So you think you’ve done it all. You’ve stuck to your green juice and gym membership (and all your New Year’s resolutions) and are on the path to healthy living. And yet, you might be missing something. One of the most important factors (and most overlooked elements) to a happy mind and body, starts in the bedroom—with your snooze time.
Getting sufficient sleep is one of the most important things you can do for your health, up there with exercise and diet according to sleep scientist Dan Gartenberg. Without time to repair and recharge, we can’t be active humans. It’s a vital bodily function! Sadly, our modern-day culture doesn’t push us to catch those extra z’s. We wear stress as a badge of honor and it’s far too easy to push sleep down your to-do list.
Not only do we need enough sleep, but we also need good sleep—that means quality as well as quantity.
“Sleep is not a luxury. It’s as essential as food and oxygen. To live well, you must sleep well,” explains sleep expert Nancy Rothstein.
To live your best sleep life, start by giving serious consideration to your mattress: investing in a quality sleep surface is investing in yourself. Your mattress can ultimately complete the circle of a healthy lifestyle, turning your bedroom into a haven, rather than a crash pad.
Choosing the Right Mattress
All-Foam vs. Hybrid Mattresses
Mattresses have vastly changed in the past decade, and shoppers are now faced with numerous choices. Traditional innerspring? Foam? Hybrid? If you’re scratching your head over all the options, read further.
Traditional innerspring beds are made with an interconnected “grid” of coils covered by a layer of wool or padding. Foam mattresses can be made of many different types of foam, including memory foam, latex foam, or latex-alternative foams. A hybrid, like the Propel Hybrid by Brooklyn Bedding, is the best of both worlds, combining individually pocketed springs and one or more layers of foam on top of the base of coils. This combination allows manufacturers to pair the advantages of coils with the key benefits of foam, including contouring, responsiveness, and quilting.
Firmness Level
Sleeping on a mattress that is either too soft or too firm can cause a host of sleep issues. If you find that your lower back is stiff and tight in the morning, it’s highly likely due to a soft mattress. A mattress that is too plush can cause your spine to fall out of alignment, and cause muscles to contract rather than relax.
If joint pain and stiffness are your main problems, your bed might be too firm—and could even be restricting blood flow. A mattress with contouring foam layers, like a hybrid or latex alternative foam bed, could be the answer. The universal medium firmness of the Propel Hybrid provides just the right combination of comfort and support and is ideal if you’re looking to satisfy you and a sleep partner.
Smart Fabrics
Some mattresses now feature smart textile technology, meaning they react to the human body in creating an ideal sleep experience. Upcycle™, featured in the Propel Hybrid, is a proprietary surface treatment of encapsulated minerals on the mattress cover that transforms your body heat into Far Infrared Rays—emitted back to your body as invisible waves of energy. Far Infrared Rays stimulate local blood flow without increasing blood pressure, penetrating deeper into the skin and helping to promote a more restorative night’s sleep.
Cooling
It’s no secret that sleeping hot is one of the most common nocturnal complaints and a leading cause for poor quality sleep. The cause is simple: your body temperature actually drops to initiate sleep, and a sleep environment that’s too warm is likely to disrupt that process and keep you awake. Advanced cooling technology can now drastically reduce temperature regulation issues with phase change molecule surface infusions. Advanced cooling technology, like the TitanCool™ used in the Propel Hybrid, is made using gels that react to your body heat, changing to a cooling liquid when you’re too hot, but remaining in a semi-fluid state when your body temperature is just right. The result is a more active cooling effect than even the most breathable bed can deliver.
It’s important to note that hybrid and innerspring mattresses do allow for overall greater airflow, allowing you to sleep cooler and more comfortable than most all-foam mattresses.
Spinal Alignment and Pressure Point Relief
Aches and pains can unknowingly result from the wrong mattress. Hybrid mattresses are the most versatile, combining the comfort of foam layers with the deep compression support of coils. The Ascension™ individually encased coils in the Propel Hybrid deliver the support needed for proper spinal alignment and optimal support to meet all your special sleep needs. The Propel also offers superior edge support due to heavier gauge coils on the perimeter of the bed.
Sleep Accessories
Finally, you need to look at your collective sleep environment. To get the optimal sleep experience, be intentional in your choice of sleep accessories, including pillows and sheets. If you’re experiencing neck pain, you need to examine the material and loft of your pillows.
Memory foam pillows conform more closely to your head and neck while latex foam pillows provide immediate responsiveness to movement. Latex alternative foams bridge the gap between the sinkability of memory foam and the bounce of latex.
Keep in mind, too, that high loft pillows are best suited to side sleepers while low loft pillows are ideal for stomach and back sleepers.
In summary, no matter the type of food you eat or the workouts you do, everyone sleeps. And everyone needs a great place to lay their heads—to support not only quality rest but a healthy lifestyle. Living your best sleep life starts with the right mattress.
