Cool Sleeping for those Hot Summer nights

Its summertime folks and that means soaking up the sun, good food/cold drinks, spending time with family and friends, and enjoying the great outdoors. But what happens at the end of the night when you’re worn out from it all and ready to crash? You retreat to your blissful, inviting bedroom; your comfy bed beckoning you as you delight in the fact that you are mere moments away from drifting off peacefully into dreamland… Aaaaah….

But wait!…(cue scary music) Dunt Dunt Duuuuuun!!!

In the middle of the night you awaken only to discover that a suffocating blanket of heat has infiltrated your bedroom sanctuary; pouring in like a sun-fire army whose only mission is to make you sweat profusely as you toss and turn, trying in vain to find mercy from the hell-sauna that your once heavenly bedroom has transformed into. Now it’s your daunting mission to peel your body off of your soggy pillow and try to wrestle your sheets off by flailing your limbs as though you were staving off a hungry anaconda.

So what’s a person to do? How can we fight this epidemic that has plagued human-kind since before the dawn of time?… Okay okay, maybe I’m being a tad dramatic but c’mon, heat + sleep = baaaaaad news. The two simply do not mix. So what can we do to avoid feeling like we’re sleeping inside of a dragon’s mouth all summer?

Well, it’s pretty much a given that no one wants to pay out of their eyeballs, so here are a few suggestions that can help keep you cool without severely running up your energy costs by blasting your beloved air conditioner:

*There’s the old standby, making sure that you open a window at night allowing the cool night air to breeze through. It’s important to have a fan circulating the air as well. And while ceiling fans are ideal, placing a fan in or around an open window will help to ensure that a cool breeze flows through your room all night. To up the ante, place a bowl of ice in front of the fan to maximize coolness.

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*Being mindful of the fabrics that you lie on is also a must. Choose cool breathable fabrics that won’t retain your body heat, inviting sweat to come out and play. This will also help prevent them from sticking to you like that clingy ex-boyfriend that you’ve been trying to ditch for the past two months…Or wait, is that just me? Hmm…Anyway, back to my point; fabrics like cotton and satin are smooth comfortable and cooling, which make them perfect for summertime bedding.

*Make sure to keep yourself hydrated with good ol’ fashioned H2O. The cooling effects of drinking cold water are both satisfying and immediate and can help keep you cool for hours. Keep a glass handy on your nightstand for when your mouth starts to feel like the Sahara Desert.

*Lastly, if possible, check out different products that can help to keep you cool. There are some really cool, revolutionary pillows that work wonders for those sweltering summer nights. One brand in particular contains a state of the art material that actually balances your changing body temperature to provide a comfortable, cooling effect. Talk about cool, Iso-Cool to be exact (<=insert shameless plug here). This line of pillows are top-of-the-line and budget friendly, ranging from $39.99-$79.99 and come in sets of 2, 4, or 6, in case you fall in love and have to have more! Interested? Check them out for yourself: http://www.pillows.com/isocoolpillows.html (If you’re going to make a purchase, why not make it somewhere where the people are friendly, relatable and have a singular goal: to satisfy your sleepy time needs?)

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So there it is folks. A few tried and true methods, along with a couple new. Check them out, test them out… Dare I say enjoy them? Guess that one is for you to decide 🙂 In any regard, enjoy your summer and remember, stay cool (pun intended)

-Sleep Well, Live Well

Blog Author, Monique, Content Manager

What to Expect When You’re Expecting- Pregnancy & Sleep

Sleeping while you are pregnant is an additional challenge that you don’t expect initially.  I knew that I would probable be uncomfortable sleeping but that was the extent.  I was wrong as you start to get bigger it is harder to find a comfortable position.  I believe if you are already a side sleeper you are ahead of the game and it is an easier adjustment.  I thought I slept on my side however; found that I am a back sleeper for the most part.  I had to learn to sleep on my side the further into my pregnancy mainly after the first trimester.  Research shows it is best to sleep on your left side to keep the uterus off your large organ, the liver.  It is also supposed to be better for circulation.

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I would make my own little cocoon of pillows until my wonderful husband purchased a body pillow for me to try.  I wasn’t sure how I would sleep with this big pillow, wow what a pleasant surprise.  I was able to place the lower part of the pillow between my knees to align my spine and my tummy rested on the middle so I didn’t feel this weight pulling.  The baby also seemed to be less active, at least for me.  The night activity of my first was crazy, he would have these punching battles that would wake you and it took a while to get back to sleep.  I would also place a regular pillow behind me at my lower back to prevent me from rolling onto my back.  The nice thing today is that you can find pillow covers to blend with your décor so it’s not just a white pillow. ( Check out our body pillow selection!)

 

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Pregnancy is different for everyone.  I would listen to suggestions and try the ones that I thought would work for me.  People are just trying to help and I would rather hear suggestions all day than have people touching my growing tummy.  Remember you have to take care of yourself so you are rested as much as possible to care for the miracle that will soon enter into your life.

Sweet Dreams!

Blog Author: Jodi, Product Inventory Manager

Fun and Interesting Facts about Sleep

Sometimes talking about too much sleep can put you to sleep! It is important to know that sleep plays a key role in living a sound mind and sound body lifestyle, but learning about sleep can be a boring task at hand. This is why we take a few moments to put together a list of interesting and fun facts about sleep. The following list is one that I put together with the most interesting sleep facts that I believe are not only interesting but can help improve bad sleeping habits.

  1. The Less you sleep, the more your genes contribute to how much you weigh. The more you sleep, the less your genes determine how much you weigh, and the more control you can have over your weight.
  2. Lack of sleep can raise the sensation of hunger by 25 percent. Sleep more and you can eat more or burn more calories.
  3. Sleeping directly after learning something new will improve your ability to remember it effectively
  4. A study of sleep breathing disorders and cancer mortality shows an association between sleep apnea and an increase in your chance of dying from cancer.
  5. The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska, the Challenger space shuttle disaster and the Chernobyl nuclear accident have all been attributed to human errors in which sleep-deprivation played a role.
  6. In 2004 more than 35 million sleeping pill prescriptions were filled in America, a number that more than doubled from the previous four years.
  7. Although people born blind don’t see images when they dream, they do have an increased auditory, tactile, and olfactory experience
  8. You can only dream about faces you have already seen.
  9. Almost everything we know about sleep, including the facts on this list, was all learned in the last 25 years.
  10. Brain waves are more active when we are dreaming than when we are awake.
  11. The average dream lasts between 10 and 15 minutes
  12. 42% of people felt they had had a dream about something that later came true.

These are just a few interesting facts compared to everything that scientists have listed. With growing technology, sleep facts and data will only get more and more interesting and useful. Perhaps scientists will one day figure out how to demolish sleep apnea which can cause an increase in heart attacks and stroke. Maybe one day it will be possible to download all of our dreams and replay them. These are just some of the possibilities that could happen with increased technology down the road. Until then, we can only dream about the limitless possibilities within our own minds.

Blog Author, Jesse, Channel Manager

References:

http://www.abc.net.au/science/sleep/facts.htm

http://www.businessinsider.com/15-things-you-should-know-about-sleep-2012-6?op=1

http://www.achooallergy.com/interesting-sleep-facts.asp