from eve: A brilliantly comfortable pillow made with premium memory foam. More supportive than feather or fibre pillows, with added benefits for circulation and muscle alignment.
Things I noticed straight away with the pillow was it was made from the highest quality materials and clearly built to last. The durable jersey fabric used to make the cover is soft to the touch and satisfyingly stretchy. The fabric is knitted, rather than woven, giving it that lovely elasticity – like the material of your favourite t-shirt.
And unlike other memory foam pillows on the market eve have avoided the squared edges instead offering a gentle tapering the edges. Also one of the coolest features of the pillow is the core is hypoallergenic and it also benefits from an UltraFresh treatment, which fights off bacteria, mould and mildew – to keep the pillow fresh for longer.
Now as I’ve gone on this journey to maximise the quality of sleep I get I’ve learnt more than a few things – who knew about ‘fill power’ before? Be honest! But I’ve also paid more attention to how I sleep and what works for me which is the most important thing, right?
One of things I have been called out on a lot on is that I sleep face first into the pillow(!) – don’t ask me why or how it’s a mystery to me too but for all the positive things the eve pillow brings to the bedroom this did cause me some problems. To be straight to the point its a little on the firm side for me and created a bit too much of an angle between head and mattress for me to be truly comfortable.
I guess this is where, what is right for you, comes into play. If you’ve always been one of those people that has put a towel under their pillow to lift it slightly because the feathers or synthetic filling aren’t offering enough lift (or you indeed prefer a firmer pillow) then the support from this pillow is going to line you up for a great nights sleep!
–> Note to eve you are so close to making the perfect pillow in my eye but please can we have slightly softer version??
Overall rating: 3/5 for me BUT 4.5/5 if you like a firmer pillow.
So in summary, I can say with confidence that with the right bed set-up it will truly be 8 hours well spent between the sheets and I now echo eve, Every great day starts the night before.
If you’d like to get your hands on the pillows, duvet or in fact anything in the eve range head over to evemattress.co.uk and click shop!
Caio for now, I’m off to bed…