If you want to get the most out of life, make sure you sleep well
IT WAS pure coincidence when my editor told me to write a small piece about sleep and how to get the best out of bedtime. I go through certain stages during the week when I am either working and enjoying every minute of it by performing better or just sitting at my desk and gazing at an empty computer screen wondering where to start. I’ve tried to figure out what is wrong with me and why I’m not creative five times a week instead of three. Well, research for this feature gave me the obvious answer: I don’t get enough sleep. I usually go to bed at 12 but never earlier and when I’m out of the house, the clock sometimes strikes two before I’ve hit the pillow. Bad, I know because this automatically means that I find it very difficult to get up in the morning and I have a serious lack of energy throughout the day.
I, and I would think many others, do not appreciate sleep and therefore do not realise its importance. Although we all know that we should sleep an average of eight hours to feel refreshed, the truth is that different people need different amounts of sleep. I, for example, do not need more than eight hours of sleep; if I sleep for less than seven hours, I can’t be bothered to do anything but if I sleep for more than nine, I look and act like something out of the Living Dead. So, I know for a fact that eight is my number. So, why do I continue to sleep less, when I know I’m going to be useless the next day? With all the things there are to get done in a day, the hours are often not enough. Wouldn’t it be great if there were more hours in the day? But even if there were and we did get into bed by 8 o’clock, could we fall asleep? Most of you would probably answer no.
The benefits of a good night’s sleep seem to make up for all the problems I have in my life. Apparently, a good sleep can make you smarter because sleep is an absolute necessity in order for our nervous system to work properly. However, the most important part is the fact that during sleep time the brain rehashes recently learned information, so by sleeping you are enhancing your memory and your ability to learn. It is also said that sleeping may help you lose weight. This one is very interesting as the lack of sleep can lower the growth hormone that regulates proportions of body fat and muscle, thus lowering a hormone that leaves you with cravings for carbohydrates. Plus, if you are too sleepy then there’s no way, you will be bothered to exercise, right? Moving on, we all know that a good healthy sleep is healthy for you. It’s good for the skin (beauty sleep) but that’s not really the number one reason. Lack of sleep makes the body weak and less able to fight infections, so you are more likely to end up with a lot more colds and illnesses than the norm. The more we sleep, the more our tissue grows and repairs itself and the stronger our immune system gets.
However, refreshing all that might sound, the truth is either our schedule doesn’t allow us to be in bed early enough or we simply find it very difficult to sleep. Well, apart from the serious insomnia factor (in which case you might have to see a doctor), there are a few main reasons that might contribute to the difficult task of falling asleep. If you are used to sleeping during the day, then that might be the main reason because a daytime nap will throw off your body clock. Do you drink coffee or alcohol? Then that is another reason, as caffeine surely won’t let you sleep like a baby, will it? And alcohol can act as a sedative but it normally disrupts your sleep pattern and it doesn’t help when you are feeling dizzy. Another bad factor is smoking. Although, we really shouldn’t smoke, in general, especially before you go to bed, smoking won’t let you sleep because nicotine is a stimulant. Other ways that guarantee a good night’s sleep is exposing yourself to sunlight after you awake, checking your iron level and exercising early in the morning.
Sleeping is associated with our bed and bedrooms. So, making sure your bed is large and comfortable enough is a must. Also ensure your bedroom is peaceful and primarily a place for sleeping without any clocks stressing you all the time. Make your bedroom a sacred place where you only relax and if you are daring enough, get rid of the TV because honestly, that’s not where it belongs!
Get the bedding right
Once upon a time, well actually in the 1960s, NASA needed a material in their space shuttles that would relive pressure for their astronauts in the shoot-up against the enormous G-forces. A difficult task but there the answer was TEMPUR material. A Swedish company called Fagerdala World Foams used this material for mattresses and wheelchair cushions in order to heal and prevent pressure soars. The material had potential, so although there were a few problems, in those days, the idea wasn’t totally forgotten. Years later a small factory in Denmark discovered the ability to mass-produce TEMPUR, so in 1991 Sweden began selling. At first it was sold through medical professionals to people with bodily pains and aches but today TEMPUR is sold over 60 countries to patients and other people. This improved technology has made it possible to provide the exceptional comfort of the NASA material for use in homes as well in hospitals around the world. TEMPUR pressure relieving materials should never be referred to as foam. While it is technically foam, it is very different from other foams that they have branded it a new, high-tech material.
l for more information on TEMPUR and where to buy its products in Cyprus call 22 818720. www.tempur.com
