Pillows and Bedding – Page 4

March 12, 2018February 24, 2022

5 Reasons hitting snooze is a bad idea

Oh that sound of the 6:00 alarm in the morning! It’s set to alert you that it’s time to wake up and face a bright new day and the promise of what lies ahead as the minutes tick into hours. But, oh how good it feels to reach over and tap snooze to grab just a few more minutes of sleep. You may have heard the saying, “You snooze, you lose,” but research has now shown that these words may be more than a snarky rhyming phrase that slips off the tongue in Dr. Seuss fashion. Hitting snooze actually has negative effects on your health, emotions, and psychological outlook. Here are five reasons why hitting snooze is a bad idea.

1. The snooze button disrupts healthy sleep

Healthy sleep comes in cycles that start with light sleep and moves into deep sleep. Deep sleep allows our bodies to refresh enough to heal, boost our immune system, strengthen bones and muscles, and regrow tissue. Deep sleep leads to Rapid Eye Movement, REM, when our brain is active and allows dreaming to take place. REM comes in stages, and a good night’s sleep includes several REM cycles with the first REM stage starting about an hour and a half after we have fallen asleep. Getting quality REM sleep the night before leads to clearer thinking the following day. Hitting snooze will disrupt a healthy sleep rhythm, throw off our thinking, and could lead to some very serious health issues.

2. Snoozing jolts and confuses your body

Our bodies go through sleep cycles and need to complete the full duration. For instance, if the cycle lasts for 45 minutes, and you hit snooze for 10 minutes, you’re going to jolt your body awake before the next sleep cycle is complete. This creates what is called sleep inertia, which basically means that you keep waking up in the middle of a REM cycle. If you don’t get quality REM sleep, you’re going to be left fatigued instead of rested. Our bodies begin the process of waking up about an hour and half before we actually open our eyes to face the day. This is why having a bedtime and waking time that your body gets used to is healthier than hitting snooze which will confuse your body as to whether you are attempting to wake up or stay asleep. This sleep inertia jolting leads to a feeling much like jet lag. The end result is that you will feel more groggy.

3. Procrastination starts with the tap of Snooze

Hitting snooze is about more than quality of sleep or how much sleep you’re getting and the physical effects on your body. It also effects emotional and psychological health. It’s really a form of procrastination, putting something off. You may think there’s no harm in hitting snooze and putting off waking up as long as possible, but what you are actually doing is dragging your feet and maybe even failing to plan your day which may be a warning sign that there are emotional and behavioral issues to deal with during waking hours that cause you to want to put off waking up to face them.

4. Hitting snooze sets a bad tone for the day

Does the sound of the alarm strike a feeling of dread about waking up to face the day? The way you wake up sets the tone for the entire day, but it goes even deeper than that. When you consistently hit snooze, your body subconsciously starts to react as if you are dreading waking up and may respond by producing excess stress hormone, cortisol, that will create inflammation and put unnecessary strain on your physical body. Wouldn’t it be better to set the alarm for five minutes later or go to bed five minutes earlier so that when the alarm sounds, it triggers more of a sense of ambition and anticipation for a new beginning and a good day ahead?

5. The snooze button is a lie that will backfire

The only real relief you get from hitting snooze is temporary at best. Ultimately, the snooze button’s promise is a lie. It teases with thoughts of a few more seconds of sleep making all of the difference in how tired you will feel once you get out of bed, and that bed does feel cozier in those early waking moments. But, it’s really a lie. By hitting snooze, you tell yourself that if you just can sneak in five or ten more minutes of precious sleep, you’ll be rested enough to face the day. However, the truth of it is that hitting snooze will actually make you feel groggier. Hitting snooze won’t add a few more minutes of deep, quality sleep. It really will most likely end up making you feel more irritated and ultimately more sleepy than if you had never hit snooze in the first place.

March 7, 2018February 24, 2022

How to survive Daylight Savings Time

When it’s time to change your clocks, the saying goes, “Spring forward, fall back!” It sounds simple enough. In the fall, when Daylight Savings Time ends, we set our clocks back one hour. In the spring, when Daylight Savings time begins, we move our clocks forward one hour. Though, what does all this switching up of the times do to our sleep? Oh, the fall sounds nice since we actually gain an extra hour of sleep. But, what happens in the spring when Daylight Savings Time begins, and we jump ahead one hour losing that precious 60 minutes, that’s 3,600 seconds of precious sleep time? Add a new baby, a child or two, or even a pet into this drowsiness, and suddenly those hands on the clock are starting a pillow fight with your bedtime rituals. When Daylight Savings Time arrives, be prepared to not only set your clock back an hour but to recharge your body’s own sleep clock to adjust with the time change with these helpful sleeping tips.

Do not disturb sleep hours

Most things worth doing require planning, including getting quality sleep. It doesn’t usually just happen. Plan for the lost hour by starting a week ahead of time and slowly moving your bedtime up by 15 minutes each night. Even though your sleep time is being pushed up an hour, make sure you are still getting enough sleep. Start by doing some simple math to set your bedtime by calculating backwards from the time you need to wake up. Make getting 7 to 8 hours of sleep every night a priority. Like putting up a Do Not Disturb sign on your hotel door, treat these hours as something that cannot be messed with.

Set the tone for sleep

Even though you set aside a bedtime and waking time that meets your body’s sleep requirements, this doesn’t mean that the second your head hits the pillow you are immediately fast asleep. Start by setting the tone for quality sleep time by following a relaxing ritual at bedtime, such as taking a warm bath, listening to relaxing music, or reading a book. Make sure the room is dark, that the temperature is cool, and it is quiet. If it helps you, turn on an air filter or fan for white noise or use black-out, light-reducing curtains to block out lights.

A good night’s rest starts in the kitchen

Don’t eat a heavy meal just before bedtime and expect to settle in for a full night’s rest. Don’t let that midnight snack come back to haunt your sleep time. Digesting food requires energy which may keep you awake or wake you in the middle of the night. Make sure your final meal of the day or night-time snack is finished two or three hours before you call it a night. Also, be careful not to drink too much caffeine or alcohol before bed. Both caffeine and alcohol have a tendency to disrupt sleep. Additionally, while you may think it’s relaxing to have one last cigarette, cigar, or pipe smoke before bed, it actually stimulates you and makes it difficult to sleep well.

Mattresses and pillow fights

Use Daylight Savings Time as a chance to re-evaluate your mattress and pillow. Since you will be stretched out on your mattress with your head resting on a pillow for the next 7 to 8 hours, it only makes sense that these furnishings are taken seriously as much more than mere pleasant décor. When your mattress begins to wear out, it may start to sag and fail to provide you with the proper comfort and support. If your mattress is older than seven years, it’s time to start looking for a new one. Likewise, pillows wear out and fail to properly support your neck and back. If you start waking up with neck or headaches, take a good look at replacing your pillow.

Waking hours lead to sleep

The way you spend your day can have a major impact on how well you sleep at night. Staying active, getting plenty of daytime light, or even taking a short 20-minute nap during the day may contribute to better night-time sleeping. Just make sure your workouts or short nap ends at least a couple hours before bedtime.

Sleep like a baby

The time change is often especially rough if you have a baby or young children living with you. The good news is that the same sleep-aid steps that work for you will probably work for them as well. It will just require some effort and attention on your part to make sure their trouble with adjusting to the time change doesn’t keep you up at night as well.

Take it slow – Start about a week or so ahead of Daylight Savings time, and begin to slowly adjusting your child’s napping and sleeping times by 10 or 15 minute increments each day leading up to the time change.

Routine – Establish bedtime rituals that are the same every night. Start to wind down after dinner leading up to a relaxing time for bed. Your night-time ritual may mean an evening bath, snuggle time, or even a bedtime story. Whatever it is, keep it consistent as possible every night.

Darken the room – Depending on what time your child goes to bed, a time change can throw off how much light comes into the room, since the sun may still be up. Install black-out, room-darkening shades if streetlights or such become a problem.

Stay cool – Cooler temps at night help the body want to sleep or to snuggle up in a blanket. For safety, use sleep sacks for infants.

Relax and be patient – No matter how pleasant and relaxing you make the environment and bedtime ritual, some kids just won’t stay down for the night. Time changes exacerbate the issue, and since you may be feeling the stress from lack of sleep yourself, it’s more difficult to deal with it. Try to remember that their little bodies are trying to get into their own individual circadian rhythm, and this often requires patient intervention on the part of the parent to make changes to your child’s routine, daytime activities, or to the physical environment to help them sleep.

Daylight savings isn’t easy. Loosing 60 whole precious minutes of sleep is a sacrifice I am willing to make, because soon enough that warm sunshine and beautiful flowers will be here! So, don’t forget to “spring forward” this Sunday March 11th!

January 22, 2018February 24, 2022

How Often Should You Replace Your Pillow?

5 Ways to Assess if Your Pillow Needs Replacing

If you can’t remember the last time you changed your pillows, know that you’re not alone. We don’t tend to think about the longevity or performance of our pillows when we lay down at night, exhausted from a long day. We’re just happy to be in bed, able to catch some shut eye – if only for a few hours. However, if you want to guarantee that the sleep you are having is top quality, that starts with your pillows.

Even though you aren’t a pillow expert, there are a few easy steps you can take to assess if your pillows are in desperate need of replacement.

Here are 5 quick tips for determining if you need some new pillows:

The Fold Test: Take your pillow, and attempt to fold it in half. If you fold it in half and your pillow quickly bounces back into shape once you let go, chances are you have a few more months with that pillow. However, if your pillow fails to assume its prior shape, and slumps sadly onto the bed, it’s definitely time to consider new, supportive pillows. These are the things that support your head throughout the night, after all.

Take a Peek: Sometimes, what we can see in plain sight is telling enough. Take off the pillowcase and observe your pillows. Do you see any yellowish stains? Those stains are the result of body oils, dead skin, and dust mites building up over time – yuck! If your pillows are discolored, you definitely need some new pillows and bedding.

Take a Whiff: Moving onto the next sense, smell, it’s time to get up close and personal with your pillows on a scent level. Take your pillows and smell them. If they have an odor, it’s likely due to a bacteria build-up over time. That’s both disgusting and detrimental to you and your partner’s health. Time for some new, bacteria-free pillows.

Feel It: Now it’s time to really feel around at the composition of your pillows. When you take and touch your pillow, can you feel lumps or feathers poking out of the pillow? Do you see foam or batting? If yes, that means your pillow has lost the supportive structure it once had. If the pillow is unable to contain its composition, it most certainly is unable to support your head and shoulders.

Sleep Quality Test: This one is more figurative in nature. Sit down and really ponder if you are catching quality sleep at night. Do you wake up with a sore neck or headaches in the morning? Are you tossing and turning all night, struggling to find a comfortable sleeping position with your pillow? Is your pillow giving you the support it used to, a long time ago? If you suspect your pillow is linked to your sleep quality, it’s time for pillow replacement.

Here at Pillows.com, we’re happy to provide you with new, clean, structurally sound pillows that are complementary to a sound night of sleep.

Pillows.com

References

https://blog.pillows.com/

https://greatist.com/grow/when-buy-new-pillow