Sunny summer would be great if there weren’t those muggy nights when it’s too humid and hot to get a good night’s rest even with the AC switched on. The good news is recent research came up with a solution to keep you cool at night even during the Dog Days. Combining knowledge about fabric sensation to the touch with and about material affinity to moisture uptake and water vapor transport led to the fabric combination of the Cooling Blanket. This cooling blanket review informs you how a cooling blanket works, and my experience using it. Read to also learn about color choices, sizes, and prices, and where to buy it for 10% off with promo code 8IOJ9VNF (expires 2024-11-30).
- Thermal Comfort and Sleep Are a Basic Human Needs
- My Experience with the Arc Chill Cooling Blanket
- Why Does the Arc Chill Feel Cool?
- Why Does Sweating Fail to Cool Us During Muggy Days/Nights
- Material and Construction Are Keys for Thermal Comfort
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- Arc Chill Cooling Blanket in a Nutshell
- References
Disclosure: Ad. The Arc-Chill Cooling Blanket is a sample of my choice from MarchPower. The post is not endorsed by them. I wrote it entirely myself and it represents my own 100% honest opinion.
Thermal Comfort and Sleep Are a Basic Human Needs
Thermal comfort and good sleep are basic human needs. We feel in thermal comfort means when ambient temperatures are between 48.2 and 71.6F (9-22°C), and we don’t sweat. Obviously, thermal discomfort due to muggy weather affect our sleep with consequences for our work performance, and being active during the day. Unfortunately, nearly everywhere, including the sub-arctic, there are those muggy summer days when the air seems not to cool down; the air feels humid like in the in the first five second after an infusion in the sauna, but all night.
Alaskan houses are build to keep the heat. Add that you have to keep your windows closed due to smoke from wildfires, and having no AC, you see why I accepted MarchPower’s offer to try the cooling blanket.
My Experience with the Arc Chill Cooling Blanket
When I took the photos of the blanket, my husband asked “Is that for the cooling blanket review?” When I put my camera back into its bag, he touched the blanket and said “Wow, that feels cool.” Next he went off with the cooling blanket heading straight to the bedroom. He fell asleep within minutes and slept for more than four hours in the middle of the day. When he woke up his comment was “That was great. I hadn’t slept so well for days.”
Coming into the bedroom later that day, I caught our cat laying on the cool side of the blanket that was folded over. Unfortunately, I was too slow with my phone to document it. Besides the experience that one for every family member is better, my experience has been that my frequent rolling around in bed refreshes the cool feeling of the cooling blanket.
Based on my experience from my recent trip, where I had AC, I can recommend recommend it also to all of you who are fortunate enough to have AC.
Why Does the Arc Chill Feel Cool?
As I explained in my recent book, when you touch a fabric of a different temperature than your skin, your skin and the fabric exchange heat. Scientists refer to this heat exchange process as thermal absorptivity. In simple words, the degree of thermal absorptivity quantifies the warm or cool feeling of a fabric on the skin upon first contact. Because the cooling blanket has a high thermal absorptivity it feels cool at first sensation. Heat namely flows from warm (your skin) to cool (the blanket). You put the cool side towards your skin.
This cool feeling only depends mainly on the surface structure/texture. Smooth fabrics like satin, tightly knitted single-jersey or woven fabrics, for instance, provide a large surface area on the skin for heat exchange. In addition, the large surface area also means a large area where evaporation of sweat may occur. Recall our body reacts with sweating to cool itself, and to maintain a stable body temperature.
Why Does Sweating Fail to Cool Us During Muggy Days/Nights
Unfortunately, sweating leads only to thermal comfort at apparent temperatures below 77.5F (25.3°C). At higher temperatures, an increase in humidity by 10 hPa has the same effect as an increase in temperature by 3.4F. Therefore, evaporation of sweat strongly decreases when the ambient relative humidity increases. As a result, at high relative humidity under hot conditions, sweat can accumulate on the skin and drip off. The latter further reduces the cooling from sweating, while the latter increases the discomfort.
Material and Construction Are Keys for Thermal Comfort
To create a cooling blanket scientists made use to the fact that hygroscopic fabrics can absorb water vapor from the humid air close to your sweating skin and release it in comparatively drier ambient air. Cotton, for instance, has this property. Therefore, the smooth cooler side of the blanket is 100% cotton. Therefore, the blanket decreases moisture built-up. Because the thinner a fabric, the greater is its absorbency of sweat, both single-jersey fabrics are super thin.
The outer side consists of an 80% nylon 20% polyethylene blend. Nylon is light-weight, and increases air permeability as compared to 100% cotton. Nano-porous polyethylene-blended fabrics provide excellent cooling because the body radiation can transfer thru the fabric. Furthermore, they are water-wicking, and have a similar softness as cotton. Scientific studies revealed that these fabrics can decrease skin temperature by 4.9F (2.7C), and keep the skin temperature up to 4.1F (2.3oC) lower than cotton fabrics of same thickness. Unfortunately, this control of the body temperature only works indoor.
The high air and water vapor permeability “sucks” the water vapor thru the cotton fabric. As a results, sweat evaporates faster than it would otherwise.
Price-Performance Ratio
Good sleep at night is worth a lot and priceless. However, the cooling blankets are very affordable ($69.99) and worth every cent.
When gray isn’t your thing, these Arc Chill cooling blankets come in many colors. Consequently, you will easily find a shade that matches your bedding or bedroom color theme. You can also order the Arc Chill cooling blankets in various sizes:
- 51 in x 67 in (130 cm x 170 cm)
- 59 in x 79 in (150 cm x 200 cm)
- 90 in x 108 in (229 cm x 274 cm)
Arc Chill Cooling Blanket in a Nutshell
The super-thin blanket has a smooth single-jersey structure with high absorbency on the cool inner 100% cotton side, and high air and water vapor permeability on the outer nylon-polyethylene side. Combined these properties have a cooling effect. At a regular price of $69.99, the cooling blanket is already very affordable. However, you can buy the Arc Chil cooling blanket on Amazon for 10% off using the 8IOJ9VNF. Browse their cooling blankets now for a cooling like no other.
Tip: You may also be interested in reading about memory foam pillows with cooling technology.
References
Farooq, A.S., P. Zhang, 2021. Fundamentals, Materials and Strategies for Personal Thermal Management by Next-Generation Textiles. Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, 142, 106249, 11p.
Mölders, N., 2023. Discover the Relationship between Fashion, Fabric, Weather and Comfort. Amazon Publishing Pros, 182p.
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