Author: Whisper Admin

If you are a night owl and you have tried waking up early, you know it’s one of the most difficult habits. It’s hard to deal with grogginess in the morning and to be in bed on time with all the digital distractions nowadays.

So what’s the deal with these early morning risings and how can we fix them so that you’re all getting more of the rest you need?

What is an early wake-up

Let’s start with defining exactly what an early wake-up is. Everyone has their own definition. Some people feel like anything before 5 AM is too early, while others don’t want to be up before 12 PM.

When it comes to our sleep needs, we must have realistic expectations. It’s important to understand that our biological circadian rhythm is set based on our age. Children require earlier bedtimes than adults and often wake earlier than an adult naturally would.

How does this translate to morning wake times? Simply put, the vast majority of children’s bodies are ready to wake up anytime between 6:00-7:00 AM. Awaking before 6 AM is usually considered an early morning waking. Sleeping long past 7 AM throws the body’s circadian rhythm off, which deteriorates all sleep quality.

The general guidelines for morning wake times are as follows:

4:00-5:00 is still night time

5:00-6:00 is an early wake up for most people

6:00-7:00 is a gray area (some people do well with a wake up time at this hour, some don’t)

7:00-7:30 is fair game

How to deal with waking up early

If you’ve already read a few books on sleep and early rising, you’ve seen the usual advice like:

• have a consistent schedule on weekends
• don’t use electronics late at night
• eliminate blue light
• don’t eat dinner too late
• have a morning/bedtime routine

All these points are important and they’ve been discussed everywhere. Instead, here you can find some lesser known tips that will make you an early riser faster:

1. Don’t Jump Out of Bed Immediately

The usual advice with the alarm is to keep it far away and immediately jump out of bed when it goes off.

That approach works well in the military, but what if you don’t want to have that stressful schedule in your every-day life? What if you want to enjoy your morning and spend some time in bed before jumping into work?

If you want to make something a habit in the long-term, it has to feel good. You’re not going to make it very far if your new habit feels horrible, and that’s exactly how it feels when you jump out of bed groggy.

So how can you spend time in bed without falling back asleep?

Have a two-alarm setup.

The first one is to wake you up, the second one is your cue to get out of bed. The first one should be within arm’s reach and the second one should be away from your bed.

That way, you can give your body some time to gently awaken and you can spend some quiet time in bed doing something you love, like reading your favorite book, writing in your journal, or doing affirmations.

When the second alarm goes off your time is up and you have to get out of bed. A 10 or 15-minute period between the first and the second alarm works well. By that time your body will feel much better and you would have gotten some inspiration by doing your favorite thing in the morning.

2. Start Your Day with Joy

We’ve been conditioned by the productivity movement that everything should be about getting things done. Do more, faster, with increased efficiency. Most of our morning routines are filled with activities that require willpower and discipline.

But getting out of bed is much easier if you have something that you’re looking forward to. Something that gives you joy and excites you.

Of course, the joy of creating can drive you, but don’t be afraid to motivate yourself by doing something fun in the morning.

It might be going for a morning jog in the park, walking your dog, getting a cup of coffee at your favorite café, or spending time with your loved ones.

It’s different for everybody but whatever it is, make sure there’s at least one activity every morning that is just to excite you and improve your mood. That, indirectly, will make you more productive for the rest of the day.

Better yet, think of the benefits that others will receive from your work. You can also keep track of your progress and reward yourself when you reach a milestone.

3. Have A Strong Reason “Why?”

“Early risers are happier and more productive,” is not a good reason. It’s too general and will not inspire you to take action.

Changing this habit is hard, and if you want to endure the difficulty, you will need a good reason for it. Be really clear about what you want to get out of the extra morning time.

Do you want to use it to work more on your business? To get some extra time with your friends and loved ones?

If you don’t come up with a good way to spend your mornings, they will automatically be allocated to sleeping in.

Planning in advance is also very important. Coming up with the right thing to do at 6 AM when you’re feeling groggy isn’t going to work. At that time your mind will always come up with the same priority: sleep more.

Before you even start waking up early, come up with a great plan about how you’re going to use that extra morning time.

4. Create an Early Weekend Schedule

When telling people to wake up at the same time on weekends you’ll get the same response: “I don’t have a good reason to do it on weekends.”

Since most of us use mornings for work and being productive, we don’t know what to do on a day off.

So plan your leisure time in the same way. Sign up for an early morning class on weekends. Set aside time for your favorite hobby. Plan a hike with a friend. Use the weekend mornings for something that you’ve never had the time for.

It might seem weird to plan for your leisure time. But whatever the plan is, it’s going to be better than, “getting up on Saturday and figure it out.”

5. Plan Your Mornings in Excruciating Detail

The more specific you are with your morning routine, the easier it’s going to be to execute it. We’re talking about the really small details.

Do you get dressed before going to the bathroom? Do you shave first or brush your teeth first? Do you take a shower in the morning or in the evening?

Also, the better defined your routine is the more efficient it’s going to be. Since you’re doing the same thing every day, you will find many ways to optimize it.

A perfect example is laying out your clothes out for the next day. It’s much better than doing it when you wake up. It saves time and it feels nice to have everything ready when you wake up.

Here’s an illustration of a morning routine in detail:

*Turn off the second alarm

*Do your business in the bathroom (1 min)

*Drink a glass of water (1 min)

*Go back to the bathroom

*Take a shower

*Brush teeth, tongue scrape, mouthwash (3 mins)

*Put on perfume

*Style hair (5 min)

*Put your makeup (10 min)

*Put on clothes (5 mins)

*Hit the door

6. Staying Awake After Getting Out of Bed

Many people manage to get out of bed early, but an hour later they still feel groggy and go back to sleep.

Changing your wake-up time to a few hours earlier is hard. While your body gets used to the new timing, you will feel sleepy in the first few hours and going back to sleep will be tempting, especially if you’re still at home with the prospect of a cozy bed.

Even coffee might not help in that case. So what’s the solution?

Go outdoors as soon as possible. Do a quick morning routine to refresh yourself and hit the door immediately.

Something about being outdoors makes it easy to stay awake. Feeling the cool air on your skin, smelling the grass and flowers, hearing the rustling leaves. Nature tends to melt away all the grogginess.

It’s a great opportunity to do some exercise too, which is one of the best ways to start your day. Get your heart rate up.

7. Get a Pet

Accountability is becoming mainstream. Getting friends and family to keep you in check helps a lot. But there is no better accountability than a hungry cat in the morning.

If you get a cat and show her that 6 AM is food time, she will make sure you’re preparing breakfast at 5:55 AM every morning. No exceptions.

8. Use Sleep Cycles to Your Advantage

Have you had one of those days where you wake up early, but you don’t feel sleepy or groggy? You can fall back asleep easily but you can also get up and start your day.

Of course, you also know about the other mornings. Mornings where waking up early is terrible: your mind is foggier and your body feels like it’s been on a 24h marathon.

The difference between those two cases is in sleep cycles. When we sleep at night we experience a few cycles that our bodies go through. Each cycle passes through different stages; Stage 4 is the deepest one and Stage 1 is the lightest one, meaning the closest one to the awake state. The closer to the awake state you are when the alarm goes off, the better you will feel. The deeper you are, the worse you will feel.

So how can you use that to your advantage?

Figure out at which time in the morning you’re in REM sleep. If you feel terrible when the alarm goes off at 7 am, try 7:30 instead. If that doesn’t work, try 8 am. Eventually, you’ll find the sweet spot and you’ll be able to get up much more easily.

Once you find that sweet spot, you can begin gradually moving your alarm back by 10–15 minutes earlier, and shift your sleep cycles until you hit your target wake-up time.

This approach works only if you have consistent bedtimes. If you change the bedtimes by 1–2 hours every day, the sleep cycles will change too, and you won’t be able to find that stability in the morning.

9. Have Realistic Expectations

How long does it take to become an early riser?

It only takes your body 4–5 days of waking up and going to bed at the same time to adjust to the new schedule. It works even if it’s a big change, like moving in a different time zone.

However, getting yourself to do those 4–5 consistent days is a different story. Being able to do it depends on your current habits.

If you’re used to watching tv while overeating until 2 AM, and you try shifting your bedtime to 10 pm, it’s going to be a big challenge. In that case, you have to change two additional habits — the overeating and the late TV watching. That takes additional time and discipline.

Becoming an early riser is difficult because it’s not just one habit but a combination of many tiny ones. That’s why shifting a sleep schedule gradually improves the other prerequisite habits at the same time.

10. Get Enough Sleep or Maintain Consistent Wake-Up Times?

You already know that consistent wake-up and bedtimes are crucial to becoming an early riser. However, we don’t live in a perfect world. Sometimes our priorities change and we have to stay up late.

In those cases, we have two choices for the morning after:

keep the same alarm time even though we’ll get less sleep, or 2) turn off the alarm and get enough sleep.

The best choice depends on how late you go to bed.

If you go to bed late but still get at least 5–6 hours, then it’s better to maintain the same alarm time. You will feel a bit sleepy during the day, but you can always get a power nap in the afternoon to help the process. You can also go to bed a little earlier the following evening to catch up even more.

Maintaining the wake-up time will make it easier to stay on track for the next few days, even though you had one late night.

On the other hand, if you were to change your alarm every time just to make sure you’re getting enough sleep, you will have a much more inconsistent schedule. You might end up sleeping 2–3 hours longer. Then on the following evening, you’ll not feel sleepy enough at the usual time, and you’ll stay up late again. The whole thing turns into a negative spiral.

The second scenario is when you go to bed very late and keeping the typical alarm time means you’ll only get 1–2 hours of sleep.

In that case, you’ll be better off sleeping in.

Even if you woke up on time, with so little sleep you’ll end up spending the day like a zombie, struggling to stay awake. So instead, turn off the alarm and let your body wake you up naturally. Then make sure you put some extra effort to be in bed on time on the following evening.

For a mattress that helps you get all the rest you could possibly need every single night, check out the WHISPER at our link below. We offer a 100-night risk-free trial:

Traveling for work or pleasure can be fun and interesting, but traveling to a new time zone will more often than not result in jet lag. Every day, millions of travelers struggle with one of the most common sleep disorders.

For years, jet lag was considered merely a state of mind. Now, studies have shown that the condition actually results from an imbalance in our body’s natural “biological clock” caused by traveling to different time zones. Basically, our bodies work on a 24-hour cycle called circadian rhythms. These rhythms are measured by the distinct rise and fall of body temperature, plasma levels of certain hormones and other biological conditions. All of these are influenced by our exposure to sunlight and help determine when we sleep and when we wake.

When traveling to a new time zone, our circadian rhythms are slow to adjust and remain on their original biological schedule for several days. This results in our bodies telling us it is time to sleep when it’s actually the middle of the afternoon, or it makes us want to stay awake when it is late at night.

Moving through time zones can wreak havoc on our bodies, leading to extreme fatigue along with indigestion, bowel problems, loss of appetite and memory, and concentration issues.

It can take a few days to a few weeks for your body to adjust to a new time zone when flying. This can make things difficult if you are bouncing from time zone to time zone in a short period of time.

If you are flying long distances and/or multiple flights over a short period of time, jet lag can destroy you and you’ll need a jet lag cure that works.

The best thing to do when you know you’ll be traveling long distance is to have a half to full day period of time to adjust. This way you can start adapting your sleep-wake cycle, body temperature, blood pressure, digestion, and other bodily functions to the new time zone.

What else can you do to recover from jetlag? Here are 12 of the best tips!

1. Plan ahead

By slowly changing the time that you go to sleep and when you wake up in the weeks before your trip, you should have an easier time adjusting to the jet lag. When the time for the trip comes, your sleep schedule should be relatively close to that of your destination.

2. Have enough sleep before you leave for your flight

Sleep deficit will make jet lag worse. People often end up having slept for just a few hours before a long flight.

Whether it’s due to pre-holiday excitement or a deliberate attempt to tire yourself out so that you’ll sleep through the flight, it’s a big mistake.

Last minute changes to your routine will only make it harder to adjust to a new time zone, and getting a good night’s sleep before your flight will leave you better equipped to cope with jet lag.

3. Nap during the flight

Take short little naps on the flight when you feel sleepy. It will help build those reserves. If you can sleep for longer make it so that you sleep during the sleep time of your arrival time zone.

For early morning arrivals, ensure you get some sleep on the plane to help you to stay awake until night time. If you are arriving at night, avoid sleeping much during the flight.

4. Eat small meals frequently

Try not to eat heavy foods that will make you feel tired and sluggish afterward. Keep your energy up by enjoying lighter foods and staying as active as possible.

Make sure you are filling your body with lots of healthy food: fruit and vegetables. Avoid sugar as much as you can.

5. Avoid alcohol and caffeine

It’s not the sleep inducing cure we all think it is. Alcohol will keep you awake and when you combine it with the jet lag haze it can get nasty. Caffeine just messes with your internal clock on a normal day. Avoid alcohol and caffeine on the day of your arrival too.

We don’t want to be party poopers and we all know how tempting it can be to get in those airport beers, but try and avoid it for those long-haul flights. It will only increase tiredness and dehydration, making you feel so much worse. Drink lots of water instead.

6. Sleeping pills

Your doctor can prescribe for you a hypnotic sleeping pill to help you get rest at proper times when you first reach your destination or to help avoid sleep deprivation during the flight. Sleeping pills may help you sleep better as you adjust to the new time zone, but are not necessary and should be used on a short-term basis.

7. Sunlight

Sunlight is a powerful tool to reset your internal clock. After you reach your destination, make sure to open a window or go outside during the daytime to expose yourself to sunlight. This will help you adjust to the new time zone.

8. Kick up your feet

As soon as you get back home (or to your home away from home), elevate your feet against a wall or headboard for five to 10 minutes. Feels a little silly, sure, but it helps relieve swelling in your legs and ankles.

9. Get Your Sleep Environment Right

Do all you can in advance to get your sleeping environment conducive to a good, solid night’s sleep. This means getting the temperature right, minimizing any disruptive noise and getting the room as dark as possible. Having a comfortable mattress also helps, of course!

10. ‘First Night Effect’ & ‘On-Call Effect’

These two common phenomena are known to keep people awake unduly. First Night Effect takes hold when trying to sleep in new or unfamiliar settings. To counter this, bring items from home which will make you feel more settled.

On-Call Effect is the feeling of never being fully able to relax and constantly waking up, despite not needing to. This is due to an unrealistic expectation that a noise (or alarm) will wake you or conversely, you will not wake up when you want to. To help deal with this, take measures to keep any controllable noise in the room to a minimum and request a wake-up call from reception so that you are confident you will wake at your desired time.

11. Do not sleep at the wrong time

No matter how tired you are when you arrive in your new time zone, you’ve got to put those matchsticks in and stay awake. Wait until it is bedtime. It’s okay to hit the hay as soon as the sun goes down, but it is best you wait until a bit later. Help your body get used to the new time zone as soon as possible.

12. Get some exercise

Some studies have shown that moderate exercise helps adjustment to the new time schedule. Outdoor exercise has the dual advantage of including exposure to sunlight.

Exercising as soon as you arrive gets the blood flowing from your swollen into your upper extremities. Traveling through multiple time zones can certainly do a number on the body. If possible, get a quick workout in as soon as you get settled. Even a few minutes of yoga in your hotel room will increase mental alertness and acuity and will go a long way in helping regulate your sleep cycle.

Ultimately…

There is no one, single, universal trick you can use against jetlag. The tips featured here will definitely help you reduce the effects, but your symptoms won’t completely disappear. The most important thing in most cases is for you to stay awake and not be tempted to cozy up in bed. In two or three days you’ll be over your jet lag anyway, and you can plunge into your new adventures!

To ensure that you get back on schedule as quickly as possible once you’re back home, try our WHISPER mattress and get the best sleep of your life. We’re so confident in its power that we’ll offer you a 100-night risk-free trial. Just click below to order now!

To check out the WHISPER mattress and speed up your jet-lag recovery, check out the link below. We offer a 100-night risk-free trial:

Our bodies require sleep in order to maintain proper function and health. In fact, we are programmed to sleep each night as a means of restoring our bodies and minds. Two interacting systems: the internal biological clock and the sleep-wake homeostat largely determine the timing of our transitions from wakefulness to sleep and vice versa. These two factors also explain why, under normal conditions, we typically stay awake during the day and sleep at night.

During sleep, the body moves through five different stages of both REM (rapid eye movement) and NREM (non-rapid eye movement) sleep. Over the course of the night, the body will go through this five-stage cycle four to six times, spending an average of 90 minutes in each stage.

Each stage of sleep serves a unique restorative function, including muscle recovery, hormone regulation, and memory consolidation, making it essential to allow enough time to cycle through all sleep stages. Without a full night of sleep, your body and mind are deprived of the essential elements needed to help you conquer the day.

Stage 1

Stage one of sleep, also known as the transitional phase, occurs when one finds themselves floating in and out of consciousness. During this NREM stage, you may be partially awake while your mind begins to drift off.

This period of drowsiness eventually leads to a light sleep. It’s that moment when you feel awake but you also notice your mind is drifting away.

During this short period (lasting several minutes) of relatively light sleep, your heartbeat, breathing, and eye movements slow.  Your brain waves begin to slow from their daytime wakefulness patterns.

This is also the time when the muscles jerk, followed by a falling sensation that jolts you back into consciousness. This experience is known as hypnic myoclonus. After winding down in stage one, your sleep cycle will slip you into stage two.

Stage 2

Almost 50% of the time spent asleep over the course of the night is spent in stage two. Stage two is also a non-REM phase and is one of the lighter stages of sleep. Even though it is a light stage, the body begins to prepare for deep sleep as the heart rate begins to slow and the core temperature decreases.

During stage two, eye movement stops and brain waves slow with the occasional burst of electrical activity called sleep spindles. Stage two can also be characterized by the unstructured periods that alternate between muscle tone and muscle relaxation.

Stages 3 & 4

Stages three and four are characterized as the deep stages of sleep and are often the hardest to wake up from. If you try to wake someone up when they are in stages three or four, they will most likely be disoriented and groggy for minutes after they awake. Stages three and four are often grouped together because they are the periods of slow wave sleep (SWS).

Slow wave sleep is a NREM phase of sleep and is the deepest sleep that your body enters throughout the night. It is called slow wave sleep because the brain waves slow to what is known as delta waves with the occasional faster wave. As the body moves from stage three to stage four, the number of delta waves increases and of the faster waves decreases.

In addition to the deep sleep caused by the delta waves, blood pressure drops even further and breathing becomes deeper, slower, and more rhythmic. During slow wave sleep, there is no eye movement and the body becomes immobile.

However, even though there is no muscle movement, the muscles still have the ability to function. These are the stages when children sometimes experience nightmares, bedwetting, and sleepwalking. These behaviors are known as parasomnias and tend to occur during the transitions between non-REM and REM sleep.

Stages three and four of sleep are extremely rejuvenating to the body.  Blood supply to your muscles increases and your body grows and repairs tissue, releasing hormones that are critical for recovery, growth, and development. During slow wave sleep, hormones are released that aid in both growth and appetite control.

The growth hormones help to replenish muscles and tissues that were exerted over the course of the day, and the appetite-controlling hormones help limit feelings of excessive hunger the following day.

These hormones are essential to the development of a strong body and help control unnecessary over-eating. In addition to the release of critical hormones, the blood flow to the muscles increases, providing restorative oxygen and nutrients.

Stage 5

Stage five is the only stage of rapid eye movement (REM) and is unlike any other sleep phase because the brain is bursting with activity. Most adults spend about 20% of sleep in REM, while infants spend almost 50%. During non-REM sleep, the mind rests while the body heals, but in REM sleep the mind energizes itself while the body is immobile.

REM sleep is called as such because the eyes dart in various directions while the limbs and muscles are temporarily paralyzed. Breathing becomes shallower and irregular while the heart rate and blood pressure rise from the levels they were in previous stages.

Most dreaming takes place in stage five as a result of heightened, desynchronized brain waves, almost similar to being awake. This stage of sleep revitalizes the brain, supporting sharp and alert daytime function.

Individuals begin waking up at the end of stage 5. Upon waking up, an individual’s core body temperature begins to rise in order to prepare the body for the activity of the day ahead.

Waking Up in the Middle of a Sleep Cycle

That disoriented feeling you get after waking up from a nap is probably due to waking up during stage three or later.

When we don’t complete our sleep cycles or our sleep is interrupted, especially during the deep sleep stage when interruption can lead us to become sleep deprived.

This is why after weeks or even days of not having enough sleep, we feel run-down or weary. Good sleep health is essential to our total well-being.

Medical experts define sleep deprivation as “when an individual fails to get enough sleep.” It sounds simple enough, but the effects on our daily lives can be both severe and widespread. Roughly 20% of adults suffer from sleep deprivation.

The signs of sleep deprivation may include irritability, increased fatigue, lack of focus and concentration, poor coordination, reflexes, and attention.

How to Optimize Your Sleep Cycles

1. Keep a Consistent Schedule

Stick to the same bedtime and wake time every day — including on the weekends. Keeping a consistent sleep schedule helps you regulate your body clock so you can fall asleep quicker and wake up easier.

2. Power down bright lights/screen time at least an hour before bed

We all have busy lives and our phones, tablets, computers, and TVs call us for work or play constantly. Removing the bright light and the stimulation will help get your body readier for its sleep cycle.

3. Choose a thermo-regulating mattress

A good mattress helps you get quality, uninterrupted sleep each night. Using thermo-regulating fabric like open cell Quantum memory foam helps by promoting your body’s optimal core temperatures throughout the night. In turn, this helps trigger your body to get to sleep faster, stay asleep longer, and wake up feeling refreshed.

4. Skip the Snooze

Once your body becomes familiar with a routine, it’ll prepare itself to wake up during the lighter stages of sleep. But the snooze button turns this process on its head. That extra bit of sleep will leave you feeling more tired if the second alarm wakes you during deep sleep.

5. Stay on Track

Sleep trackers monitor movement to estimate total sleep time and after-sleep waking. By receiving personalized insights, you can analyze your overall sleep performance and adjust your schedule accordingly. Some sleep trackers even track your sleep patterns in order to wake you up during light sleep.

6. De-stress

Easier said than done, of course. However, as you reduce your stress, be it through the help of meditation, stretching, acupuncture or lifestyle shifts, you can calm your mind and body and give yourself a better chance at a better night’s rest.

To check out the WHISPER mattress and get started on your journey to the best night’s sleep of your life, check out the link below. We offer a 100-night risk-free trial:

Getting a good night’s sleep hinges on a lot of variables lining up. In addition to having a good mattress, comfortable sheets, climate control, lighting and mental distractions all play a role in how well you rest.

So does your pillow. Where you lay your head at night can affect not only how well you sleep, but how rested you feel when you wake up.

If you’re not waking up refreshed and you’re unsure why, the problem could be that you’re sleeping on the wrong type of pillow.

Back, side, stomach, and combination sleepers all have different support needs. When you’re lying on the mattress, your head and neck should be level with your spine. Test out different arrangements to see if you need more than one pillow for proper cushioning and support. If your pillow is more than two years old or has lost its buoyancy, it’s time to toss it. Beside a lousy night’s sleep, the wrong pillow can lead to headaches and neck pain.

If you lack the right amount of support, your neck muscles, ligaments, and tendons can become worn and tired throughout your sleep. Since these structures are the ones that work to support your neck, letting them tire out can cause your neck to stop being supported and to fall into curves and unnatural positions.

On the other hand, choosing the right kind of pillow and a supportive mattress helps relax the spine and rejuvenates the body for the next day.

How to choose a pillow for a great night’s sleep:

What’s true for mattresses also applies to choosing a pillow: To make the best choice, match the pillow to your sleeping habits and preferences.

Consider your sleep style

Good sleep posture means aligning your body and having good support. The head, neck, spine, hips, even knees and ankles should be supported and aligned so you don’t wake up with aches and pains.

The first step to picking the right pillow is identifying which position you sleep in most often. How you sleep informs you what level of support your body needs in a pillow.

Back sleepers need a medium-thick pillow to keep the head, neck, and spine nicely aligned. The perfect pillow for side sleepers (the majority of people) is a slightly thicker, firmer pillow for optimal alignment. Finding the perfect pillow for stomach sleepers may mean not buying a pillow at all. Stomach sleeping already puts strain on your lower back; raising your head can make it more extreme. (In fact, when you sleep on your stomach, the best place for a pillow is under your belly and pelvis, to help maintain the natural curvature of your spine.)

Mixed sleepers—those who move from back to side to side—will want a medium-thick but softer pillow that can be used comfortably in multiple positions.

The WHISPER Pillow comes with the unprecedented benefit of having an adjustable height. This means that no matter what style of sleep you adopt, or even if you switch from time to time, the WHISPER Pillow is there to support you every step of the way.

Choose a pillow filling

When it comes to choosing a pillow filling, the first consideration should be any medical issues you may have, such as asthma or allergies, or neck and back pain, which may steer you to one type of material or construction over another.

Memory foam provides good support, especially if you have neck, jaw, or shoulder problems. Memory foam also can take time to re-mold into different shapes if you move around a lot in your sleep.

In addition, natural materials like real silver yarn are breathable and wick away moisture for a cool, comfortable night’s sleep.

Temperature

Do you sleep hot? Some pillows include cooling memory foam to keep you comfortable.

If you’re really serious about keeping a cool pillow, consider high a performance one with air channel ventilation. Like athletic clothing fabric, these are designed to keep away heat and moisture.

If you suffer badly from allergies or if you’re unsure about your allergic reactions, you may want to stick with hypo-allergenic pillow filling.

Washability

While most pillows can be cleaned in one way or another, the method used depends on the materials the pillow is made of. Some pillows, like down or feather, can withstand a beating in your washer and dryer, but others like memory foam are a bit more delicate and might need to be hand washed.

It might be a good idea to find a pillow that’s easy to wash. You want to be able to get rid of things like dust mites, bacteria, mold, and fungi, as well as any bodily fluids that accumulate — head oil, sweat, and drool.

For most people, washing a pillow a couple of times a year is enough to keep it decently clean and alleviate allergy symptoms.

A good thing to note is that loose-material pillows tend to harbor far more irritants than more solid pillows. Feathers and husks have a large surface area for microbes to coat and are easy for dust mites to burrow into. Solid materials like memory are less prone to such issues.

Airflow

Your head dissipates quite a lot of body heat throughout the night. This can cause you to wake up in sweat if your pillow cannot dissipate the heat adequately. Pillows usually present a trade-off between strong heat dissipation and adjustability and suppor, but quantum memory foam pillows have gone a long way in solving this by providing both good support, as well as air flow to keep your head cool.

When to replace your pillow

There’s no set schedule for replacing a pillow, though sleep experts recommend getting a new one every one to two years.

Because they can be packed with illness and allergy triggers such as mold, dead skin cells, and dust mites. Pillow protectors can help extend the healthy life of your pillow.

To determine if it’s really time to get a new pillow, test it by folding it in half and seeing if it springs back to flat. If it doesn’t go back to its original shape when released, it’s time for a new pillow.

To check out our WHISPER Pillow, made of Quantum memory foam that not only regulates heat but can be adjusted to each person’s preferred height, simply click the button below. And we’re so confident in the quality of our products that we offer a 100-night risk-free trial. You have nothing to lose and a lifetime of rest to gain!

Many of us aren’t sleeping as much as we should nowadays: we stay up late working night shifts or binge-watching tv shows, but are still forced to wake up early thanks to all our societal obligations. By the time the weekend rolls around, it can be very tempting to sleep-in and attempt to catch up on all those lost hours.

While shutting your eyes for a little extra time on Saturday and Sunday mornings feels good, it throws off the upcoming week. Sleeping in disrupts the balance between our sleep drive and circadian clock, which can result in disrupted sleep, causing crankiness, grogginess, and worse, possible depression.

People can try to make up for sleep missed on prior nights but it usually takes several nights of “make-up” sleep to reverse previous sleep debt.

The best way to avoid the ill effects of sleep loss is to get a good amount of sleep every night. Since that’s not always realistic, taking naps, sleeping in, and going to bed earlier will help balance your sleep debt.

Your brain on sleep debt

Sleep experts have long preached the importance of getting a full night’s sleep, which for most adults is somewhere between seven and nine hours a night. Studies show that when people consistently get less than six, it can negatively affect their health, including their metabolism and their cardiovascular system. Even temporary periods of short sleep can lead to impairments in mood and concentration levels.

In recent studies, experts have found that when people got less than six hours of sleep a night, they had trouble completing basic tasks: They had a fivefold increase in attention lapses and their reaction time nearly doubled compared to people who slept seven or more hours; even when they didn’t feel tired or realize that their performance was suffering.

To regulate your sleep schedule successfully, you need to understand two important sleep concepts – sleep drive and the internal circadian biological clock.

What is sleep drive?

Sleep drive is similar to the gas light on your car’s dashboard, it alerts your body when it needs to sleep. The longer you’re awake, the more your body needs sleep. Likewise, your need to sleep dissipates when you’re snoozing at night, filling up that gas tank so you’re ready for action the next morning. You wake up with a full tank and as you go through your day, your tank slowly empties until there’s nothing left and your body demands sleep. When you finally give into slumber, your tank gradually fills again, allowing you to wake up once again well rested.

Internal circadian biological clock

Your circadian clock regulates the timing of alertness and sleepiness throughout the day, rising and falling at different times. The strongest sleep drive (need for sleep) for adults usually occurs between the hours of 2 am to 4 am and during that afternoon rough sluggish patch, between 1 pm and 3 pm. The feeling of grogginess you experience during these times will feel less intense when you’ve had an adequate amount of sleep and is more powerful when you’re sleep deprived.

What’s the alternative?

The solution is to supercharge with a “power nap.” During your work week, napping can seem like an unobtainable gift from the sleep fairy. But if you can sneak one in, it’s a great way to replenish energy. Your body is naturally sleepy at this time so it will be easier to doze off.

On the weekends, try to eliminate the concept of sleeping in late. Wake up at your normal time and replace that snooze time with an afternoon nap. As with all things sleep, balance is essential.

Keep your afternoon snooze short and sweet, a half-hour or less. Longer naps can leave you tired and groggy upon awakening because after sleeping for 20 to 30 minutes, your body enters deeper sleep. And then it’s more difficult to get up from and immediately start activity (sleep inertia).

Does It Help to Sleep-In?

Sleeping in on weekends can reverse the impact of mild sleep deprivation over one work week. After six nights of reduced sleep, people experience significant daytime sleepiness and a decrease in attention levels as well as a rise in Interleukin-6, a marker of inflammation. After two days of extended recovery sleep on the weekend, sleepiness and IL-6 levels are returned to normal. The attention levels, however, remain diminished despite the extra slumber.

The take-home? Extra weekend sleep can make up for some of the negative effects associated with sleep loss, but it won’t affect your focus.

New research studies provide a beacon of hope that maybe some of these negative effects can be made up for, by getting extra sleep over the weekend.

The study found that those who consistently slept five hours or less were 65% more likely to die early than those who slept six to seven hours a night on average.

But those who reported short sleep during the week and long sleep on the weekends seemed protected: they had no increased mortality risk compared to those who consistently got six to seven hours.

It seems that weekday short sleep may be forgiven by weekend compensation, and it may be healthier, in the long run, to catch up on lost sleep over the weekend than to keep a shortened sleep schedule all seven days.

But other experts warn the practice still isn’t healthy

Catching up on sleep over the weekend doesn’t have to mean shifting your sleep midpoint: It could mean going to bed a little earlier and getting up a little later, rather than staying up super late and sleeping until noon.

The idea that extra weekend sleep might mitigate some long-term health risks is a totally reasonable conclusion to draw. But mortality risk is just one aspect of health, and that there are likely more immediate consequences of lost sleep that a weekend snooze-fest can’t make up for.

There’s a fair amount of research showing other outcomes, particularly with cognition, and in these areas, it’s not clear that you can really catch up so quickly. Things like memory and concentration can be affected in as little as two or three days of short sleep so the weekend may be too late to make up for those effects.

There’s also evidence, that people with shifted sleep schedules, opposite of the body’s natural circadian rhythm, are at higher risk for conditions like heart disease and diabetes. But most research has been done in extreme cases, like night shift workers who work overnight and sleep during the day, and not in people who simply sleep a few hours later on the weekends.

Advice for avoiding sleep deprivation

1. Create a sleep sanctuary

Reserve it for sleep, intimacy, and other restful activities, like pleasure reading and meditation. Keep it on the cool side. Banish your television, computer, telephone and other diversions from that space.

2. Nosh on super meals

Foods high in antioxidants and protein, but low in processed sugars, fats and carbs can raise energy up and keep the sluggishness at bay. Focus on fish and green veggies at least one meal each day, supplementing with fruits and nuts for snacks. Begin your day with a low-cal, high protein breakfast. Also, avoid caffeine after noon, and go light on alcohol.

3. Limit work at home

Your brain needs a break from the stress which can keep you up at night while you’re trying to sleep. To help your brain relax and to get ready for sleep, try limiting the amount of work you bring home or make sure to stop work-related activities an hour before it’s time to hit the pillow.

4. Find the proper mattress.

A foam mattress is an effective tool to help you get to sleep faster and rest longer. It works by layering different types of memory foam to help you combat sleep deprivation and insomnia. For example, people who experience insomnia from sleeping hot can enjoy our open cell foam WHISPER mattress to help reduce heat. This promotes air circulation and is heat wicking for a cooler sleep.

5. Designate date nights or social nights.

While work is important and sleep is necessary, try to make fun a priority too. Dinner with friends, a movie date with your partner, putting these things in your calendar can help you to distress and wind down in the evenings.

For a mattress that helps you get sleep so good you won’t even need to sleep in on weekends, check out the WHISPER below. Try it risk-free with our 100-night trial!

We all know the benefits of a good night’s sleep and yet many people are in need of sleep help in order to get it on a regular basis. Normally we’d advise against smartphones and backlit screens before bed, but there would be a few exceptions, such as sleep monitoring apps.

Today’s technology can help us keep better track of our health. Smartphone apps can count calories, log the number of miles we run, and even help us sleep better.

Some sleep monitoring apps require you to purchase additional tracking devices that can be costly, but there are some that don’t require a tracker at all. These apps will usually use the sensors built into your smartphone and are a convenient way to keep track of your sleeping habits. This can be of great benefit in finding out where you need the most sleep help.

Sleep Apps that Track Your Sleep

Sleep apps have been designed to provide white noise and peaceful nature sounds, to help you remember your dreams, and guide you through stress-relief exercises, but sleep tracker apps, which provide you with detailed information about your entire night’s sleep, are the most popular ones.

These apps work by capturing data from a heart rate monitor and your phone’s microphone to monitor your quality of sleep. In the morning the app will analyze your data, after which you receive a personalized report with recommendations about improving your slumber.

The goal is to identify the problem areas of your sleep cycle, such as waking up due to snoring or staying awake past bedtime because of stress, and, ultimately, to help you resolve those issues.

What are the benefits?

Some of the benefits of using sleep tracking apps include:

1. If you have sleep problems that require collecting data about your slumber habits, you can avoid spending the night in a sleep lab. The traditional approach to collecting data about sleep habits, called polysomnography, involves the subject sleeping in a clinic hooked up to data collection machines. While the data collected in this manner is highly detailed, the data collected by sleep tracking is also quite accurate and allows the subject to sleep more comfortably in familiar surroundings. A sleep specialist can then use the data collected by an app to help assess a patient’s sleep issues.

2. Apps keep an automated and very accurate sleep journal for you. Keeping a sleep diary is an important way to gather information about insomnia and other sleep-related problems. But it takes a high level of commitment to record the necessary information every morning. Many people find it more convenient to use a sleep journal created by an app.

3. Most sleep tracker apps have a smart alarm that rouses you when your sleep is the lightest. By getting up when your body is ready rather than being jolted awake from a deep slumber, you can avoid feeling groggy and grumpy during the first hour you’re up.

What are the cons?

While it is great to see people becoming more aware of the intricacies of sleep and their own sleeping habits, in some cases it causes unnecessary worry and concern.

Recent research shows that tracking your sleep could be doing more harm than good. There is even a brand new name for it: orthosomnia.

Orthosomnia describes people who obsess over the results of their sleep and fitness trackers. Unfortunately, unlike eating five portions of fruit and vegetables or exercising daily, you can’t make yourself sleep for eight hours. And if people start putting pressure on themselves to sleep better, the likelihood is that they won’t.

Stress and anxiety are the main culprits in why we don’t sleep well, so tracking sleep can create unnecessary anxiety in the bedroom. Anxiety produces alert hormones like cortisol and adrenaline that will keep you awake. Plus, having “tech” in the bedroom goes against our general sleep advice of removing electronic devices from the bedroom and switching off screens an hour before bedtime.

If you do choose to use a smartphone to monitor your sleep, you can opt for a mattress that shields you from the harmful electromagnetic waves emitted by devices. Our WHISPER mattress, for instance, comes with a grounding field that keeps waves out, giving your brain the rest it deserves.

Compile the data

Gathering all of this sleep data is only useful if you actually use it. After several nights of tracking your sleep, you’ll end up with information on how much “deep” vs. “light” sleep you’re getting, how often you move or wake up, time spent in each sleep cycle or — in some cases — how much you snore.

Unfortunately, most sleep apps and fitness trackers don’t give you much advice on how to make changes to your sleep habits based on that data.

So here are some causes of common sleep issues:

If you’re not hitting the number of hours you need: It’s time to adjust your bedtime or wake up call.

If you’re sleeping, but not getting much deep sleep: It could mean your bedroom is too hot or cold, or that you need to cut back on caffeine or alcohol. You might also have underlying sleep conditions, like sleep apnea or insomnia.

If you wake up a lot at night or toss and turn: It could mean you’re experiencing a lot of heat while sleeping, that caffeine or alcohol is interfering with your sleep, or that you need a new mattress.

Conclusion

Getting good quality sleep is an important part of your health regimen. Insufficient sleep is a public health epidemic and chronic sleep deprivation contributes to illnesses such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and depression. Apps and sensors can help you understand what’s happening while you’re asleep, but they aren’t stand-ins for going to the doctor.

Another way to make sure that you are getting sufficient quality sleep is to find the ideal mattress for the curvature of your spine. It helps you sleep soundly, and it does not do damage to your tissues, muscles, and ligaments.

But it is worth mentioning, that if you’re waking up exhausted all the time or having trouble staying awake during the day, you should get checked out for any underlying issues.

To check out the WHISPER mattress and get started on your journey to the best night’s sleep of your life, check out the link below. We offer a 100-night risk-free trial:

Knowing how to clean a mattress can help you sleep better at night. There’s more to it than running the vacuum over it now and then.

Regularly cleaning your mattress can remove allergens, dust, bacteria, and stop serious mattress problems including mold and odors.

To keep your mattress safe, healthy, and clean, you’ll need to manage routine cleaning as well as address larger problems like spots, stains, odors, and even bed bugs and dust mites.

Do you know what’s in your mattress?

You already know about dust mites and other critters in your mattress, but many also contain sweat, blood, urine and other bodily fluids along with mold and mildew. Unless you shower before bed every night, your mattress might also contain dirt, oils and trace chemicals from various toiletries, and even pollen.

Cleaning your mattress is a particularly important cleaning task if you live in a humid environment since yours is likely to retain sweat and moisture even after you get out of bed. Also, if you have pets or small children, chances are your mattress has some stains you don’t even know are there.

Signs You Need to Clean Your Mattress

You haven’t cleaned it in a few months: Your mattress needs to be cleaned every few months to keep it fresh.

You’re allergic to sleeping: Dust buildup can aggravate allergies and cause you to suffer at night. If you feel allergy symptoms more often in bed or as you wake up, it’s probably time to clean up the dust.

You’ve noticed bugs or strange bites: Bed bug infestations may not always be obvious, especially in the early stages. But you can look for signs, including seeing the bugs, noticing microscopic blood stains or insect waste spots, or unusual bites on your body.

Your mattress has an odor: Mattresses can smell from dust and skin buildup, or have an odor from bodily fluids, even mold. Odors on your mattress can be gross and disruptive for sleeping and even point to a sign of a bigger problem you need to address.

You have obvious stains: How did that stain get there? Whether mattress stains are a mystery or you know their origin, it’s best to address stains as soon as you know about them.

How to Clean a Mattress

Before you start cleaning your mattress, strip the bed and launder your linens. Wash and dry your mattress cover first, then the sheets, and finally your bedspread. Use the hottest water and dryer heat setting allowed since heat will kill dust mites in your bedding. While the washer and dryer are doing their thing, turn your attention to the mattress.

1. Vacuum it

After removing your mattress cover, take a pass with the vacuum cleaner first. You’ll get rid of those cracker crumbs from late night munching sessions, along with any other dirt, pet hair, and dust that’s accumulated over time.

Your vacuum cleaner’s upholstery attachment is your best tool for mattress cleaning. Start at the top of the mattress and work your way down in overlapping, narrow paths and then vacuum the sides the same way.

2. Deodorize with baking soda

Although we don’t usually notice our personal bodily smells, over time sweat can build up and lead to an unmistakable aroma. To rid your mattress of rankness, sprinkle it well with baking soda and gently rub it in with a scrub brush, so it gets into the mattress fabric where the stink lives. Let the baking soda sit for 10 minutes before proceeding to the next step.

3. Repeat vacuuming

By scrubbing the baking soda into your mattress, you’ve helped it bond with moisture and body oils in the top layers of material. Vacuuming it a second time pulls that moisture out, along with the cause of the odors.

4. Treat stains

How you clean, and what you use, will depend on the type of stain you’re dealing with. Unless you spilled red wine or coffee in bed, chances are good that they are protein-based stains of the bodily variety (we’re talking the good stuff here: sweat, urine, blood). They also probably aren’t new, which means they’ll be tougher to remove after having set and chemically bonded with the fabric.

Here are a couple of options:

Treat stains with a combination of hydrogen peroxide, liquid dish soap, and baking soda. Mix them into a spray bottle and treat the stained area. Blot and/or rub with a clean rag.

Use non-toxic, natural enzyme cleaners, that chemically break down stains and odors.

Make a paste of lemon juice and salt. Apply the mixture to the stain, and let it stand for 30–60 minutes. Wipe off salt with a clean towel.

5. Flip it and repeat steps 1-4

Your mattress should be flipped side-to-side and top-to-bottom weekly for the first three months of ownership, then quarterly after that.

While you’ve got the materials handy, repeat the cleaning process on the other side of your mattress.

6. Protect it

Since cleaning a mattress is such a daunting task, the best way is using a washable mattress cover.

Pop the mattress cover into the wash if you have a spill, and make laundering it part of your routine, so you’ll never have to know how to clean a mattress again.

7. Buy A Mattress that Cleans Itself

The easiest way to keep your mattress clean without monthly care is to get one that cleans itself. Our WHISPER mattress has a cover woven with real silver yarn, allowing it to ionize the sweat and dirt that seep into it to neutralize them, leaving you with a cleaner mattress at all times. It is hypoallergenic and made to resist dust mites, and the air channels that are found throughout WHISPER’s interior keep air flowing and moisture accumulation to a minimum, meaning that mold and unpleasant odors are a thing of the past. Click below to get yours now and if you don’t like it, we have a 100 night risk-free return policy!

About a third of people struggle with insomnia, and sure, there are a number of psychological conditions associated with sleep disruption, but it could also be linked to what you eat.

New research has revealed that over two thirds (69%) of people feel sleep-deprived, and our love of spicy foods, caffeine and alcohol may be the cause.

Another subject to mention is what most people face when they’re trying to eat healthily: you’re starving right before bed, but you don’t want to eat something that will derail your diet. Well, going to bed hungry could actually hurt your weight-loss efforts. A rumbling tummy means an unrestful sleep, and a likelihood that you’ll wake up so starving, you’ll make unhealthy breakfast choices.

There are four key areas that eating before bed will impact:

• the appearance of your face the following morning
• your energy level the following morning
• your overall health
• your weight

How Eating Before Bed Impacts Your Sustained Energy Level

In a perfect world, you eat your dinner as early in the evening as possible, and you don’t snack after dinner. However, who among us lives in a perfect world?

Sometimes, having something a bit sweet after dinner helps us to relax and feel sleepy so that we can have a good rest overnight and then awaken with high energy levels the next morning. It depends, in part, on how many calories you are allowed each day.

People who work out consistently and intensely have to time their eating carefully because if they eat too early, they will suddenly become hungry just as they’re trying to fall asleep. Sounds like a little thing, but it can feel torturous.

Worse, athletes can also sometimes wake up in the middle of the night feeling ravenous – however, this is unlikely to affect you unless you exercise intensely every single day. Remember, much of the time when we wake up in the morning feeling exhausted, what’s really going on is we have a food hangover.

How Eating Before Bed Influences Your Overall Health

There has been a growing body of evidence that calorie restriction is one of the keys to a long lifespan. The general theory is that overnight your body likes to concentrate on healing and cell restoration.

However, we divert the body’s overnight focus from healing and toward digestion instead when we eat too much too closely before bed (and, especially, if we eat the wrong foods before bed)

Best food to eat before bed

Certain foods and beverages could actually help you fall asleep faster and sleep more soundly. Here are some things to put on your grocery list for more restful nights.

1. Complex Carbs

Skip the white bread, refined pasta, and sugary, baked goods, which may reduce serotonin levels and impair sleep. Instead, choose stick-to-your-ribs whole grains for your bedtime snack: Popcorn, oatmeal, or whole-wheat crackers with nut butter are all good choices.

2. A Handful of Nuts

Nuts are a good source of heart-healthy fats. And almonds and walnuts, specifically, contain melatonin, a hormone that helps to regulate your sleep/wake cycle. Eating them can increase your blood levels of the hormone, helping you sleep more soundly.

3. Cottage Cheese

Foods that are high in lean protein, like cottage cheese, also pack the amino acid tryptophan, which may increase serotonin levels. Serotonin is a brain chemical and low levels of it can contribute to insomnia. To sweeten it up, top the cottage cheese with raspberries, which are rich sources of melatonin.

4. A Cup of Bedtime Tea

A nightly cup of tea (sans caffeine, of course) can be a perfect relaxing ritual. Chamomile, ginger, and peppermint are calming choices for bedtime.

5. Warm Milk

Scientifically, there may be some link between the tryptophan and melatonin content of milk and improved sleep. But perhaps more powerful is the psychological link between warm milk and bedtime as a child. Just like hot tea, a warm drink of milk can provide the perfect soothing backdrop for a relaxing bedtime routine.

6. Fruits

Certain fruits that contain melatonin may help you fall asleep faster and wake up less often during the night. For instance, tart cherry juice and whole tart cherries contain a lot of melatonin, and bananas, pineapple, and oranges are also sources.

If you have insomnia, eating two kiwis before bed can increase your sleep duration by an hour over the course of a month. Other fruits and vegetables that are rich in antioxidants (like berries, prunes, raisins, and plums) may have a similar effect by helping to counteract the oxidative stress caused by a sleep disorder.

ADDITION

Sleep deprivation may require a visit to the doctor and medication to be completely remedied. However, you can take certain actions and precautions to make sure you are getting the best night’s sleep possible.

Along with avoiding certain foods and drinks, managing your environment, creating a routine and supplementing with the ideal mattress and sleep aid devices can increase your odds of sleeping through the night.

Choosing the right mattress is important. Our WHISPER mattress is ergonomically designed to offer more support where your body needs it and less where it does not. The dynamic foams adjust as well to a man with 120kg, as they do to a woman with 50kg. Ensuring that the spine is aligned regardless of sleeping position, and the shape and size of the sleeper.

Whether you’re scrambling to meet the demands of a busy schedule or just finding it hard to sleep at night, getting by on less sleep may seem like the only answer. But even minimal sleep loss can take a substantial toll on your mood, energy, mental sharpness, and ability to handle stress, and in the long run, chronic sleep loss can wreak havoc on your mental and physical health. By understanding your nightly sleep needs and how to bounce back from sleep loss, you can finally get on a healthy sleep schedule and improve the quality of your waking life.

Why is sleep so important?

The quality of your sleep directly affects your mental and physical health and the quality of your waking life, including your productivity, emotional balance, brain and heart health, immune system, creativity, vitality, and even your weight. No other activity delivers so many benefits with so little effort.

Sleep isn’t merely a time when your body shuts off. While you rest, your brain stays busy, overseeing biological maintenance that keeps your body running in top condition and preparing you for the day ahead. Without enough hours of restorative sleep, you won’t be able to work, learn, create, and communicate at a level even close to your true potential. Regularly skimp on “service” and you’re headed for a major mental and physical breakdown.

The good news is that you don’t have to choose between health and productivity. By addressing any sleep problems and making time to get the sleep you need each night, your energy, efficiency, and overall health will go up. In fact, you’ll likely get much more done during the day than if you were losing out on shuteye in an attempt to work longer.

Lastly, sleep plays an important role in regulating your circadian rhythm, or internal clock.

This inner clock runs on an approximately 24-hour schedule and regulates when you feel awake and sleepy. It may also help regulate things like metabolism, immune function, and inflammation.

Not sleeping long enough, sleeping at odd times of the day and exposure to bright light at night may throw off this inner clock and the many processes it regulates.

While you may think you’re getting ample rest, not all sleep is created equal. Not only is it important to get enough each night, but it’s also important to get good-quality sleep.

There is no universal definition for sleep quality, but it may be defined as how long it takes you to fall asleep, how often you wake up during the night, how rested you feel the next day or how much time you spend in different stages of sleep.

Because good sleep is necessary to so many aspects of good health, you should make getting enough each night a high priority.

How many hours of sleep do you need?

There is a big difference between the amount of sleep you can get by on and the amount you need to function optimally. According to researches, the average adult sleeps less than seven hours per night. In today’s fast-paced society, six or seven hours of sleep may sound pretty good. In reality, though, it’s a recipe for chronic sleep deprivation.

Just because you’re able to operate on six or seven hours of sleep doesn’t mean you wouldn’t feel a lot better and get more done if you spent an extra hour or two in bed.

Studies identify the ideal amount of time a person needs to sleep according to their age.

While sleep requirements vary slightly from person to person, most healthy adults need between 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night to function at their best. Children and teens need even more. And despite the notion that our sleep needs decrease with age, most older people still need at least 7 hours of sleep. Since older adults often have trouble sleeping this long at night, daytime naps can help fill in the gap.

A summary of new recommendations includes:

Newborns (0-3 months): Sleep range narrowed to 14-17 hours each day (previously it was 12-18)

Infants (4-11 months): Sleep range widened two hours to 12-15 hours (previously it was 14-15)

Toddlers (1-2 years): Sleep range widened by one hour to 11-14 hours (previously it was 12-14)

Preschoolers (3-5): Sleep range widened by one hour to 10-13 hours (previously it was 11-13)

School-age children (6-13): Sleep range widened by one hour to 9-11 hours (previously it was 10-11)

Teenagers (14-17): Sleep range widened by one hour to 8-10 hours (previously it was 8.5-9.5)

Younger adults (18-25): Sleep range is 7-9 hours (new age category)

Adults (26-64): Sleep range did not change and remains 7-9 hours

Older adults (65+): Sleep range is 7-8 hours (new age category)

Do women need more sleep than men?

According to one particular study, they do. There are a number of reasons, but the prevailing theory is that during the day, women’s brains work harder on average than men’s.

A female’s brain is more optimized for intuitive thinking, resulting in more multitasking during the day. This increased momentum can require more energy throughout the day, meaning it takes longer to wind it down at nighttime.

But how much more sleep do women need than men? The study showed that only 20 extra minutes on average is needed.

What Happens If You Don’t Get Enough Sleep?

While it may seem like losing sleep isn’t such a big deal, sleep deprivation has a wide range of negative effects that go way beyond daytime drowsiness. Lack of sleep affects your judgment, coordination, and reaction times and in fact, sleep deprivation can affect you just as much as being drunk.

The effects include:

–    Fatigue, lethargy, and lack of motivation

–    Moodiness and irritability; increased risk of depression

–    Decreased sex drive; relationship problems

–    Impaired brain activity; learning, concentration, and memory problems

–    Reduced creativity and problem-solving skills; difficulty making decisions

–    Inability to cope with stress, difficulty managing emotions

–    Premature skin aging

–    Weakened immune system; frequent colds and infections; weight gain

–    Impaired motor skills and increased risk of accidents; hallucinations and delirium

–    Increased risk of serious health problems including stroke, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and certain cancers.

Signs that you are getting too much sleep

–    It takes you more than 1 hour to fall asleep

–    You regularly wake up before your alarm but still feel rested during the day

–    You have low energy during the day

–    You feel depressed, and may have hypersomnia

–    You experience weight gain from lack of activity

Tips for Better Sleep

Since quality is important, try to ensure you’re sleeping well all night.

Here are a few tips to improve the quality of sleep:

Follow a regular schedule: Going to bed at the same time each night helps regulate your inner clock. Following an irregular sleep schedule has been linked to poor sleep quality and duration.

Create a calming bedtime routine: Adopting a relaxing routine before bed can help you get in the mood to sleep. For example, listening to calming music has been shown to help improve sleep quality in certain groups.

Buy a new mattress: If you’re sleeping plenty of hours, but fear you’re not getting quality sleep, assess your surroundings. If you aren’t sleeping comfortably, it could be time to replace your mattress. There’s no questioning the importance of sleep for our overall health and the fact that prioritizing it will benefit you in the long run.

Create a comfortable environment: Sleeping in a quiet, dark room at a comfortable temperature can help you sleep better. Being too active before bed, too warm or in a noisy environment is linked to poor sleep.

Minimize caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine: Studies have linked caffeine, alcohol and nicotine use to poorer sleep quality. Try to avoid caffeine in the afternoon and evening.

Reduce your use of electronics: The excessive use of cell phones and electronics has been associated with poor sleep quality. Even exposure to bright room lights before bed may negatively affect your sleep. Also, check out the WHISPER mattress which comes with electromagnetic waves (EMF) protection to shield you from the harmful devices while you sleep.

Be more active: Studies have shown that being inactive is associated with poorer sleep, and conversely, getting exercise during the day may help you sleep better at night.

Practice meditation: Meditation and relaxation training may help improve sleep quality and brain function, although research isn’t clear.

The Bottom Line

The amount of sleep you need varies for each person and is affected by several factors. However, for most adults, 7–9 hours per night is the ideal amount.

Pay attention to how you feel during the day to determine if you’re getting the right amount for you.

If you are sleeping enough, you should feel awake and energized during the day. If you find you are sluggish or often tired, you may need to sleep more.

To make the most out of bedtime, create good habits, such as minimizing your caffeine and alcohol intake, following a regular sleep schedule and creating a comfortable sleeping environment.

The WHISPER ensures you get the perfect amount and quality of sleep. We back this claim up with a 100 night risk-free trial. Click the link below to check it out:

At times, we all experience a light tiredness of sorts that can be relieved through sleep and rest. Fatigue, on the other hand, is when the tiredness is so overwhelming that rest just won’t cut it.

It can be so frustrating to get a full night’s sleep and still wake up tired.

If you’re the type of person who wakes up feeling groggy and exhausted, there is an explanation. Actually, there are several reasons why you might feel so tired even after getting a solid amount of sleep.

While you may be waking up tired because you are sleep deprived, there may be another less obvious reason for your grogginess.  Here are a few reasons you may be waking up tired, no matter how many hours you sleep.

1. You spend extra minutes in bed on your phone

For once, it’s not your phone that’s to blame – it’s spending the extra time in bed that’s the problem.

Your bed is meant for one main thing: sleeping. If you stay in bed, then it gives your mind the feeling that it’s time to sleep and not start your day.

Even worse, is if you fall back asleep, if your “just 10 more minutes” turns into an hour, then you’re waking up from REM sleep instead of the lighter stages of sleep that you would’ve woken up from had you gotten out of bed the first time.

Waking up from that deeper sleep can actually make you even more tired throughout the day than someone who got less shut-eye but woke up from a lighter stage of sleep.

Many people also hit the snooze 4-10 times while trying to get up in the morning. This is a terrible idea and here is why: the average snooze button is about 7-9 minutes long, this does not give your brain the time it needs to get back into a deeper, more refreshing, stage of sleep. So, during the last 30-60 min, you are actually getting broken, fragmented sleep.

2. Your bedroom environment is disturbing your sleep

There are many different things that can impact your sleep in your bedroom. Take a look around your room after reading this and see if you can spot any culprits.

For example, you may love sleeping in utter darkness, but your beloved blackout curtains could be the cause of your tiredness. If no daylight can seep through your windows, your internal clock won’t know day from night. Exposure to sunshine in the morning will signal your brain that it’s time to wake up and help you feel more refreshed.

3. Your mattress might make you tired

A worn-out mattress can make it hard for a person to find sleep even though they feel like they slept all night. A bad mattress will make you toss and turn all night long. This tossing and turning can make you feel like you’ve been up all night instead of catching some quality sack time.

Health and sleep experts have discovered that we spend about a third of our lives in bed, and that means if we’re sleeping on a worn-out mattress, it’s pretty much guaranteed that we’re being robbed of the relaxing, healing sleep that we need to function at our peak each and every day.

The best way to not feel tired after waking up is to get a new mattress. Your mattress is an essential part of keeping you happy and healthy, which means that you most likely put a lot of thought and effort into choosing the perfect mattress for you.

Here are some signs that a new mattress is needed:

• A mattress is over 7 years old.
• Your mattress is starting to sag.
• You wake up tired and in pain.
• The mattress is falling apart.
• You have a hard time falling asleep.
• Allergies can also make you feel tired after you wake up. Things like dust mites can infest a bed and if you’re allergic it can really put a strain on you.

If you wake up with allergy-like symptoms then our hypoallergenic mattress is your choice.

When considering the firmness of the mattress, a too-hard mattress may only succeed in putting your shoulders and hips to sleep. You’ll sleep best when your bed helps you feel cradled in comfort, cozy and secure.

In this case, memory foam or even better, the open-cell Quantum foam, has the potential to improve sleep, by reducing pain that causes you to toss and turn while sleeping. Our WHISPER mattress is composed of Quantum foam that distributes your weight evenly and eases the pressure on specific points, ensuring you do not wake up with localized pain or fatigue.

4. Too much sleep can be just as bad as too little sleep

It’s important to dial in your personal body clock so that you feel refreshed and ready to tackle the day, every day. To do this, figure out what time you need to get up in the morning. Count back 7.5 hours as a good time to start getting to bed.

7.5 hours is a good benchmark because that’s the average time it takes a person to go through five 90-minute sleep cycles, alternating between sleep (non-REM) and deep sleep (REM).

5. You drank something that is reducing your sleep quality

The two biggest issues are alcohol and caffeine. While alcohol may make you feel sleepy, it actually keeps you out of the deep stages of sleep, which makes you feel awful in the morning.

Caffeine does that same thing, this stimulant keeps your brain out of the deeper stages of sleep, which also makes sleep unrefreshing.

It is recommended to stop drinking caffeinated beverages by mid-afternoon or earlier.

Besides keeping you awake, caffeine can also cause heartburn, which can make sleep awfully uncomfortable.

6. The food you ate

A healthy lifestyle leads to healthier sleep, specifically your diet. Foods high in sugar, fat, and processed carbs have been associated with daytime sleepiness. You should also avoid foods that cause indigestion, acid reflux, or heartburn such as spicy foods, tomato sauce, or citrus fruits. Heartburn is exacerbated when you lie down as it allows the acid to creep up into the esophagus and burn the sensitive lining.

7. Late-night technology

We know it’s hard to disconnect from the world, but all that harsh blue light from your TV, laptop, and phone stimulates the brain and makes it difficult to settle down before bed.

Try to shut off your technology about an hour before going to sleep. If you really can’t do that, at least power down your phone.

8. Too many distractions

If you live in a busy city, it may be difficult to tune out the honking cars and barking dogs at night. Being woken up in the middle of the night will cause you to feel extra tired the next day.

In order to eliminate some of those distractions, invest in a white noise machine or keep a fan on low to down out any of the sounds that may wake you. Outdoor noises can only be silenced so much, but you do have total control over what’s inside your house.

Make sure to fix that running toilet of yours and put your phone on silent, as a text notification could definitely interrupt your slumber.

9. Did you go to bed late last night?

People who prefer to stay out late tend to get up at a later time and perform best, both mentally and physically, in the late afternoon or evening. Evening-type individuals were significantly more likely to suffer from poor sleep quality, daytime dysfunction, and sleep-related anxiety as compared with morning-type individuals. Even more disconcerting is that late bedtime is associated with decreased hippocampal volume in young people.

10. You’re spending too much time inside

Blue light helps you wake up because it decreases your levels of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin. And the best place to get it from is the sun.

That’s because the sun also emits vitamin D, which is crucial for keeping up your energy levels. Research shows that people who have a vitamin D deficiency are more likely to have chronic fatigue syndrome and correcting the deficiency boosts their energy levels back to normal.

Going out in the sun is better for a quick energy boost, taking a vitamin D supplement will also help you feel more awake if you’re low on the nutrient.

It won’t give you an instant boost, but it will help regulate your energy levels over time.

11. Poor sleep could be a sign of a sleep disorder

If you practice the above guidelines of a healthier lifestyle and better sleeping habits but still find yourself suffering from daytime drowsiness, it may be a sign of a more severe medical condition such as sleep apnea, anemia, thyroid problems, restless leg syndrome, or any undiagnosed heart disease. If you think that you may be suffering from one of these medical conditions you should contact your physician or local clinic immediately.

We guarantee that our WHISPER mattress will help you sleep like a baby and have you wake up happier and more rested than ever before. We back this up with a 100 night risk-free trial. Click the link below to check it out: