Better Sleep Health – Getting Enough Sleep

Sleep is as essential as oxygen, water, and food. Getting enough sleep is therefore very important for health and overall wellness. We humans spend about a third of our time – or should! – sleeping. Getting eight hours of good sleep every night should be a top priority for all of us, but this rarely happens for many. We get so busy with life that we forget about making sure that we are getting what we need to live a quality life. The Bamboo Pillow is here to remind us all about how much our sleeping time sleep impacts our well-being, and what we can do despite our busy lives to get enough sleep.

Length of Sleep

Many adults think that they can get by with five or six hours every night, that this is enough sleep. They may be right about getting by, but this is all that they can expect to accomplish. Survival is a long way from living, however. Not getting the full eight to ten hours that is recommended by medical and health specialists forces the body to work overtime. When we don’t get enough sleep, we incur what is called a sleep debt. This is a term for the body’s condition when it gets loaded with a chemical called adenosine. Adenosine is part of the body’s normal biochemical processes and other functioning like blood flow. It is normally broken down during sleep, so if you don’t get enough sleep, this chemical doesn’t get fully broken down. An buildup of adenosine in your system will cause you to feel sleepy, lose focus, and have slow reaction times. This can be very dangerous both over the short and the long term. If you are driving or operating equipment, for instance, accidents are prone to happen. You can also lose productivity at work and develop health conditions. As you age, your body will grow substantially weaker due to prolonged lack of sleep.

Comfort for Enough Sleep

If you are not getting enough sleep because you toss and turn all night or keep waking up, you may not have a quality pillow. Believe it or not, this one thing can make a lot of difference in how you sleep. When your body feels uncomfortable due to spine misalignment as you lay down or because your muscles are tense or you are in a generally awkward position, you will not be able to get enough sleep because your body will keep you up trying to tell you to get comfy! To avoid this, try using a specially designed pillow like our Cool Gel Memory Foam Pillow or the Organic Bamboo Pillow. These quality pillows are made to give you better sleep by cushioning the head, neck and shoulders properly. When you lay in the right position, beginning from the head, your body will rest easy in a comfortable position all the way down to your toes.

Many people try to make up for their missing hours of sleep during work days by getting more than enough sleep on the weekends. Although this can be effective for just a few hours of sleep debt, trying to make up for a few hours of lost sleep every day is not going to work out well. Slow and steady wins the race, and making small adjustments in your sleep patterns every day is a much better solution. Start with just 15 minutes of extra sleep, and build on that. You can also try taking naps during the day if this is the only way to get enough sleep every day. If you really can’t work your way up to a full eight hours, at least you can minimize your sleep debt. Make sure, however, that you increase your sleep time by going to bed earlier rather than snoozing your morning alarm! Solid sleep is important, too, which you will read about more in our next post!

Want to start getting enough sleep right away? Order your memory foam or bamboo pillow now and get 20% off! The Bamboo Pillow celebrates healthy sleep this holiday season with the special limited-time promo code “CHRISTMAS20”. To get your discount, just type in the coupon code at checkout. This offer expires on December 20th, so don’t wait too long to get your new bamboo pillow!
As a special holiday offer, we also have a free gift wrapping service for all orders that are placed from 1 December until 20 December. Browse our home page to see the items that we have on sale for even more savings! Be ready to place your orders early so that you can send giftwrapped comfort and health to your loved ones this season. Have a healthy, happy holiday!