Has the duvet had its day? According to new and somewhat unsettling research, the humble duvet may be your best friend during the winter months, but it could also be bad for your health.

In what is likely to be unwelcome news to anyone who loves a luxurious lie-in, experts have now theorised that sleeping under feather duvets can cause health problems for some users.

Following a report published in the British Medical Journal, doctors are warning patients that unexplained breathing problems could be caused by feather bedding.

The medical report detailed a case of 'feather lung', an inflammatory lung condition that comes as a result of breathing dust from the feathers used to make some duvets and pillows.

One Scottish duvet user, 43-year-old Martin Taylor, reported a myriad of health upsets back in 2016, among them dizzy spells and being unable to stand or walk for any length of time. Taylor was lucky that he was eventually diagnosed with feather lung, despite his blood work showing no allergic reaction to birds. If left untreated - and often, doctors say, the condition is unrecognised - the condition could have lead to permanent lung scarring.

Admittedly, it would take more than mere feather lung to break up the relationship between my own duvet and I. Come to think of it, it's not so much a relationship as a decades-long romance. I still remember my first Continental Quilt, as they were known back in the 80s; won in a school raffle. Its arrival into the house prompted my mother to bolt to the nearest department store, and soon we were up to our oxters, literally, in glorious duck down duvets and pillows, feeling as though we were sleeping under clouds. The starchy sheets and woollen blankets were duly consigned to the drawer under the bed.

I was driven further into the arms of Team Duvet when I became a hotel chambermaid in London during one fateful college break. It was a summer of stripping sheets and administering hospital corners, and I'm not sure I ever got over it. To this day, I have no truck with sheets and blankets, much less hospital corners: in fact, I love my low-maintenance duvet so much that my partner and I have gone the full Scandi and have a duvet each, so that I can fully cocoon myself in several pounds of 13.5 tog.

Except… well, according to yet more research, duvet lovers - especially those who aren't fastidious about dry cleaning them - might be sharing a bed with plenty of tiny critters, too.

In 2006, researchers at Worcester University analysed 10 typical duvets (many of which, it must be said, were synthetic) and discovered they could contain up to 20,000 live house dust mites, as well as bacteria and fungal spores. One that had not been washed for 11 years contained more than one-and-a-half ounces of debris such as skin scales and house dust mite faeces. Dead skin cells, dust mites, bacteria, fungi, and mould also call your pillow home - according to some researchers, it makes up to a third of the pillow's weight.

However, Robert Oexman, director of the Sleep to Live Institute in the US, suggests that pillows should probably be replaced every six months.

"Obviously, stuff builds up on mattresses and on bedding, and house dust can be a big health trigger, especially in winter," explains Dr Nina Byrnes. "It's definitely one to think of. People who suffer with asthma, hay-fever, we often tell them to avoid anything that can gather dust."

Happily, it's not all doom and gloom for us duvet fans. Margaret Ryan worked alongside Francis Brennan to create the sumptuous Francis Brennan The Collection for Dunnes Stores, which includes duck and feather down duvets and toppers. In accordance with Dunnes Stores' guidelines, the collection was meticulously created with hygiene in mind.

"When we were sourcing the down and duck feathers, we learned a lot from Dunnes ourselves," notes Ryan, who adds that the feathers are sourced in Monaghan. "In the process, the feathers are filled into pockets and then involved in a very intricate hoovering process afterwards, to get rid of any residues or dust," she explains. "We also recommend when you buy a duvet that you leave it hanging for about a day before you put it on your bed."

These days, it's admittedly rare to meet someone who still uses sheets and blankets on their bed. In the UK, retail giants John Lewis has recorded a 47 per cent uplift in duvet sales in the past decade alone, while in 2016 it was reported that even the Queen had ditched traditional eiderdowns and sheets in favour of duvets in the guest bedrooms at Windsor Castle.

Yet, dust mites aside, there is probably a growing case for going back to sheets and wool blankets. Wool is a natural fabric for a start, and likely more ethically and environmentally sound than a duvet. In today's sustainable times, that's as good a reason as any for its resurrection. And these days, there is a swathe of different types of blanket available for those that find the original setup scratchy or heavy.

Peter Ackroyd, chief operating officer at the Prince of Wales' Campaign for Wool, says: "Science and consumers are just rediscovering the benefits of sleeping in and under wool. Developed by sheep over millennia, wool regulates your body temperature, keeping you in what is known as the 'thermal comfort zone', which is perfect for sleep."

Recent peer-reviewed research has shown that we not only fall asleep faster but stay asleep for longer when sleeping in and under wool, he adds.

Researchers at the University of Sydney have found that sleeping on wool gives a 25 per cent increase in the quality of sleep. Researchers put eight healthy volunteers through 'polysomnography' tests, testing how each person slept with wool, cotton and synthetic sleepwear and bedding and at different temperatures. The results showed that wool gives a longer and deeper sleep, with the most difference at higher temperatures.

If the average person perspires one litre of water each night, synthetic or down fibres are usually unable to absorb this. Wool absorbs up to 30 per cent of its own weight in moisture. These increased moisture levels sit on the skin, raising the body's temperature above the recommended 30-50 per cent, causing a heat build-up, which is enough discomfort to wake a person from sleep.

Other signs are afoot that woollen blankets are making a comeback: Foxford Woollen Mills in Mayo has just embarked on a new digital journey and is embracing the online market, with a goal to double turnover through a multi-million euro investment.

"We have plans to double the turnover at the company in the next five years from €7m currently to €14m, and most of that growth is going to come from online," Foxford's MD Joe Queenan told the Irish Independent earlier this year. He expects that 60pc of online sales will come from Ireland, 20pc from the UK and a further 20pc from the US and other markets.

Elsewhere, Ryan and Brennan are also considering adding wool blankets and linens to Brennan's Dunnes Stores homeware collection, and Ryan notes that Foxford blankets, linens and sheets are readily available to guests at Brennan's Park Hotel in Kenmare.

"It's a matter of personal taste," Ryan observes. "Some people are addicted to their duvets, but others very much love to use blankets. I wouldn't say that blankets have been confined to the history books just yet."

Irish Independent