Hello darlings! As I write these lines I dream of my bed. I am as sleep deprived as a person can be and I can’t wait to meet my bed again. As any co-sleeping parent (or any parent for that matter) will tell you, when you have young kids, sleep is a luxury! I wouldn’t change our decision to bed-share with Natalia but I do miss having an uninterrupted night of sleep.
Who doesn't like a good night with uninterrupted sleep? We spend one-third of our lifetime just sleeping, but most of us do it the wrong way. So, is there a right way to sleep?
Yes. Your quality of sleep is highly influenced by your comfort and one of the key factors of that is your mattress. Even though you believe your mattress is the best one and is good to go for another 10 years or so, the reality might be different. In fact, there are many ways that your mattress is affecting both your sleep and health:
The Never-Ending Fatigue and Drowsiness
Most of us day dream about night slumber but somehow when its time for bed, nothing seems to work. You toss and turn and struggle to find a good, comfortable position to sleep in. This ordeal finally ends late at night resulting in the loss of precious minutes (or even hours) of sleep. This all night long sleeplessness causes you to be even more tired the next day and just adds into the already existing drowsiness. If you find yourself relating to this cycle, its time you break the pattern and get a new mattress. See this review of the Purple mattress if you're looking for a mattress that won't disappoint.
Back Aches, Neck Cramps and so much more
If you wake up with stiffness in your body or if you suffer from aches that don't seem to go away, it might be because of your old mattress. Think about it! You spend all night twisting and turning, struggling for a comfortable posture and once you fall asleep, do you think that your body gets the much needed rest? No it doesn't. Ideally, a good mattress is supposed to support your body, taking the weight off of your pressure points, giving your spine a break and a good neutral position to be in. A bad mattress, on the other hand, just adds in more pressure to your back, neck and other joints.
On-sets of Allergies
Old, worn-out mattresses are a breeding ground for different health hazards like dust mites and allergies. Why? Well, old mattresses have ample of dead skin stored in them and that's what the mites want. This becomes the perfect place for them to thrive in and once they are there, we all know how it ends for us. Other than this, mattresses can impact allergy sensitive people in the worst way possible by speeding up their allergic reactions. Even if the mattress claims to hypo-allergenic, after sometime of use, there is a good chance to become an allergic reaction-catalyst .
Slipping Your Way into Insomnia
Too many nights of sleeplessness can increase your stress levels rapidly, causing adverse reactions in your body. In extreme cases, these stress levels paired with poor quality of sleep can induce early symptoms of insomnia too. And furthermore, continuous sleep interruption directly impacts not just the sleep pattern, but other organs like the brain and heart.
In case you have suffered from any scenario as mentioned above, maybe its time for you to upgrade your mattress and give yourself the much needed good night sleep now. If you are a co-sleeping parent consider buying a mattress made of natural materials that don’t emit VOCs and definitely avoid the ones douched in flame retardants. You can find more information about making your baby’s environment safer in my post here.
Lots of love
