5 Fabrics That'll Keep You From Sweating At Night

Sleeping in the summertime without the best pajamas for keeping you cool can be a living nightmare. For some, their window air conditioning unit makes their bedrooms the only refuge from the sticky heat and constant reminders of all of all the places your body can sweat from. For others, it's a chamber of doom where sleep doesn't happen anymore and dreams are only distant memories. "Is this what menopause is going to be like?" I ask myself as I toss and turn, mourning the loss of my pillow's cool side for the better part of three months. In summer, there are no cool sides.

While I'm a fan of embracing every opportunity to be naked when you can and sleep in the nude, sometimes you just have to sleep in pajamas. Whether you prefer a layer between your bod and sheets or even if you're a nudie, cooling and lightweight pajamas also make amazing loungewear. You know, for the moments between whipping off all your clothes as soon as you get home and having to meet the Seamless guy at the door to grab your dinner without getting arrested.

The secret to keeping cool in your jammies is pretty much all about the fabric. Choose pajamas in one of these five materials to keep the sweating to a minimum, so you can have sweet dreams of Channing Tatum instead:

1. Cotton

Cotton Playsuit, $38, Plum Pretty Sugar

Cotton Eyelet Sleep Dress, $40, Addition Elle

Cotton is a solid standby since it's a natural fiber that's breathable and lightweight. You can go for a nightgown, top and bottom set, or keep it simple with your favorite lightweight cotton tee and undies.

2. Silk

Silk Pajama Set, $147, Lily Silk

Stella McCartney Silk Top, $125, Journelle; Stella McCartney Silk Shorts, $110, Journelle

Silk is another wonderful lightweight natural fiber — but it's hella expensive. It's breathable with that luxuriously silky feel that's borderline orgasmic. Worth it? You decide.

3. Linen

Steven Alan Linen Pajama Top, $145, Barneys; Steven Alan Linen Pajama Shorts, $95, BarneysFlax isn't just for your morning smoothies: Linen is an incredibly light, durable fabric woven from flax fibers. It's also hella expensive and really impossible to find plus size pajamas in. If you do decide to splurge, I personally guarantee that you will feel like someone who wakes up to the Maine seaside for a day of sailing and wine spritzers. If that's the sort of thing you're into.

4. Rayon

Rayon PJ Set, $28, Target

Rayon Nightgown, $45, Herroom

Rayon sounds like an awful synthetic from the '70s. It is manmade but it's created out of recycled wood pulp, making it super cooling and also really affordable and accessible. There's likely a pair of rayon pajamas at a store near you. Slip some on, babe!

5. Supplex

Dear Kate Yoga Pants, $128, Dear Kates

Supplex is a manmade material that gives you everything you love about cotton, including its breathability, and then ups the game by making it hold its shape and dry faster. Wear these moisture-wicking pants, designed to keep you cool and un-sweaty, with a cotton tee or the matching bralette from Dear Kate.

Images: Courtesy Brands