Duvets and bedding for people who run hot
Most bedding sold as cooling is built to feel cold in a shop. A hot sleeper's problem starts an hour into the night, when the moisture your skin gives off has nowhere to go. Wool takes it into the fiber and the heat leaves with it.
The wool duvet, under an organic cotton cover and an organic cotton sheet. Your skin gives off moisture all night, and a synthetic or down duvet holds that moisture in the air against you, which is what your body reads as too hot. Wool draws the moisture up into the fiber, up to 30 percent of its own weight before the surface feels damp, and the heat travels out with it. Then put a wool pillow under your head, because the air at your face is where the waking signal comes from, and finish with a cotton sheet rather than a polyester one so the layers underneath can breathe.
For most hot sleepers that is the duvet. For some it is the pillow, and for almost everyone it is made worse by a synthetic sheet in between.
Hand-tufted organic wool that moves the moisture your skin gives off up into the fiber, so the air under the duvet stays dry and dry is what stays cool.
Best for anyone who wakes up damp, and couples who run differently
The same moisture work under your head, where the waking signal usually starts. The wool sits inside an organic cotton cover, so what your cheek rests on is cotton.
Best for sweat at the face and neck
300 thread count organic cotton sateen on both faces, with a zipper along one side and ties inside for the duvet's corner loops. Cotton lets the moisture through instead of holding it against you.
Best for keeping the wool duvet working and clean
Fitted sheet, flat sheet and pillowcases in the same undyed sateen. A polyester sheet blocks everything above it; this one lets the layers do their job.
Best for replacing a synthetic sheet in one go
Air keeps moving between the loose hulls all night and carries your heat out with it, so the surface never builds the warm hollow you have to keep escaping.
Best for a hot pillow rather than a damp one
A buckwheat chamber on one side and a wool chamber on the other. Flip it and find out inside a week which of the two problems you have.
Best for people who cannot tell whether it is heat or sweat
A slip-on case with no zip against your face, in the same sateen. It is the cheapest part of a cool bed to get right and the one most people skip.
Best for finishing the bed
Why the cooling duvet you tried gave up
The bedding aisle is built around the first one. A hot sleeper needs the second, and the difference is what happens to moisture.
1
A cool-touch cover or a gel layer is a good conductor. It pulls heat out of your skin on contact, which is pleasant for a few minutes.
2
Inside about twenty minutes the layer has taken all the heat it can hold and it sits at body temperature for the rest of the night.
3
Polyester and down both hold moisture in the air between you and the duvet. Damp air at body temperature is exactly what your brain reads as overheating.
4
You cool down, then you get cold, then you pull it back, and the cycle runs until morning. The room was never the problem.
Wool does not try to be cold. It keeps the air under the duvet dry, and a dry sleeper at a warm temperature feels far cooler than a damp one at a cold temperature.
How wool cools
Your body puts out water vapor all night, more when the room is warm and more still under a duvet. Wool fiber draws that vapor into itself, up to 30 percent of its own weight before the surface feels damp at all, and as the moisture moves out of the air around you the heat travels out with it. That is why the air under a wool duvet stays dry, and dry is what your skin reads as cool.
It also runs the other way. When the room cools in the small hours, the wool releases the moisture it took in and gives a little heat back, so the swing flattens rather than waking you. The same duvet suits a humid August and a cold January, which is why the people who buy it for the sweats keep it for the winter.
Why it does not bunch
A duvet only cools you where the wool is. Loose fill migrates to one end of the cover inside a week, and then you are sleeping under an empty cotton bag with a heavy lump at your feet. Ours is hand-tufted, with the layers of wool tied through at points so they cannot travel, and it has corner loops that tie into our duvet cover so the whole thing stays registered to the bed.
The wool comes from certified organic farms in New Zealand and is layered rather than stuffed, which is what makes the tufting possible. The finished duvet is certified organic under licence GOTS-10229 through Oregon Tilth, and with a cover on it we expect 10 to 15 years from it.
The layer people forget
This is the most common way a good wool duvet gets blamed for a bad night. Moisture has to pass through the sheet before the wool can take it, and a polyester or heavily finished sheet is a barrier. The sweat stays on your side of it, and the duvet never gets the chance to work.
Our sheets and pillowcases are 300 thread count long-staple organic cotton sateen in the natural colour of the cotton, with no dye and no finish to close the weave. Put the wool pillow inside one and the duvet inside our cover, and every layer between you and the wool is one that breathes.
Cooling is decided by where the sweat goes, and most duvets keep it against you.
| Duvet | What it does with moisture | How the night goes |
|---|---|---|
| Organic wool duvet | Takes it into the fiber, up to 30% of its weight, and the heat leaves with it | Dry under the duvet all night, and warm again when the room cools |
| Organic cotton duvet | Breathes and stays cool to the touch, and absorbs what a synthetic cannot | Cool and dry in a room that is not already fighting you |
| Down or feather | Absorbs moisture and holds it in the cluster | Warm and damp by the small hours, and it clumps as it takes on water |
| Polyester down alternative | Cannot absorb it, so the moisture sits in the air against your skin | Clammy inside an hour, which is when the kicking off starts |
| Cooling gel or phase-change layer | Stores cold, not moisture, and matches your temperature in about twenty minutes | Cold on contact, then the same as any other duvet |
| Bamboo or eucalyptus lyocell | Feels cool and slippery, and the fill inside is usually still polyester | The cover breathes and the insert traps |
The wool duvet, in a cotton cover. Damp is a moisture problem and wool is the only fill here that takes moisture into itself and away from you.
Organic Wool Duvet ›Start with the wool pillow. The air at your face is where the waking signal comes from, and a pillow is a smaller change than a duvet.
Organic Wool Pillow ›Buckwheat. Air moves through the gaps between the hulls all night and carries your heat out, so the surface never builds a warm hollow. Take the Buckwool Hybrid if you want wool on the other side.
Buckwheat Pillow ›Change the sheet before you change anything else. A polyester or heavily finished sheet holds the moisture on your side of it and the duvet never gets a chance.
Organic Cotton Sheet Set ›Wool, if you wake up damp. It takes moisture into the fiber, up to 30 percent of its own weight before the surface feels wet, and the heat leaves with it, so the air under the duvet stays dry. Cotton breathes well and stays cool to the touch, and it suits a warm sleeper in a cool room. Wool is the one that takes the sweat away.
It is the opposite of what people expect. Wool does not insulate the way a synthetic does. It keeps the air under the duvet dry, and a dry sleeper feels cooler than a damp one at the same temperature. Then when the room cools toward morning it gives a little warmth back, which is why one wool duvet covers the whole year for most people.
The wool duvet, with a wool pillow under your head. Night sweats are a moisture problem before they are a heat problem, and wool is the only fill here that pulls the moisture into itself. If the sweats are heavy enough to soak the sheets, the duvet is what is trapping them and no pillow reaches that far.
Because it was storing cold rather than moving moisture. A gel or cool-touch layer takes in your heat until it reaches your body temperature, which happens in about twenty minutes, and then it holds that warmth till morning. The sweat that made you feel hot is still against your skin the whole time.
Usually not. Weight and warmth are different things, and a light polyester duvet can leave you clammier than a heavier wool one, because the polyester cannot take the moisture your skin gives off. Our queen wool duvet is about 9 pounds and hand-tufted, and it sleeps dry in August.
A lot. The cover is the layer the moisture has to cross first, and a polyester or heavily finished one blocks it. Ours is 300 thread count organic cotton sateen on both faces, undyed and without a finish, so the wool inside can do its job. It also has internal ties for the duvet's corner loops.
Yes, as long as it is a cotton one. A natural top sheet under the duvet adds a layer that breathes and washes weekly, which is what many of our customers do. A synthetic top sheet is the one thing to avoid, because it puts a barrier between you and the wool.
You do not, which is why the cover matters. The wool duvet is spot clean or dry clean only, and the organic cotton cover over it is the layer that goes in the machine. Air the duvet in a dry spot a few times a year and it stays fresh.
Better than any other single duvet, because wool responds to each side of the bed rather than holding one temperature. It keeps the warm sleeper dry and gives warmth back to the cold one as the room cools. If the two of you are far apart, the two-duvet bed on our couples page is the other answer.
Send it back inside 60 nights. Free shipping. We would rather you found the bedding that works than kept something that does not, and most people know inside two weeks.
Hand-tufted organic wool that moves the moisture off you, under an organic cotton cover and sheet that let it through. Handmade in our New Jersey workshop.
See the picks178 verified reviews
If you've sent more pillows back than you've kept, you're our customer.
“I have owned more pillows than I have owned houses and I have owned 12 houses.” This is by far the only pillow to use if you don’t want to wake up with sore shoulders or neck. I have replaced all the pillows in my house with this pillow.
I have compressed discs in my neck, and I have spent hundreds of dollars over the past 6 months trying to find one that will help me sleep. Every pillow I bought caused me to wake up in even more pain than the night before!! The buckwheat pillow is life-changing!! I have slept through the night and wake up with no pain!!
I was leery to try another expensive pillow without some sort of trial period after being very let down by a different company's natural fiber pillow… I don't hear anything at all with the buckwheat! It does stay fresh and cool as well, but most importantly it actually holds my head/neck up and in place. Which allows me to actually get rest instead of always adjusting.
I've been a buckwheat pillow customer for the last 7 years and I can say that Circadian has the highest standards of quality paired with incredible customer service. Very very impressed and would not hesitate to send anyone their way.
I have spent years searching for a pillow that feels supportive and comfortable all night. I have finally found it. I absolutely love the Buckwool pillow. I removed a bit of the material to get it to exactly how I want it… I rarely wake up with neck pain now.
I find myself switching between the two and loving the feel of both. I haven't woken up with a sweaty head with either and that's an amazing feeling especially in the AZ summer. The buckwheat side is a lot quieter and more comfy/soft than others I've tried in the past.
I have tried at least 10 different pillows in the last 3 years. Nothing has worked out except for this wool pillow. I have chronic neck pain which has been greatly reduced. I am very happy with my new pillow.
I have pretty bad chemical sensitivity (housebound most of the time)… I try to only buy totally safe, non-toxic products. I found this pillow to be very safe and non-toxic, and the packaging was fragrance free which is always a huge plus.
I ordered this pillow to replace my very old (but beloved) down pillow and I'm so glad I did. It is heavenly!… I advise you to heed the recommendation given by the quiz. I ordered cotton initially despite the quiz giving me kapok as a result… the quiz was right.
The quality craftsmanship and materials is evident… when I asked if extra stuffing were available for the second one I'm using as a knee pillow, they not only pointed me to the right place on their site, but also created a new, smaller 1-lb. refill size based on my request.
The three-star ones are in there too. Read all of them
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