The great bed debate: Do you really need to have a top sheet?

It’s a debate that’s raged for decades: do you actually need to have a top and a bottom sheet as well as a doona cover?

While the arguments for both camps have their pros and cons – “you don’t have to wash your doona cover as often” vs  “it’s too hard to make the bed with one”, it’s a debate that’s not easily solved.

Although for those of us who stand firmly in the “no top sheet” camp, a new business aiming to take the hassle out of bed-making may just change your mind.

As a kid, Matt Griffin loathed making his own bed every day. To him, it was a pointless chore. But as he got older, he found an appreciation for creating calm and order in his life, so he set out on a mission to take the hard work out of bed making, seeing it as the foundation to starting the day in the right mindset.

“It’s that ‘ready to take on the day’ mentality. It’s almost like doing positive affirmations; making your bed is one of those positive affirmations: ‘If I can make the bed, I can take on this day’. The other part of it is, coming home to that … it creates an environment that’s more stress-free.”

Griffin, now very much in “camp top sheet”, believes most people ditch them because they find them too difficult to use. So, he has come up with a simple solution to ensure ill-fitting sheets bunched up at the end of your bed after a restless night’s sleep are a thing of the past.

With a background in product design, Griffin launched Bedsmade in 2020, a business that specialises in tailor-made top and bottom sheets.

The sheets, made from 100 per cent cotton with a 400 thread count, are made-to-measure to fit the depth of your mattress.

You’ll no longer have to battle with the top sheet, thanks to the custom-made pocket that slips over the foot end of your mattress and won’t budge. Markers embroidered on the top end of the sheet act as a guide to ensure you’ll get a perfect fold, and tailored corners will give you that hotel-style bed at home, without the grunt work.

Those of us who like to let our legs dangle off the side of the bed, fear not. Griffin, the self-described “hot-person-in-the-bed”, designed the sheet so that it’s easy to let your feet free when you need to, which is important for your own comfort and to regulate your body temperature.

“A comfortable bed to me is easy to make, and it’s ready when I get home – that to me is a perfect bed,” Griffin says.

And comfort is key when it comes to getting a decent night of shut-eye, according to sleep psychologist and board member of the Sleep Health Foundation, Professor Dorothy Bruck.

“All we can do is make the conditions right for when we want to fall asleep, and part of that is having a comfortable bed and comfortable bedding.”

According to the foundation, you should have a quiet, dark room with comfortable bedding and good temperature control.

“A lot of poor sleepers sometimes develop a very negative attitude to their bed and bedroom. The feel-good factor when you get into bed is important … feeling positive about going to bed is very important, so comfortable bedding helps with that.”