5 summer-to-fall sleep essentials a sleep science coach uses to stay cool and cozy

Forbes doesn’t immediately reach for heavy layers at the first sign of cool fall air. Instead, she reaches for a lightweight coverlet from Quince to give her that just-right comfort level between seasons. 

“I love [the] cotton-like gauze material,” Forbes says. “It reminds me a lot of linen, and some people love linen for all-season usage. I prefer it more for fall and winter just because of the texture of it.” 

“So, it’s super lightweight,” she says. “I bundle myself in this every night, and I never feel like I’m being toasted or swaddled overly.”

Forbes acknowledges that “a lot of popular blankets out there these days are making head waves and bedding options that look super cute, but more often than not, they are polyester, and polyester is notorious for trapping heat.”

The Quince coverlet, on the other hand, doesn’t feel flimsy despite being made of lighter cotton. “Not only is she super fun, great pattern, but it's comfortable, it's a good weight to it, so it's not like I'm laying on tissue paper, where it's disappointing and you're getting a flimsy product.”

And when the temperature drops further, she doesn’t have to replace it. She can easily build on it. “If you wanted to layer blankets and things on top of it, you can,” Forbes says. “But it’s not going to stifle you and that’s key here.”

“Bearaby has always just been top of mind for me in this regard,” Forbes says when it comes to choosing a weighted blanket. “They have several weights, and you pick the weight.” Forbes uses the 10-pound version, and says, “you pick the weight according to whatever 10% of your body weight would be.”

Bearaby stood out to Forbes because again, she came across the dreaded “polyester or heat-trapping materials” when she was in search of a transitional option. With the weighted beads or fibers already in the construction, Forbes says it’s like “wow, I’m under a hot plate, and this is not what I signed up for.” 

What makes Bearaby different for Forbes is the construction. She says, “they came up with the concept of the chunky-knit weighted blanket.” 

“They take the weighted fibers and then they crochet it into a giant blanket, so you have all the porosity, the holes that you can just stick your fingers and toes through, but also you have the airflow.”

The version Forbes uses is made from Tencel, which she describes as a eucalyptus-derived material. “Basically in the same way that you can derive fabric from bamboo, rayon, viscose, and vice versa, you can do the same thing with eucalyptus,” she says. 

“It's cool to the touch, very lightweight, silky feeling,” she says. “So you get this wonderful balance of comforting, surrounding feeling, but not stifling because it has the cooling sensation.”

While its price point is higher than some alternatives, Forbes says it’s better to just get the real deal in this case. “I've tried dupe versions and they don't come close,” she says. “Like whatever they're doing to make this Tencel fiber really shine, they're doing a great job.”

“They have been my go-to sheets,” Forbes says about Bedsüre. “Like they are workhorse-type sheets, and they hold their own with the more expensive brands that I regularly test.”

She also doesn’t believe that a sheet set has to come with a luxury price tag. She admits, “I cringe when I see really expensive price points for sheets,” which is part of what makes this more affordable set such a standout for her.

The sheets also nail the balance she looks for between material and cooling. “It's a thicker weave, has a little bit more weight to it—again, not the tissue-paper sensation—they're cooling,” she says. 

While Forbes believes these sheets have a “very similar performance or [is] on par” with more expensive brands, it’s their long-term durability that really strengthens the comparison. 

“The colors, they've held up so well for me,” she says. “I don't have any peeling, any fading.”

“But compared to some of the sheets that I was just saying that are more expensive and feel similar—and I've not had nearly as long, the more expensive options—some of them are pilling or have shown signs of wear already, and the Bedsure are just chugging right along.”

Forbes doesn’t always need cooling products that work overtime. During in-between weather, a pillow that feels cool at first can be especially helpful on those nights that start warm and drop significantly by the time morning comes. 

“Cooling pillows can be really helpful, especially for the perception of cooling around your head and neck with various materials that are often used,” Forbes says. She breaks it down into two categories: active cooling and passive cooling. 

Active cooling products are consistently working to regulate your temperature while passive cooling products, like the Coop pillow, feel cool at first before that sensation fades. “[Coop’s pillow] is technically a passive cooling, but it does such a good job, honestly,” Forbes says. 

What’s especially great about the adjustable pillow is that it comes in three different shapes. A traditional rectangle, cut-out, or crescent. Forbes has the crescent. “Think crescent moon towards the bottom, and that’s where your shoulder would go,” she says. “So you can just roll around and you're constantly having support under your neck in particular.”

“Instead of the traditional rectangle, in theory, you're kind of parallel. This one allows you to really nestle up as you move around.”

The filling is another reason it’s Forbes’s go-to. “My husband and I battle it out on who gets custody of the one that we have each night just because the stuffing is so nice. They must be using like, fairy wings and clouds as their stuffing.”

Forbes may or may not have been wearing the bottoms from her Eberjey pajamas set during our interview and she says we wouldn’t be able to tell because, “they look just like pants.”

What makes them great for transitional seasons is the feel. “They feel lightweight, cool to the touch, and kind of have a jersey-knit feel to them, so a little bit more weighty,” she says. 

But, you’re not necessarily getting the weight (or heat!) of something like a satin or sateen option, Forbes notes and says “they’re very comfortable.”

They’re so comfortable, in fact, that Forbes has gifted them to several women in her life. “I've gifted those to many ladies in my life, especially if they're going through hot flashes or are just hot sleepers, menopausal, and they've told me they're great.”

“Because being hot is no good when you're trying to sleep,” she says. “Anything that you can do to offset that, absolutely [do].” That mix of cool comfort along with a little extra weight makes them an easy pick for those in-between early fall nights.