One of the biggest robbers of sleep is stress. Stress affects the way we eat, the way we think and feel, and yes, how we sleep. Our eyes may become heavy and as we lay in bed ready for sleep, our mind suddenly turns on. All the events of the past day or the last 40 years vividly appear for re-examination. We close our eyes tighter hoping the movie will stop playing, and then, the morning alarm goes off.

According to many studies, not only does exercise have a big impact on our health but also the quality of our sleep. When our bodies are constantly in motion, it not only keeps us flexible and focused but also tires us out! Research shows that daily exercise is very effective in helping us manage the stress of the day or accumulated over the years. A gym routine 3 or 4 times a week is great, but our bodies work best if we add as little as a 30-minute brisk walk a day.

An Evening Routine

Turn your evening routine into a ritual. You work a stressful job and have a house and family that need your attention, still, you need to carve out some “Me Time”. When all the end-of-the-day tasks are completed including dinner, clean up, homework and lunches, drop into your self-care routine. Your sleep should be very important to you, so make sure you do everything you can to ensure it comes easily and lasts throughout the night.

Whether you had a date with the gym earlier in the morning or at lunch, your evening ritual should always be the same. For example, what releases the stress of the day and helps me wind down is a 30 to 45-minute walk. Some get the same results from a long soak in the tub, or perhaps yoga.

Everyone is different and you need to find what works for you. For me, since starting this routine of getting my body moving at the end of the day, it has helped me relax into the best sleep I have ever had. I may be temporarily energized but my body quickly finds that moment when it’s all systems off!

An Early Morning Routine

As soon as you wake up, do a few stretches to get your blood flowing and get the kinks out of being still for many hours. This daily routine will easily set you up for a great day feeling energized and mentally focused.

Here are some stretches you can do while still in bed. First, sit up and reach for the sky and with a little lean to the right and then to the left, get things started. Then grab one knee at a time and pull it towards your chest a few times and then repeat on the other side. Once your feet touch the floor then reach for your toes and feel that pull in your back. That feels great, right?!!

Get energized morning, noon, and night, and welcome a healthier body and a better sleep!

Gerry, Your Sleep Expert

Anyone who has experienced sleep paralysis knows that it’s not a fun experience. It can feel like a waking nightmare—you open your eyes in the middle of the night and realize that you can’t move or speak. Sometimes you struggle to breathe like something is sitting on your chest, and it often causes hallucinations of an intruder or threatening presence in your room. While the experience can be scary and uncomfortable, it’s actually quite common.

There’s no comprehensive study on sleep paralysis yet, but some researchers believe as many as 65% of people may experience sleep paralysis at some point. For most people, it will only happen once in a lifetime, but for some, it’s a recurring nightmare. Sleep paralysis isn’t dangerous and it’s not necessarily a sign of any outside health problems, but most people find it extremely unpleasant.

Luckily, there are ways to cut down on your risk of sleep paralysis, from your lifestyle to the mattress you sleep on.

What Causes Sleep Paralysis?

Sleep paralysis typically happens while we’re in REM sleep. Typically, we have our most active dreams during this period of deep rest. Our brain also shuts down our major muscle groups during this stage of sleep, locking us into place so that we don’t move around too much while we’re dreaming. Normally, we’re so deeply asleep that we don’t even notice this temporary paralysis as it happens, but when the transition between REM and other stages of sleep doesn’t go smoothly, problems can arise.

Sleep paralysis is what happens when we come out of that deep sleep before our brain has had time to unlock our muscles. Doctors aren’t sure exactly what causes this misstep, but everything from sleep deprivation to medications to disorders like anxiety and sleep apnea have been pointed to as contributing factors to sleep paralysis.

How to Prevent It

Some research has shown that sleeping on your back and repeatedly waking up in the night might increase the likelihood of sleep paralysis. An irregular sleeping schedule can also put you at risk for waking up during REM. One of the best ways to ensure a good night’s rest and comfortable side-sleeping is a good mattress. Beautyrest mattresses are a great option to stave off sleep paralysis and other sleep problems.

Many modern mattress conveniences were actually invented by Beautyrest, like king and queen-sized beds, as well as the hybrid mattress, which mixes traditional springs with cushy layers of memory foam. The foam conforms to the body making side-sleeping more comfortable and can lessen the effects of sleep apnea, which has been linked to sleep paralysis. Firm but cushy memory foam can also decrease the likelihood of being woken up by a sleeping partner.

Scientists and doctors are still trying to learn more about why sleep paralysis happens and how to prevent it, but for now, getting a good night’s sleep on a comfortable, supportive mattress is the best way to move smoothly through the stages of sleep and keep paralysis at bay.

Gerry, Your Sleep Expert

Sealy beds are specially designed for comfort and support. Their four lines of Posturepedic mattresses are carefully created with reinforced centers to better support your back and keep you from tossing and turning in the night. But no matter how comfortable your bed is, there are always going to be some nights you just can’t get to sleep. Here are some tips for nodding off quickly that are a little more interesting than counting sheep.

Meditation

Meditation can be a great way to unwind after a long day. To get your mind and body ready for rest, try a few relaxing stretches and envision a calming image, like a creek or a big open field. If you’re having trouble clearing your mind of the day’s worries, there are plenty of videos online that can help guide you to your inner Zen.

Read a comic book

Comics aren’t just for kids anymore, and they can be a great way to relax and unwind. There are comic books and graphic novels about just about everything these days, from your traditional superhero comics to autobiographies, so you’re sure to find something that interests you. Just lean into your pillows, get cozy, and read until you feel your eyelids start to droop.

Have a bedtime snack

If you’ve got the munchies and all you can think about is raiding the fridge, there are a few snacks that can help lull you to sleep. A light, herbal tea like chamomile can be great for helping you get to bed, and fruits like kiwis and bananas produce hormones that can promote a more restful night of sleep. Snacks rich in magnesium, like almonds and cashews, are also known for their soporific qualities.

9 Ways to Fall Asleep Faster in Your Sealy Mattress

Play cards

Teach yourself a new game! Solitaire (with real cards, not the one on your computer) is an age-old way to keep boredom at bay. Or if you have a bedmate who also struggles with insomnia, you can try some other card games. Challenge yourself and try to remember the rules to games like Go Fish and Crazy Eights without looking them up.

Tidy up around your bed

When was the last time you cleaned under your bed? If you’re like us, it’s probably been longer than you’d like to admit. If slumber is evading you, try a little tidying up the area around your bed. Who knows what might have gotten lost under your Sealy mattress? Go hunting for loose change or other trinkets that may have disappeared into some dark corner under your bed.

Listen to a podcast or audiobook

Listening to a favourite book or new podcast can be a great way to relax. Everyone loves a bedtime story, and audiobooks let you enjoy your favourite stories without even having to turn your lights on. Podcasts are another fun, free way to wind down at the end of the day, and you’ll usually learn something new while you’re at it.

Write your thoughts in a journal

If your head is too full of your daily worries to focus on counting sheep, you might want to try journaling. Whether you have a nice notebook for the purpose or just a stack of Post-It notes, it can be a relief to get all your thoughts out on paper. Just pick up a pen and let all that stress out of your head!

Make some crafts

I know what you’re thinking, and no, you don’t have to turn your bed into a mess of glitter and glue for this one. There are plenty of crafts that require little to no cleanup that can be relaxing and fun. Teach yourself to knit or make a friendship bracelet (remember those?) with some spare bits of string. Adult colouring books are all the rage these days, and a little colouring session before bed can work wonders.

Go Wikipedia page-hopping

Research shows that screen time can actually keep us awake longer, but if you just can’t resist hopping on your computer, try to avoid anything too stimulating, like watching TV or surfing Facebook. Wikipedia page-hopping is one weird way to scratch the internet itch without getting sucked into the web for hours. Here’s how it works: select the “random article” option near the top left of the Wikipedia homepage, then keep clicking through to other linked articles until you find something interesting. Make it into a game and see how fast you can get to Kevin Bacon!

Angela, Your Sleep Expert

Our bodies are well equipped with most everything we need to survive. Cells are programmed with DNA, take in nutrients from food, and carry out many diverse functions to maintain proper health. Glands produce and secrete hormones at various times of the day and throughout our lifetime which regulate and instruct the cells to perform a specific function.

Sometimes, there is a system failure and the glands may not produce the required amount of hormone required to complete a specific task. For example, telling the body it is time for sleep is triggered by melatonin. Melatonin is a hormone produced by the tiny powerhouse called the pineal gland in our brain and sends messages to the body for sleep and awake time.

Under normal circumstances, melatonin is slowly released at sundown as darkness falls triggering our body to relax and prepare for sleep. As morning breaks and light increases, melatonin is no longer produced. Simple? Not quite. Here are some issues if we consider the science:

1) Modern technology creating light-beaming devices used all day and sometimes all night have significantly affected the production of melatonin. The result is a generation with sleep disorders!

2) Shift workers, that is, those who work at night and sleep in the day are at a higher risk of unbalancing the natural production of melatonin. Some will depend on sleep-aids that could prolong the natural production of melatonin as well as have adverse side effects if used over long periods of time.

3) Late nights on a consistent basis will affect the production of this important hormone. Potentially, it could develop into insomnia and affect overall wellness.

4) Jet lag and time zones can temporarily affect the production of melatonin until all body systems settle into the change.

5) Stress appears on every list when it comes to causes of health breakdown. Working long hours and consistently handling deadlines or managing your own business or family dynamics can easily disrupt the production of melatonin.

These are only a few melatonin disruptors, but there is good news! If you think that your body is not producing enough melatonin due to some of the causes mentioned earlier, then you can replace it with certain foods or easy to take supplements at bedtime. Let’s look at these.

1) Best natural food sources of melatonin include bananas, tomatoes, rice, ginger, and barley. Including some of these with an evening meal or as a bedtime snack will add to the production of melatonin. Of course, the famous turkey on whole grain and warm milk snack includes tryptophan which helps produce melatonin!

2) Keep caffeine and heavy greasy meals away from the evening meals as these will only spike the stress hormone production as well as unbalance your blood sugar and keep you from getting a good night’s sleep.

3) Melatonin tablets come in a variety of dosages as well as the melt under your tongue variety. Experts say working your way from a 2mg to 5mg dosage before bedtime can yield some great results. Remember to take them only when you are ready to go to sleep and as a temporary rebalancing of your own melatonin production. Fight the urge to keep reading a book or doing exercise as it will minimize its effects.

Gerry, Your Sleep Expert

See our other blogs with helpful tips on getting better sleep:
Sleep Smarts
How to Improve the Quality of Your Sleep
Hygiene Tips for a Better Sleep
Snack Attack at Bedtime: Easy and Healthy?