Evaluation on the performance of quilts based on young people's sleep quality and thermal comfort in winter

Abstract

This study evaluated the performance of three different quilts (white duck down quilt, white goose down quilt and cotton quilt) based on sleep quality and thermal comfort of young people in non-heating bedroom in winter. Thermal comfort and sleep quality were subjectively evaluated before and after sleep. Electroencephalograms (EEG), skin temperatures and bed climate were measured throughout the all-night sleep. Both subjective and physiological results showed that quilt materials had a significant effect on sleep quality and thermal comfort. The goose down quilt was evaluated the most comfortable in overall sleep comfort and sleep thermal sensation. The duration of slow wave sleep as calculated by EEG signal was longer, the skin temperatures and bed climate were higher when the goose down quilt was used. The results also show that there are gender differences in skin temperatures. Compared with males, the mean skin temperature (MST) of females was higher, while their foot temperature was significantly lower, which suggest that for females more attention should be paid to maintain warmth of extremity during sleep in winter. Our results suggest that sleep quality and thermal comfort is the most desirable when using goose down quilt and undesirable when using cotton quilt. Duvet could guarantee a comfortable bed climate in non-heating bedroom in winter of East China. Results also showed that lighter quilts would have a higher degree of satisfactions, indicating that young people in East China may have a preference for light quilt.