Sleep. We all do it. We all need it. In fact, at 8 hours per night, the average human spends 1/3rd of their life sleeping. But honestly, how much do we really think about our sleep habits? We spend time, energy and effort planning the smallest details of our lives, but neglect to plan for quality sleep! Read on to learn about the three major sleep factors. Each one of these factors has the power to be a barrier to good sleep or to help you rest easy.
1) You
Often, we are the single biggest obstacle to our own success. This goes for sleep too. We’d sleep so much better if we just got out of the way!
Do you drink caffeine late into the evening? Did you know that the half-life of caffeine in the body is around 6 hours? That means that the caffeine in the coffee you drank 6 hours ago is still at half strength. You may think that sugary, caffeinated soda has worn off, but not necessarily! Heavy snacking before bed is another common culprit.
Another common way we sabotage quality sleep is by using devices like TVs, laptops, tablets and smart phones right before bed. This is for two reasons. First, the artificial blue light radiating from your phone can confuse your body’s natural circadian rhythms and keep you from falling asleep. Second, whatever content that you’re watching or reading about on your device can set your mind racing and make it harder to sleep.
[Editor’s Note: Check out our follow-up article discussing how to identify and address our own poor sleep habits.]
2) Your Environment
The second set of factors are those of your external sleep environment. This includes things like light, noise, room temperature, air movement and air quality.
Similar to the light from your technological devices, other forms of artificial light can keep you from getting quality sleep. Try to keep your bedroom as dark as possible.
Air quality is another environmental factor that impacts literally everyone. If you haven’t dusted your bedroom in months or if you’re sleeping on an extremely old mattress or pillow, particles in the air or in your mattress can cause congestion and affect your sleep.
Additionally, sleeping in too hot or cool of an environment can keep you from reaching deep, restorative sleep. While everyone is different and has their preferences, you should experiment to find what is right for you.
Lastly, ambient background noise has been shown to help most people fall asleep quicker. It also lessens the likelihood of lighter sleepers being woken up by minor noise. A sound machine on your nightstand can work wonders. There are even free apps that will use your smart phone to play ambient noise to fall asleep to!
[Editor’s Note: Be sure to read our follow-up article about the importance of a positive sleep environment.]
3) Your Vehicles for Sleep
While we can give solid advice about sleeping well, THIS is our specialty! The reality is that your mattress, foundation, pillows and other sleep accessories have a great deal to do with your ability to get quality sleep.
If you’ve addressed the potential barriers to sleep discussed above and still aren’t sleeping well, it is likely due to your mattress. A worn-out mattress can lead to or worsen existing health problems ranging from back and sciatic nerve pain, to snoring and sleep apnea. In fact, we will be writing a series on the blog soon where we’ll look at common sleep issues and suggest products that may help!
[Editor’s Note: Our final entry in this series about vehicles for quality sleep is now available on the WFMO blog.]
WFMO: Helping Georgia Achieve Quality Sleep for Over 30 Years!
Now that you understand the three factors that can affect your quality sleep, you can hopefully diagnose and adjust accordingly! In the coming months, we’ll take a deeper dive on each of these sleep factors. In the meantime, swing by our main showroom locations in Acworth, Dallas/Hiram or Rome, or our Woodstock Mattress Outlet locations in Canton, Kennesaw, and Douglasville. Our highly-trained sleep specialists would love to help you find the mattress, foundation and pillows perfect for your sleep needs!
