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Category: Sleep education

Why trauma will tire you out

Posted on by lionel

Last month we looked at what happens to your body after a traumatic experience. What we uncovered was a chemical cascade that led to post-traumatic hyper-arousal and post-traumatic hyper-vigilance. 

Both of these states are appropriate immediately after a trauma as they are required to ensure survival. Post-traumatic hyper-arousal is a description of a stress response that gets your body firing on all cylinders to ensure your survival. Post-traumatic hyper-vigilance is a description of how this stress response causes your mind to race, again, to ensure you will survive.

The outcome of living in these states is both physical and mental fatigue. This is why it is common to feel exhausted after a violent trauma and why more rest is required to recover.

The Sleep Foundation recommends getting more sleep than usual after a trauma.

If getting enough sleep at night is difficult, then it is recommended that you take time to relax and rest for brief times throughout the day. Taking short naps (15-45 minutes) may help your body re-enter a more calm state of rest.

You can also follow these tips to help you fall asleep more easily.

Whether your trauma is very recent or happened a very long time ago, it is recommended that you check in with a trauma counselor and get professional help if needed.

Ask your GP or local police station for the details of a recommended trauma counselor in your area.

Sleep better on a new Sealy today

How to fight Social Jetlag

Posted on by lionel

In our blog ‘Could you die from Social Jetlag’ we unpacked how social jetlag causes negative health outcomes such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease. If you know that your sleep is out of sync then here are some strategies that you should consider:

  1. Catch up sleep over weekends – >> >> Sleeping-in on weekends is one way that you can assist your body to repair itself. Sleep-in and take afternoon naps so long as it does not ruin your night time sleep.
  2. Re-think work hours – Is it possible for you to work later in the day after a good night’s sleep rather than rushing to work at 7am to get there half-asleep? If you can negotiate your work hours with your supervisor then do it. It will be a win-win scenario for both employer and employee.
  3. Increase light exposure during daylight hours – Those who work indoors in low-light settings, with no access to natural light (from a window or skylight) take 45 minutes longer to fall asleep at night. Educate your workplace and up the light to help sync your sleep.
  4. Decrease light exposure after dark (especially blue wave light) – If it is dark outside then you need to avoid blue light that tricks your brain into thinking it is still daytime. You need one hour of low light prior to bedtime to give your brain a chance to help you feel sleepy.
  5. Re-sync biology and light – night owls are encouraged to set an alarm every morning around sunrise and an alarm to go to bed around one hour after sunset to help re-programme their internal clock. 

It sounds like some camping trips may be required to get night owls and other city creatures back in sync with nature and the world’s work hours.

Could you die from Social Jetlag?

Posted on by lionel

In 2012, Till Roenneberg, PhD, a professor at the Institute of Medical Psychology at the University of Munich coined the term “social jetlag” to describe the sleep debt that people face whose sleep schedules do not fit into the socially-typical norms. Social jetlag has also been described as “the discrepancy between work and free days, between social and biological time”.

For example, let’s say Kyle’s biological clock is wired to make him feel sleepy at midnight and wake up at 8am each morning. This would give him the 8 hours of sleep he needs to feel rested and happy. However, to get to work on time, he needs to set an alarm to wake him up at 6am.

Roenneberg would describe Kyle’s sleep pattern as having a ‘two hour social jetlag’. Kyle is losing 2 hours of sleep each work night and suffering from sleep deprivation. On free days he would revert to sleeping until 8am (or later) to catch up on the sleep debt that he has accrued over the work week.

Studies have shown that social jetlag has a detrimental impact on physical and psychological health as well as workplace productivity:

  • For every hour of social jet lag, the risk of being overweight or obese rises about 33%
  • For every hour of social jet lag, there is also an 11-percent increase in the likelihood of heart disease (atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease).
  • Social jetlag also increases your risk of developing metabolic diseases such as diabetes
  • There is also a strong correlation to worse mood and increased sleepiness and fatigue.
  • Those who experience social jetlag are more likely to use substances such as caffeine and nicotine to sustain an alert state outside of biological norms. This has its own negative health effects.

What is clear is that not getting enough sleep as well as getting poorly timed sleep causes life-threatening illnesses. Visit www.sealy.co.za to see how loving your bed could help you love your sleep more.

Could that weekend lie in help you live longer?

Posted on by lionel

It has previously been shown that ‘binge sleeping’ or sleeping in on the weekends cannot erase a sleep debt that you acquired through the work week. Fast forward to 2018 and a massive sleep science debate is raging as new research has shown conflicting results.

Researchers studied 43 000 participants and found that:

  1. getting more sleep, if you need it, is a good thing, even if it can only happen on the weekends
  2. those who slept for 5 hours sleep or less died at an earlier age compared to those who slept 6 hours or more.
  3. There were more negative health consequences for those who were 65 years or younger.

Torbjörn Åkerstedt, lead researcher, said: “It seems like you actually can compensate by catching up on sleep during weekends. This is in effect an argument for lazing around all weekend… There probably is an upper limit, but it’s anyway better to increase [sleep hours] on the weekend rather than not doing it at all.”

Getting 7-9 hours sleep every night remains the gold standard, but if life happens and you get less sleep than this, you can use power naps and weekend lie ins to clock more sleep hours for that week.

Get a good night’s sleep on your new Sealy bed! Find out more here

 

 

 

What is the right amount of sleep for me?

Posted on by lionel

You may have heard that you need to sleep 8 hours a night, however, it turns out that there is actually no magic number. The amount of sleep you need varies a lot from person to person.

When it comes to figuring out how much sleep you need, Sleep Expert Dr Neil Stanley told the Metro:

‘Your personal sleep need is essentially the amount of sleep that allows you to feel awake, refreshed, and focused during the following day. Very simply if you feel sleepy during the day then you are probably not, for whatever reason, getting the sleep you need during the night.’

Here is how you can find out how much sleep works for you.

**You will need to do this over a weekend or during a holiday.

  1. Prioritise sleep – make getting to bed your biggest evening priority. Do not ignore your body’s biorhythms but embrace them.
  2. Fall asleep faster – after sunset your brain releases melatonin, a sleep-inducing hormone. If you jump into bed as soon as you start to feel sleepy you will fall asleep much quicker. Worry more about how you feel than what the clock says.
  3. Follow a sleep routine – Try to schedule in the same activities at the same time each evening to prepare your body for sleep. Quality sleep is often the bi-product of a predictable sleep routine.
  4. Wake up naturally – Do not set an alarm clock to wake you up but rather note your bedtime and the time of your first waking. If you fell asleep at 9.50pm and woke feeling refreshed at 5.30am then you can work out that the right amount of sleep for you is around 7,5 hours. Going forward you can set an alarm clock for this time each day.

Remember, there is a broad range of normal that varies from 6 hours – 9,5 hours of sleep per night for healthy adults. Once you know how much sleep works for you, you will be able to work backwards from your wake time to ensure you fit in the sleep you need.

For more information on sleep needs at varying ages click here.

Find the perfect sleep accessories for a good night’s rest.

How to get your sleep back after a traumatic experience

Posted on by lionel

South Africa’s crime rates mean that for many of our citizens getting a good night’s sleep is not as simple as it may be for others.

The threat of crime as well as the nervous system changes that happen after a traumatic event can become barriers to getting good sleep. When the nervous system is flooded with neurochemicals such as adrenaline and cortisone a new ‘higher’ resting rate is set and this is state is known as ‘post-traumatic hyperarousal’.

Trying to fall asleep whilst in this state can give rise to a myriad of sleep issues:

  1. Insomnia – difficulty falling and staying asleep due to flash backs and troubling thoughts.
  2. Anxiety – Night-time and darkness can exacerbate feelings of fear and foreboding. Anxiety can present with heart palpitations, difficulty breathing, nightmares and night sweats.
  3. Hypervigilance – Needing to check and double check that doors are locked and blinds are closed may add to multiple night wakings.

Although you did not choose to be a victim of crime, you can choose to take some steps towards your recovery.

Sleeping well starts with good sleep hygiene and a solid bedtime routine. However, in the case of sleeping after a traumatic event, there are some additional steps which should be taken.

  • Sleep where you feel safest – Avoid any room that you associate with the trauma, even if it is your bedroom. Consider co-sleeping if it could help you feel more safe.
  • Adapt your sleep environment – You may want to avoid a dark room and invest in a dim night light while on your road to recovery. Installing a panic button near your bed may also make you feel less helpless.
  • Practice a calming activity before bedtime – A warm bath, some quiet reading, or a few minutes of prayer or meditation can assist to calm your nervous system and help your body find the sleep it needs.
  • Avoid listening to or watching disturbing material – Watching the news or discussing your traumatic event before bedtime will only serve to exacerbate your sleep difficulties.
  • Climb into bed when you feel sleepy – Spending too much time in bed can make falling asleep more difficult. During the day, try to avoid napping and fit in some physical activity where possible to release feel-good hormones that promote night-time sleep.

These sleep tips and information were adapted from:

  1. Witness Justice, in partnership with the National Sleep Foundation,
  2. Barry Krakow of The Sleep and Human Health Institute and
  3. Gregory Belenky physician and a leading sleep researcher of the Walter Reed Institute of Research.

For more information you can follow this link on sleeping after trauma.

Sleep tips to help you get a good night’s rest. 

If you want to relax on holiday, you may need a digital detox

Posted on by lionel

Nobody wants to come home from holiday feeling more tired than when they left. Good intentions may not be enough to allow you a chance to switch off. If you want to get the most R&R from your time off, you made need to make a tough call and go on a digital detox this holiday.

  1. Set up an automatic response to all incoming emails.

It takes a lot of effort to get away and be on holiday so don’t be tempted to take your work along with you. Give a reasonable date upon return that you intend to respond to any queries. Avoid giving out your mobile number on this message – instead leave the contact details of someone else who is being paid to be at the office. Empower them to handle most matters on your behalf.

  1. Interact with people on holiday, not with people on social media platforms.

If you want to take photographs then pack a camera or at least set your mobile phone to airplane mode while you rest and explore. This helps you avoid a constant barrage from social media and helps prevent you from feeling the urgency to post holiday pics while on holiday. Instead of being in a constant state of partial distraction choose to be present and soak up the smells and sights and tastes of your destination. Pictures can be edited and posted on your return home.

  1. Avoid television screens in the evenings.

Remember, all your favourite TV series and movies will still be available when you get back to your real life so choose rather to watch the sunset or the ocean or the first star in the sky. Go and see things you don’t usually get a chance to or may not usually have the time to. Stare at a bonfire, slow cook a potjie or enjoy making home-made ice-cream with a loved one.

Go slowly and enjoy your holiday while it lasts.

Do you know what Orthosomnia is?

Posted on by lionel

Some people become preoccupied with their sleep data, according to a case study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine that looked at several patients who had sleep troubles and were using sleep trackers to collect information about their sleep.

The researchers involved in the study came up with a name for the phenomenon: orthosomnia. What this describes is a state of being overly concerned with getting “perfect” sleep.

Why is that a problem? Interestingly enough, having too much stress and anxiety around sleep can actually make it harder to get the quality shut-eye you are after.

In the case study, the authors mention that the reason they chose the term “orthosomnia” for the condition was partially due to the already existing condition called “orthorexia.” Orthorexia is an eating disorder that involves becoming extremely preoccupied with the quality and healthiness of food. And unfortunately, it’s on the rise.

In much the same way that there’s no “perfect diet,” there is also no “perfect sleep,” Mark Muehlbach told Shape magazine. “While trackers can do good things, like help people up the number of hours of sleep they log, for some people, the anxiety caused by the tracker is simply not worth it”, he says.

In the Journal of Sleep three case studies are described to show the risk for some patients of having too much sleep data. Many patients seek treatment due to perceived insufficient sleep or periods of restlessness or light sleep because of data they have gained from a device.

Despite multiple validation studies that have demonstrated consumer-wearable sleep tracking devices are unable to accurately discriminate stages of sleep and have poor accuracy in detecting wake after sleep onset, it was found to be incredibly difficult to change a patients’ false perceptions of their sleep quality.

Rather than relying on these devices, people are encouraged to tap in to their body’s cues. Falling asleep close to sunset and waking close to sunrise is encouraged as is sleeping between 7,5 and 9 hours.

Sleep better with our Sleep Tips for a better night’s rest…

What’s your sleep crutch?

Posted on by lionel

At birth, babies are given snuggle bunnies. Toddlers are told to squeeze their bear if they feel scared. Kids take their Barbies and Transformers with them on camp- just in case they get lonely at bedtime.

Research has shown that this is a great thing for kids as it reduces anxiety and stress. Clinical psychologist, Dr. Shefali Tsabary explained that “as children develop independence from their parents, they still yearn for a secure bond with something. In many cases, children turned to stuffed animals, including teddy bears, to help them through this transition.”

What is becoming clearer from research is that adults too reap the same benefits of having a special bedtime companion and it is rather common indeed.

US-based stuffed animal toy-maker Build-A-Bear surveyed 2000 adults and found that 40 percent have their favorite stuffed animal by their side when they go to bed.

Another survey showed similar results:

  • 38% of adults surveyed slept with a special stuffed animal from childhood.
  • 29% of adults slept with a teddy bear.
  • 28% preferred sleeping with a sentimental blanket.
  • The average age to ‘give-up’ a soft toy was 11 years old.
  • 26% of those who gave up their soft toy went on as adults to sleep with a real-life pet.
  • Of those who slept with a pet as a child, 56% went on to sleep with a pet as an adult.
  • Women were more likely than men to sleep with either a stuffed animal or a pet.

Besides needing your Sealy mattress to fall asleep, what is your sleep crutch? Have you grown up and replaced your childhood sleep crutch with a more appropriate adult one, like a well-worn pair of pyjamas or a sentimental quilt?

Or is teddy still to be found in your bed each night?

 

 

A little bit of cleaning could help you sleep better

Posted on by lionel

Did you know that there are some simple habits that could get you closer to a great night’s sleep?

A recent study by the National Sleep Foundation showed how vital the bedroom environment is to getting good sleep.

David Cloud, the NSF Chief Operating Officer told WebMD: “We’ve looked a lot at how medical and behavioral issues affect sleep, but we really hadn’t looked at the sleep environment in such depth. Frankly, we were surprised to see that senses like touch, feel, and smell were so important.”

Here’s what to do to sleep better:

1. Make your bed each day

Bed-makers are 19% more likely to have a good night’s sleep than those who leave their beds unmade.

2. Change your bedding regularly

75% of people reported sleeping better on clean linen that had a fresh smell.

3. Clean your room

A calm and clean room helps 66 – 75% of people sleep better.

4. Clean your mattress

Your mattress is the most essential part of your sleep environment. Look after it and it will look after you too. Not sure where to start?

Follow these helpful steps to ensure you get rid of sleep thieves such as dust, mould and pet hair without harming your mattress.

Prolong the life of your Sealy Mattress… Invest in our range of mattress and pillow protectors that will not only protect your mattress and pillows, but keep them clean and healthy.

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