life hacks Archives - Sealy

Tag: life hacks

New Year’s resolutions: Books to improve well-being

Posted on by lionel

Well-being is the feeling of health and happiness, balance and purpose. Achieving mental well-being requires personal research and constant practice. If it’s at the top of your New Year’s resolutions, read on to find  some books that might help along your journey.

Mindfulness, nutrition, and sleep are all very important pillars of holistic health.

Many people forget that without proper sleep their journey to a healthier life and mental well-being becomes almost impossible. Making sure we get enough good quality sleep is a great act of self-care and a vital part of health and wellness. We may not realise it, but our night’s sleep can impact our immune system, our stress levels, body weight and mood. Just like mental health and nutrition, good sleep should also be a priority.

New Year’s resolutions: Our book recommendations

Below is a selection of books that will help you better understand and improve all three important sectors of well-being and give you the tools to live a happier and healthier life.

  • An Elegant Defense – The Extraordinary New Science of the Immune System by Matt Richtel

An Elegant Defense is a deep exploration of the human immune system and the secrets of holistic health by the Pulitzer Prize- winning and New York Times journalist Matt Richtel.

The book explains the mysteries of sickness and health and reveals how our own bodies can be our best ally or our worst enemy. Fatigue, stress, toxins and poor nutrition are just some of the elements that poison our body daily but even so, our immunity system can still find the way to protect us. How does it do it? Elegant Defense investigates all the complicated health riddles and brings you a profoundly human tale.

  • Happy, not Perfect – Upgrade Your Mind, Challenge Your Thoughts, and Free Yourself from Anxiety by Poppy Jamie

Jamie writes about overcoming perfectionism through mindfulness. She brings the readers along her journey from self-judgement and negative internal conversations to psychological flexibility and self-acceptance. Happy, not Perfect is a book about understanding your emotions and feeling empathy about your self and the world around you. The author gives us important tools, inspires us with her journey and educates us on mental wellbeing.

  • Love your Gut – Supercharge Your Digestive Health and Transform Your Well-Being from the Inside Out by Megan Rossi

Doctors refer to our gut as our second brain and there is a good reason for that. Dr. Rossi is a well-recognised nutritionist and dietitian. Love your Gut does a remarkable job of giving us all the information we need about our largest organ, how it works, how to listen to what it needs, and most importantly how to cure any problems of the gut. The road to a happy and healthy life passes through your microbiome.

  • Why we Sleep – Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker

Why we Sleep by Matthew Walker is a book based on modern scientific research and offers information on how sleep affects our cognitive and physical performance in our everyday life but also in the long run.

Sleep is the most necessary and effective thing we can do to reset our brain and heal our body every day. Walker explains the important benefits of sleep for optimal health, especially memory and learning, and talks about why we are the most sleep deprived generation in the human history and how our body reacts to it.

How to improve your sleep

If improving your sleep is one of your New Year’s resolutions, you’re in the right place. Sleep is fundamental for our well-being and overall health, and it should be a priority for all of us. Below are some tips on how to get a good night’s sleep:

  • Stick to a sleeping schedule. keep the same sleeping hours during the week but also at the weekends.
  • Create a peaceful sleep environment, keeping your room cool, dark and quiet if possible.
  • Establish a calming bedtime routine that includes activities such as reading a book, taking a bath, or meditating.
  • Don’t underestimate the impact of a comfortable mattress. Many people toss and turn throughout the night, wake up with aches and pains and feeling tired, and fail to consider that the mattress might be the source of the problem. Answer this quick Sealy quiz to discover the best mattress for you: Find the perfect Sealy.
  • Invest in a good pillow. Read our blog post: Could a new pillow help me sleep better?

 

 

 

Turn your staycation into a dream vacation

Posted on by lionel

As we roll into our “I don’t even want to remember how many months we have been inside” this crazy year, summer holidays are upon us. While many South Africans are still heading off to their end-of-year holidays, a lot of us are choosing to spend this time at home. In this blog post we give you some tips on how to turn your December holidays into the ultimate staycation.

A staycation typically involves staying home, or close to home, and making it feel like our own cute little holiday. Although it may seem a little ridiculous and not anywhere close to the same as heading out into the world, it is incredible just how much you can do to create that vacation feel at home.

So, how do we create our perfect staycation?

The bedroom

Transform your bedroom into a hotel room! Begin your perfect staycation with a treat, by buying the perfect pillow and high-quality bed linen. One of the best things about hotel beds is how soft and perfect it feels to slide into that luxurious bed and feel those sheets on your skin. Sealy manufactures a range of pillows and indulgent bed linen. Click here to browse our range of Sealy pillows and click here to find out more about Sealy bed linen.

If you’re really serious about this staycation, and if you’re looking forward to a 2021 with lots of good quality sleep, you might want to consider investing in a new Sealy mattress.  This means not only a comfortable and wonderful sleep for your time off, but also setting yourself up for some great sleep in the future too.

Take it up a notch by adding some extras to your room like a TV, a snack station, a mini bar, create a relaxing sitting area or do some simple decorating to make your room look and feel different.

The bathroom

A clean and fresh bathroom will always feel great when starting your staycation, but don’t be afraid to check out some products you can buy to make it feel a little extra special. Look for face masks, body scrubs, manicure tool kits, bath bombs and even some scented products. Add a little bouquet of flowers, and you have yourself a beautiful bathroom set up.

The food

What can be better than an array of delicious food options that make you feel like you’re at your very own buffet breakfast? Have fun in the kitchen and get creative with different breakfast options like omelettes, croissants, crepes or even try your kitchen skills out with eggs benedict. For lunch or dinner, you can create meal plans where you have a special meal for each occasion or even choose a couple of nights to order in some food from your favourite restaurants. The food options are endless!

The drinks

There is nothing like heading up to the bar and picking some random cocktail you’ve never tried before, so definitely try your crafty work on some cocktails or mocktails (no alcohol) during your Staycation. There are not only plenty of cocktails online, but plenty of YouTube videos showing you exactly how they are done. Get creative! Remember always drink responsibly. (And as the sleep specialists, we feel it’s our responsibility to remind you that when you drink alcohol, you have less REM sleep that night. Rapid Eye Movement sleep is the state of sleep when people dream, and it’s when your body rests and repairs.)

2020 has looked different for all of us. Unfortunately, with coronavirus still on our heels, we have to be a little more creative on what we can do to make the most out of our vacation time. A staycation can be a wonderful way for you to experience the relaxation you need, the food that you crave and the fun that you want, all from the comfort of your home. How will you spend your staycation?

5 tips for managing exam stress

Posted on by lionel

2020 has been a strange year, and for matrics getting ready to write final exams soon, it must feel like the twilight zone. After a year of some combination of hybrid learning, home schooling, attending regular classes and sometimes not having class, South Africa’s grade 12s are buckling down to face exam stress and hopefully put this final year of schooling behind them.

Exam stress effects each student differently. Some relish the challenge and are able to stay focussed, some feel totally overwhelmed and can’t concentrate, while others struggle with anxiety and lack of sleep. We’ve rounded up a few top tips to help matric students get through this final matric exam season:

How to better navigate exam stress

Tip 1: Manage your time

Let’s first be clear about the following key points:

  • Make a flexible timetable to organise your work
  • Cover all topics in your schedule
  • Put the difficult subjects at the top of your list
  • Aim for a practical set of deadlines

Once you have organised your time according to your tasks, figure out how much time you need to invest in your studies. Taking that hour-count in mind, you can make the rest of your daily schedule. Remember to include time out for relaxation, exercises, etc.

Follow a routine and trust in your abilities but allow for some flexibility. You can avoid last-minute stress if you’re diligent from the start.

Tip 2: Try out mock tests and papers

Ask your teachers or search online for past matric exams. Write those tests within a certain time frame, just as you would a real exam. Not only will this help boost your confidence, but it will also help you identify any areas of work you need to focus on.

If you can’t access online tests, work with friends to create your own tests and test each other. Creating the tests and then answering the questions under “manufactured pressure” (i.e., simulating an exam environment with time constraints) will help you consolidate the knowledge further.

Taking mock-tests in the initial phases of preparation has two additional benefits:

  • It conditions you for exam pressure
  • It reveals your speed of writing

Tip 3: Maintain a balanced diet

It might be tempting to indulge in stress eating and grab a pack of Doritos or a big slab of chocolate, but a balanced diet is more important than ever during exams. Your brain needs enough energy to function properly.

The human body responds to exam stress by releasing cortisol, which is known as the stress hormone. It increases your blood pressure and your heart rate. Eating a healthy, balanced diet is known to help lower cortisol levels. Pay special attention to increase protein intake, eat less sugar, and keep hydrated.

Tip 4: Less social media

Ever start scrolling on your Instagram feed and end up clicking on one video, watching the next one, and the next, and the next… until it’s an hour later and you don’t know where the time went? This is the procrastination that comes with social media. Can you really afford to waste time like that during exams? Also, scrolling through photos and videos of your friends out having fun while you’re stuck at home study can create serious FOMO and you don’t need to add that to your exam stress.

Yes, down time is important, and sometimes mindless scrolling is exactly what the doctor ordered. But you’ll have to make sure you’re disciplined. Set an alarm to let you know when your time is up. If you don’t think you can be that disciplined, consider deleting your social media apps from your phone or installing an app that blocks particular sites.

Tip 5: Make sleep a priority

If you don’t relax your mind, it will be harder to retain new information – so make sleep a top priority during exams. A growing body of research shows the connection between good sleep and grades, impacting memory and problem-solving skills.

You may have heard that you need to get eight hours of sleep, but when you’re talking about sleep, the quality matters as much as how long you sleep. Deep sleep (also known as stage 3 and 4 sleep) is when your body reaches the deepest state of relaxation, helping you to wake up feeling refreshed. During deep sleep, your body regenerates cells and repairs tissues and bones, and your immune system is strengthened.

If you don’t have a comfortable mattress, you might struggle to fall into a deep sleep because your body simply can’t relax. You might end up tossing and turning, keeping your body alert. If you are waking up tired all the time, you might need to consider investing in a new mattress. Sealy’s zoned mattress made with exclusive Posturepedic Technology™ support the heaviest parts of your body, providing you with deep, targeted support for exceptional all-over comfort.

Sealy Posturepedic Technology™ supports your sleep by providing:

  • Pressure relieving comfort for undisturbed sleep: from ultra-plush to cushion firm, built with premium materials.
  • The support you need: deep-down orthopedically correct support with a superior edge support system.
  • A system where everything works together to give you the same great comfort and support for a long time: extra durability that repays your investment day after day.

You’ve got this

These are unusual times, and Coronavirus has added a layer of stress in almost everyone’s lives – and especially for matrics who are dealing with exam stress. However, what you need to remember is simple. With consistent efforts, you can get through this.

Give yourself time whenever you feel drained out and don’t forget to remind yourself that this phase will pass soon. We trust your abilities and wish you the best for your examinations!

 

 

 

Get rid of fear – start here

Posted on by lionel

A video clip of actor Will Smith has gone viral after the father shared an epiphany he had three years ago after going sky diving for the first time with friends on a talk show.

Will goes on to explain how facing his fear of skydiving has taught him that the only way to get rid of fear is to face it- each and every day.

“If there was one concept that I would suggest to people to take a daily confrontation with its fear. The problem of fear is that it lies,” said Will.

Will goes on to explain how fear only exists before you face the perceived danger and that staring the actual danger in the face is “the most blissful experience of your life- there is zero fear. The point of maximum danger is the point of minimal fear. Its bliss.”

Many of us spend so much time fearing the things that have yet to happen or that might never happen that we avoid living life fully.

“There’s no reason to be scared. Its only gonna ruin your day…God placed the best things in life on the other side of terror.”

What are you scared of? Falling in love? Asking for a promotion? Moving into your own home? Looking foolish in front of your colleagues?

Facing your fears daily will allow you to live the way you truly want to rather than shrinking back.

Want more helpful strategies to live life to the fullest?

Check out these blog posts:

5 life lessons people learn too late

Posted on by lionel

Hearing from those close to death offers us a chance to gain perspective. Here are the five most common pearls of wisdom that the older generation wants to pass on to the younger generation right now. 

1. Own your life

The sooner you realise that life is a series of choices that you make for yourself, the quicker you will feel a sense of control over your work life, friendships and the relationship you have with yourself. Success is not a destination but rather a journey or culmination of many good decisions that add up to a life well lived.

2. Live in the moment

Living in the past will bring you regret. Living in the future will make you feel worried. Choosing to live in the moment will allow you to collect new memories and learn new lessons. Staying current and relevant and interesting happens when you live each day in the present.

3. Do what you love, love what you do

If you are like most of the world’s population, you will have to spend a great deal of your life working. If you believe that your work aligns with your purpose then you will feel happier about getting your work done each day. If you feel that your work is a distraction from your purpose then you will be frustrated and resentful of your work life. Keep aligning your work and your purpose and yes the hours will still be long, but your heart will be at peace.

4. Embrace change

Everything is temporary and the sooner you accept that fact the easier it will be for you to ride the highs of life and keep trucking through the lows. There are many different seasons you will walk through- nobody lives a life of endless Summer. So if you are feeling ecstatic- enjoy it now for this shall pass. And if you are feeling down, then be patient and ride out the winter – this too shall pass.

5. Accept failure

This does not mean that you should give up, but rather that you would do well to see that there is more to your story than the page you are on right now. Mistakes and dead-ends are what builds character – what prepares you to take the wins when they come your way. Try to avoid comparing where you are in your story to where others are in their stories. Your first chapter may be somebody else’s final page.

Click here for more valuable life lessons

Invest in your rest with a new Sealy today.

Puffy versus pretty- life hacks that help you wake up looking your best

Posted on by lionel

Nobody wants to wake up with puffy eyes. Whether you have or haven’t managed to get a good night sleep, most people can’t afford to live their life looking tired. Having puffy eyes is more than skin deep. It is a reflection of an imbalance in your body and lifestyle.

Puffy eyes can be linked to iron deficiency, thyroid problems and kidney dysfunction. A visit to your doctor should be done to rule these out if your puffy eyes are an everyday phenomenon.

However, for relief of the occasional untimely puffiness that could be due to pollution, allergies or eyestrain, here are some easy life hacks that take puffy to pretty in a few minutes.

Hacks to help you wake up looking your best

Place cucumber slices on your eyes

Why does this work? Cucumber is cool and full of vitamin C. Both help to reduce redness and inflammation.

Give chilled strawberry slices a try

No cucumber in the fridge? Strawberries contain alpha hydroxy acids that soften skin and relieve swelling and can be a nice alternative to the classic cucumber trick.

Save your tea bags

Apply cold, moist tea bags to both your eyelids. Green tea packs an extra punch as it houses anti-oxidants. This is why green tea features so strongly in many beauty and anti-ageing products on the shelves today.

Go dark

Wearing sunglasses during the day and an eye mask at night will literally shield your eyes from bright light, dust and wind. If your partner reports that your lids don’t fully close when you sleep then an eye mask is a must to prevent dry, irritated and puffy eyes in the morning.

Drink water

Staying hydrated can prevent water retention. Puffy eyes can be a sign that your body is holding onto water as it is in short supply. So drink up through the day and you should notice less puffiness and more bounce in your skin.

Sleep on a new Sealy today, wake up more refreshed and more beautiful tomorrow.

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