What Keeps You Awake At Night?

With our lives busier than ever and the noise of constant information and modern day living difficult to switch off, it is no wonder why plenty of us struggle to get a good night's sleep. 

As a way of getting to know our fans and followers, we would like to find out what keeps you awake at night.

Is it ...


Your partner's snoring?

Or stress from work?

Could it be backache?

Or do your dust allergies keep you up?

Are your little ones keeping you awake?

Or is it the sound of the traffic outside?

Or maybe it's the internet that prevents you from getting a good night's sleep?

Leave a comment below with your reason by 11.59pm on Saturday 30th June 2012 and you could win one of our pocket sprung pillows! The winner will be contacted on Monday 2nd July 2012. 

If you suffer from bad hayfever, you might also be interested to know that apart from the pillow's springs and built-in air conditioning, it is also hypoallergenic.

Please make sure you include your @ Twitter name or sign in with your email address so that we can contact you.

(This competition is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Blogger, Facebook or Twitter.)

Win a luxury breakfast-in-bed-tray with Sealy!

To celebrate The Queen's Diamond Jubilee, we would like to give our fans the chance to feel like royalty for a morning and to win a luxury breakfast-in-bed tray. The black fluted tray will include:
Fairtrade Orange Blossom Honey; Organic Fairtrade Sumatran Takengon Coffee; Jean-Paul Deville Carte d'or N.V. Champagne; French Madelienes; Organic Coffee Hazelnut Chocolate Spread; Fine Cut Marmalade; and Raspberry Jam.

All you have to do is sign up to the giveaway on Facebook, here so that your name can be entered into the draw. If you are not already a Sealy fan, you can Like our page, here and sign up to the giveaway by clicking on the Win with Sealy! tab in the top right hand corner of Sealy's Facebook page.

We will be picking one lucky winner on Wednesday 6th June 2012 and fans must be 18 years old or over to qualify. The deadline for entry is 11.59pm on Tuesday 5th June 2012. 

So this is how we are celebrating the Diamond Jubilee. How will you be celebrating The Queen's 60-year reign? Will you be visiting London to watch the river procession?

Where Do Mattresses Come From?

Having something comfortable to lie on, where we can rest and get a good night’s sleep, has always been a challenge. Our cavemen ancestors slept on the hard ground on piles of leaves, straw or animal skins – and near a fire if possible, to keep them warm and away from predators.

Those who could soon realised that being off the ground was a much better idea and considerably less draughty, cleaner and free from creepy crawlies. Wealthy Romans had mattresses filled with reeds, hay, wool or feathers, and sometimes these were raised on top of basic primitive metal, stone or wooden bedsteads. But the less well off and the slaves still had to make do on the floor. 

The word ‘mattress’ is actually derived from Arabic words meaning “to throw” or a “mat, cushion” and as a result of their involvement in the Crusades in the early middle ages, Europeans started to adopt this Arabic method of sleeping on cushions thrown on the floor. And the word ‘materas’ eventually descended into Middle English. 

Bed manufacturing has come a long way since then - with mattresses now containing a variety of materials as both fillings and technology have progressed over the centuries. Where once straw or feather mattresses were standard, 21st century consumers are now spoiled for choice with everything on offer in their bed: from water to foam to a variety of types of springs.

Although we have come a long way with our sleeping arrangements over the centuries, people today still suffer disturbed nights and struggle out of bed, bleary-eyed in the mornings, complaining of stiffness, back ache and general lethargy. What is amazing is that so many don’t realise all this could be easily cured if they would only invest in a proper supportive mattress to sleep on.  

Sleep expert Dr Chris Idzikowski found that swapping an uncomfortable old bed for a comfortable new one could account for an average of 42 minutes' extra sleep - four times that achieved by over the counter sleep aids. So, improving the quality of sleep can be helped enormously by making sure you're sleeping on the right bed.

However, until they lie down on one, unbelievably most people don’t appreciate just how great it is to sleep on a really comfortable and supportive mattress – and also just how many different types of beds and mattresses there are to choose from. And of course there is the confusion, how do you know which mattress is right for you?

What Happens When We Don't Get Enough Sleep?

If we don’t get enough sleep, it has serious effects on our brain's ability to function. After just one night without sleep, concentration becomes more difficult and our attention span shortens considerably with increasing feelings of grumpiness, grogginess, irritability and forgetfulness.

With continued lack of sufficient sleep, the part of the brain that controls language, memory, planning and sense of time is severely affected, practically shutting down. In fact, 17 hours of sustained wakefulness leads to a decrease in performance equivalent to a blood alcohol level of 0.05% (two glasses of wine) which is the legal drink driving limit in the UK. 

Sleep is actually far more important to us than exercise or diet -  we would die of sleep deprivation before we die of hunger. And sleep deprivation is a significant contributory factor to heart disease, stress, memory loss, depression, obesity, attention deficit disorder and the onset of Alzheimer’s Disease.  On a daily basis driver fatigue contributes to 20% of fatal road traffic accidents.

So with all this data to illustrate just how important it is for people to get a really good night’s sleep, surely having the right bed should be of paramount importance to everyone when an incredible 62% of us claim to experience poor “broken sleep”?

Why Do We Sleep?

Our lives are inextricably connected with beds and sleep. More often than not we are conceived, born and die in a bed and in between it is estimated we spend at least a third of our lives asleep in one – that’s some 26 years, which compares to 11.5 yrs at work and 11 years watching TV.  However Napoleon, Florence Nightingale and Margaret Thatcher famously got by on four hours a night and Thomas Edison claimed it was waste of time!

But why do we sleep? This has baffled scientists for centuries and the answer is, no one is really sure. Some believe that sleep gives the body a chance to recuperate from the day's activities but, in reality, the amount of energy saved by sleeping for even eight hours is miniscule - about 50k Cal, the same amount of energy in a piece of toast.

Human beings seem to sleep anywhere between 5 and 11 hours per night, with an average of about 7.5, but animals also need to sleep too: elephants make do on just 3 hours, unsurprisingly chimpanzees are more similar to us with around 9 hours, cats need 12 and pythons an amazing 18 hours. All that slithering around must be truly exhausting.

What we do know for sure is that while we are asleep:
·        our body heals and repairs itself
·        our spinal discs re-hydrate and we get up in the morning up to 1 inch taller (we lose up to an inch in  height during the course of a day as the spine and gravity and exercise compress the discs)
·        our brains carry out maintenance, archiving and data processing
·        our immune systems strengthen
·        we get an emotional reload
·        it is the ONLY time children and teenagers grow

How important is sleep for you? Does it feel like a necessity or a waste of time?

Did You Know Children Grow When They're Asleep?

Most parents would think twice before putting their children’s feet into ill fitting shoes which could potentially harm their development, so why are many parents unaware that a thin, cheap and unsupported mattress can affect a child’s growth?

A two year old child can grow 2 ½ inches (6cm)* per year until adolescence. After this it usually slows down but growth can continue until the early 30s. To ensure a child grows properly, deep, restorative and uninterrupted sleep needs to occur. It is only when in the deep sleep phase that the important growth hormone is released into the bloodstream.

To ensure the best possible night’s sleep, Sealy have developed some of the most technologically advanced beds in the world. With the largest research facility of any bed company, their latest bed range is unparalleled in comfort and support. Each bed is zoned along its length to provide greater “push back” support to different areas of the body according to where weight is concentrated. The beds also contain the newest technology to prevent allergies which can disturb sleep for so many.

A recent survey by Allergy UK predicted that potentially 12 million people in the UK are allergic to their homes, that’s 1 in 4 of us, and more specifically house dust mites, which reside in pillows and mattresses. House dust mite allergies cause runny noses, sneezing, wheezing, coughing and headaches – all of which cause disturbed sleep, which could in turn affect a child’s growth. They are also a serious irritant to children suffering from asthma.**

Only Sealy beds have the latest in sleep technology called SMART FIBRES. These fibres contain probiotic friendly bacteria which keep house dust mites at bay and reduce allergens to create a fresher mattress. The innovative mattress material is completely safe for children to use, the results are achieved naturally, as the fibres have not been chemically treated in any way. By reducing the presence of allergens and dust mites in the mattress the children have a healthier and cleaner sleep environment which should prevent them from being disturbed during the night and so allow them to grow to their full potential.

References

·       *    http://kidshealth.org/parent/growth/growing/childs_growth.html

·       **  www.asthmas.org.uk

·       1.1 million children are currently receiving treatment for asthma in the UK. That’s 1 in 11 children

·       At least 1 child in 7 will have ‘wheezing’ at some point during their first five years

·       Out of 56 countries worldwide, the UK has the highest prevalence of severe wheeze in children aged 13-14

Relax Yourself To Sleep

Do you find that at the end of your day you're feeling physically tired but your mind is still whirring? Or when your head hits the pillow it has trouble switching off?

Research has shown that two thirds of us are lucky enough to get a decent night's sleep whilst 50% of us manage to get only one good night's sleep in a week. 

Sammy Margo, sleep expert and author of The Good Sleep Guide, shares her relaxation and sleep tips to ensure a good night's sleep. Watch the video below to discover ways of winding down before you go to bed. Sweet dreams.