Flannel sheets for restless sleepers?
January 3, 2014 12:06 PM   Subscribe

Is there anything I can do to make my new flannel sheets less...sticky? I am apparently a very restless sleeper and the last two nights have had terrible nights' sleep after repeatedly waking up with my pj's seemingly velcroed to my sheets.

The sheets are "triple-brushed flannel" and have a 170 gram weight, if that helps. They are wonderfully cozy for the frozen northern tundra where I live, but I'm going to have to go back to cotton if I can't figure this out. Would extra washing, or different washing (hot water, air drying, etc.) help make them less like velcro? For those of you that do have flannel sheets, is this common? Do you just learn to live with it? Because right now I am waking up ~ 10x/night tangled and panicked and something's gotta give.

Right now I sleep in a cotton t-shirt and undies; for a variety of reasons I'm not really open to sleeping au naturale although that seems like the obvious solution, but I would be willing to consider pajamas in different materials if that would help.
posted by stellaluna to Home & Garden (11 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: Have you used fabric softener on them at all? That can eliminate the staticky stickyness, if there is any. Once they get older and more worn in the effect lessens. In the interim, maybe pj's in a more slippery/silky material might help.
posted by elizardbits at 12:09 PM on January 3, 2014


Best answer: Also, and at this point I feel like a shill for Big Mattress Pad, but heated mattress pads are fucking awesome in ways that cannot be fully understood until you have one and love it more than anything else in your home. (to be used with regular cotton sheets, thus eliminating the Flannel Problems, I mean)
posted by elizardbits at 12:11 PM on January 3, 2014 [4 favorites]


Best answer: Right now I sleep in a cotton t-shirt and undies; for a variety of reasons I'm not really open to sleeping au naturale although that seems like the obvious solution, but I would be willing to consider pajamas in different materials if that would help.

Try something satin-y.
posted by showbiz_liz at 12:14 PM on January 3, 2014 [1 favorite]


Best answer: I find the combination of percale fitted sheets with flannel flat sheet or comforter covers works better for me for exactly that reason.
posted by leslies at 12:16 PM on January 3, 2014


Ditto what showbiz_liz said: the easiest thing to do is change what you wear. Either a smoother material, or a more form-fitting t-shirt or tank top that doesn't have as much leeway for twisting around.
posted by something something at 12:17 PM on January 3, 2014


I have this problem myself. The only thing that sort of helped the PJ problem for me was to tuck in my shirt and tuck in the sheets pretty tightly to limit movement.

Honestly, though, we just bought a huge duvet and now sleep without a top sheet and it's been an amazing improvement.

I'm also going to nth a change in PJ texture.
posted by mamabear at 12:18 PM on January 3, 2014


I had flannel lined sheets back many years ago and had a similar problem. I solved the problem by eliminating part of the layering problem and it wasn't the sheets. The sheets provided ample warmth on their own. Now that I'm older, I probably wouldn't take the same tactic. I have used flannel duvet covers over down blankets since then, and that allows for a really really nice fine thread count linen sheet, or a jersey-T sheet. Honestly, its worked better.
posted by Nanukthedog at 12:31 PM on January 3, 2014


Best answer: Depending on your level of fastidiousness, this may or may not be a viable solution, but I've found that if you go a little longer between washes, the fuzzies are much improved. I imagine that's what's sticking to you. Try two weeks; after a month or so you can go back to a regular washing schedule and the sheets should be smoother pretty much permanently.
posted by charmcityblues at 1:34 PM on January 3, 2014


Response by poster: Thank you for all of the advice! I am tremendously relieved that I'm not the only one who has experienced this, and in addition to experimenting with the suggestions above, will also be adding a heated mattress pad to next year's Christmas wish list (how did I not know that was a thing?!).
posted by stellaluna at 2:17 PM on January 3, 2014


Personally I like just a flannel top sheet with a 100 percent cotton percale fitted sheet. That way I can slide around on the bottom but be snuggly with the flannel.
posted by PJMoore at 6:19 PM on January 3, 2014


Sleep naked.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 2:10 PM on January 4, 2014


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