Benefits of a Memory Foam Mattress Vs. Traditional Mattress

Consumers often wonder if memory actually provides the benefits promised by companies and infomercials, or if memory foam is simply a product surrounded with hype. Well, it is partly. All that stuff about memory foam being created originally for NASA, although true, is just a talking point. In reality though, the health benefits of memory foam are numerous, and switching from a traditional spring mattress should better your sleep in the long run.

Here’s why:

• Memory foam is made of visco-elastic cells that react to your body temperature, so they form to very curve, which eliminates all pressure points created by springs.
• When pressure points are eliminated, the spine can align naturally, regardless of whether or not you’re a front, back or side sleeper. Since 90% of the stimulation and nutrition to the brain is generated by the movement of the spine, (says Dr. Roger Sperry, Nobel Prize recipient for brain research) that’s a pretty big deal!
• Memory foam is hypoallergenic, so it’s great for allergy sufferers.
• Memory foam is easy to clean! See our article on how to clean memory foam.
• Memory foam evenly distributes weight over the surface of the mattress, which further alleviates pressure from any one part of the body.
• Motion transfer between sleep partners is eliminated with memory foam. Ever seen the infomercial of the girl jumping on one side of the bed with a full glass of wine on the other? It really works! With traditional spring mattresses, if one partner is tossing and turning, the other partner will undoubtedly be affected by the motion as well.

Traditional spring mattresses have a come a long way (see the pocketed coils pictured above) but there are no denying the benefits of memory foam!

Spring Cleaning For Your Bedroom

The weather is getting nice, the days are getting longer, and the birds are chirping; we know spring has arrived! For most people, this is the time of year to give the home a good cleaning. The winter months can build up a lot of dust and leave our homes feeling a bit dirty, even if we clean it weekly. So now it is time to spend a weekend giving your house a deep clean, especially your bedroom! Here is a guide for what you will want to clean, how and why.

How to Shop for a Memory Foam Mattress Topper

Memory foam mattress toppers are a great alternative for those who don’t want to spend too much money purchasing a new mattress, but need an upgrade from their current one. Mattress toppers are thin and can be placed on top of an existing mattress for added comfort and support. Once you have decided if you need an extra layer on your bed, it is important to find the best quality memory foam mattress topper that you can.

National Sleep Awareness Week

via narcolepsynetwork.org

Once a year, typically right before Daylight Saving Time, there is a week dedicated to educating people about the importance of sleep. Denoted National Sleep Awareness Week, this week begins today, March 5^th and lasts until Sunday, March 11^th. Another special day that falls on March 11^th this year happens to be Daylight Saving Time. Coincidence or planned? In either case, we will be “losing” an hour of sleep, so utilize this week to educate yourself on the importance of sleep, as well as prepare for DST. This week can help lighten the effects of DST and help you get a more restful night’s sleep.

Weight Loss and Sleep

It seems that in order to lose weight, you have to eat correctly and spend hours every week trying to work off the pounds. Did you know that research has shown that one simple way to lose weight is by sleeping? Surveys show that many people in the U.S. are not getting enough sleep, which is vital to staying healthy. Lack of sleep can affect hormones within your body, lower your immune system and cause long-term problems, one being weight gain. Let’s look into how sleep can help you achieve your weight-loss goals.

According to a 16 year study done by Dr. Patel, a researcher at Case Western Reserve University, women who slept five hours or less per night were 30% more likely to gain 30+ pounds than those who got the recommended 7 ½ hours of sleep. This study of almost 70,000 women is the largest study conducted to track the effects of sleep habits on weight gain.

The Best Sleeping Conditions for Your Children

Can you remember the days when you would panic as soon as your parents shut your bedroom lights off? How about that mysterious ticking noise that came from the heater every night at the same time just after the lights went out? Do you remember convincing yourself there was an actual monster under your bed?

Chances are you did at least one of them. However, as we get older, we often forget that the darkness of bedtime can be a spooky place for a child. Now that we have grown up, we know that there is no monster under our bed, because that’s fiction. We know that the heat is on a time delay, so it activates every night at 9:10 PM, and that the only thing we need to fear when the lights go out is to remember where your furniture is. Stubbing your toe or falling down right before bed is never a good way to start your restful slumber!

So what can you do to help your child sleep easily throughout the night?  Here’s how to make their sleep as easy as possible:

Non-24-Hour Sleep-Wake Disorder (Non-24)

via http://www.24sleepwake.com

When it comes to sleeping disorders, none of them are as strange and difficult to treat as the non-24-hour sleep-wake disorder. The average person has a day that revolves around a 24-hour period, with some variations from day-to-day. The non-24 sleep disorder has a 25 or 26-hour day, which can sometimes be even longer. This extended circadian rhythm will cause a person’s sleep and wake times to be pushed back a certain amount. Each day, their bedtime may get later and later, causing their wake time to follow suit.

5 Activities You Shouldn’t do in Bed

We previously wrote about 5 Things Not To Do Before Bed in order to help you form a better nightly routine and make it easier to fall and stay asleep throughout the night. Whether it is nighttime or daytime, there are also activities that you should avoid to help you sleep. You may not know it, but these 5 activities may be preventing you from getting the quality sleep you deserve!

What is a Polyphasic Sleep Schedule?

It is well understood that 7-9 hours of sleep per night is ideal for living a long and healthy life. Anything less or more can hinder your cognitive abilities and be detrimental to your health. In regards to our sleep cycle, we understand it to be monophasic (sleeping once per 24 hours). Some cultures have adopted a biphasic sleep schedule, which incorporates a midday nap or siesta. Both of these sleep schedules are ideally suited to coincide with our natural circadian rhythms, but what happens if they want to adopt a polyphasic sleep schedule?

Polyphasic sleep refers to sleeping more than 2 times during a 24-hour period. Polyphasic sleep does not imply there is a specific sleep schedule or pattern, but there have been schedules designed to best take advantage of this form of sleeping. There are 3 formulations of polyphasic sleep schedules that have been designed to best fit both a person’s sleep needs and schedule. They are the Everyman, Dymaxion and Uberman schedules.

The Dormia Sleep Experiment… Think You Can Do It?

We have all experienced a bad night’s sleep, and some of you may experience them on a regular basis. Even if you have no complaints about your sleep quality, you may still be able to achieve a more restful and revitalizing slumber. This is why we are going to try a sleep experiment. Many people do not have suitable or correct morning and bedtime routines, hindering their ability to achieve the most restful sleep possible. What we would like you to do is partake in this experiment and report back to us if your sleep quality, daytime mood and energy levels have increased! This experiment should help you establish a correct bedtime and morning routine, as well as get your circadian rhythm in line.

This experiment can run as long as you would like it to, but over the course of 3 weeks, you will be adding activities that will promote sleep and remove those that hinder sleep each week.