NATIONAL BED MONTH Throughout March it’s National Bed Month – a whole month dedicated to learning about the importance of a good night’s sleep and how to improve your kip with a comfortable, supportive bed.
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ho doesn’t love a full, uninterrupted night’s sleep? If you find you’re struggling to get to sleep or you’re waking up at 4 am because the springs in your bed are uncomfortable then fear not as March is National Bed Month and we’re here to tell you how important it is to get a full night’s sleep and what you should be doing to ensure you really do get your beauty sleep. Organised by The Sleep Council, the month aims to remind us all of why a sound sleep is good for our health. It’s thought that good sleep has amazing properties that make you healthier and happier, and can even add years to your life! In 1988, a groundbreaking study found that by switching an uncomfortable old bed to a lovely new one meant an extra 42 minutes of sleep! It might not seem like much, but 42 minutes could be the difference in your mood for the rest of the day.
But why do we sleep? It may at first seem glaringly obvious, but the question of sleep is actually quite mysterious. In simple terms, it is an extended bout of rest we experience on a daily basis, where we most often lay down with our eyes closed. But there’s more to sleep than meets the eye.
We tend to think of sleep as a time when the mind and body shut down. But this is not the case; sleep is an active period in which a lot of important processing, restoration, and strengthening occurs. One of the vital roles of sleep is to help us solidify and consolidate memories. As we go about our day, our brains take in an incredible amount of information. Rather than being directly logged and recorded, however, these facts and experiences first need to be processed and stored; and many of these steps happen while we sleep. Overnight, bits and pieces of information are transferred from more tentative, short-term memory to stronger, long-term memory—a process called “consolidation.”
How much sleep do we need? Sleep is a vital indicator of overall health and well-being. The average person spends around a third of their life asleep. In this time, our bodies are able to replenish energy stores and make repairs, while our minds organise and store the memories of the day before. The amount of sleep you need depends on your age, sex, health and other elements, and sleep cycles change as we grow older. Most of us know that getting a good night’s sleep is important, but too few of
us actually make those eight or so hours between the sheets a priority. For many of us with sleep debt, we’ve forgotten what “being really, truly rested” feels like. Healthy sleep is critical for everyone since we all need to retain information and learn skills to thrive in life. But this is likely part of the reason children - who acquire language, social, and motor skills at a breathtaking pace throughout their development - need more sleep than adults. While adults need 7-9 hours of sleep per night, one-year-olds need roughly 11 to 14 hours, school-age children between 9 and 11, and teenagers between 8 and 10. During these critical periods of growth and learning, younger people need a heavy dose of slumber for optimal development and alertness. To determine how much sleep you need, it’s important to assess not only where you fall on the “sleep needs spectrum,” but also to examine what lifestyle factors are affecting the quality and quantity of your sleep such as work schedules and stress.
How can you improve your sleeping habits? To begin a new path towards healthier sleep and a healthier lifestyle, begin by assessing your own individual needs and habits, you need to test how you respond to different amounts of sleep. Pay careful attention to your mood, energy and health after a poor night’s sleep versus a good one. Ask yourself, “How often do I get a good night’s sleep?” Like good diet and exercise, sleep is a critical component to overall health. To pave the way for better sleep, consider these simple, yet effective healthy steps to fulfilling your sleep goals!
40 March 2020
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