Sleep is the ultimate rest. The body is in its most relaxed state, completely unaware of its surroundings unless you’re a trained Navy SEAL or a Japanese ninja or something. The human body is at its most comfortable when it is asleep.

In warmer countries, most people have no trouble sleeping, or trying to get any sleep at all. People in tropical countries sleep in light clothing and use blankets only when there’s a cool breeze out in the night. But people living in colder climates have it tough. Most of the time, a blanket isn’t enough to keep the cold out. They must wear thick, bulky clothing, and on top of that a warm blanket, on top of that a quilt, on top of that another blanket. That is inconvenience in every sense of the word.

So the folks over in rural Europe invented the duvet. A duvet is a soft bag filled with feathers and down, sometimes both, and used as a blanket for sleeping. Duvets provide exceptional insulation against the cold.

Duvets have existed as far back as 1749. English writer Thomas Nugent wrote about duvets in his book The Grand Tour, and he was particularly impressed. And duvets are still popular even today. Especially in cold climate countries across Europe, duvets boast a healthy market, and even in other parts of the world beginning in the late 20th century.

Back then duvets were stuffed with the feathers of elder duck, which were noted for improved insulation compared to other types of feathers. These days manufacturers use a wide variety of materials. Most modern duvets are filled with cotton, wool, silk or artificial fibers like polyester batting to achieve the same result without having to rob elder ducks of their feathers, or else PETA would be knocking on their front doors.

Duvets have become popular because they simplify the anatomy of the bed. In the morning instead of having to arrange the bed sheets, several blankets and quilt before going to work, the duvet eliminates everything else except the bed sheets and pillows. It saves precious time and effort especially when you like to have a cup of coffee before driving off to the office.

Duvets aren’t your simple blanket and quilt combination. In fact the industry rates duvets based on their thermal performance – or tog rating. The tog rating gives buyers a better picture of which duvets to get for certain seasons. A duvet with higher tog rating is warmer than a duvet with lower tog rating.

Some manufacturers have gotten smart and created the combined duvet sets. A duvet set is composed of two duvets – a 9.5 tog-rated duvet and another with 4.5 tog rating. These sets are designed to accommodate all seasons, so as a buyer you don’t have to buy the duvets for particular seasons separately. Duvet sets have become popular in some countries with drastically changing weather.

If you live in a country with harsh cold seasons, you should definitely think about getting your own duvet. Try it once and you’ll start to wonder how you ever got along all this time without it.

Author Bio: Duvets are a definite must especially when you like to sleep sound and well throughout a cold night. You can even find small communities dedicated to discussing duvets on the Internet. Please visit King Size Duvet Cover for more information on top quality duvets.

Category: Home Management
Keywords: duvet, duvet covers, tog rating