This great new TV ad from IKEA encourages us to ‘Win at Sleep’. Whilst new furniture might help, we should note that the pocket sprung mattress came about at around the same time as the telephone, so why has one has evolved significantly more than the other?
We spend 36% of our lives in bed, and good sleep is at least as important as good diet, exercise and doing meaningful work, yet most of us know little about the science of sleep. If you get 7 to 8 hours good sleep each night you are in the minority. It is estimated that over 70% adults regularly suffer from disturbed sleep. Some of the consequences being:
· Impaired decision making
· Weakened insulin regulation, leading to weight gain
· Road injury, 20% of accidents on major roads are sleep-related
· Mood swings and risk of depression
· Poor performance at work
Good quality sleep is essential if we are to perform at our best at work, at play and in our relationships. Contrary to popular belief, when our eyes close, our bodies don’t in fact shut down. We go through a series of important sleep states.
The quality of our sleep depends on our transition through these states, multiple times throughout the night. As we sleep our muscles relax and contract and our mind filters and sorts information, the benefits being:
· Tissue repair
· Consolidate data into memories
· Establish meaning from obscure facts
Take this short test to see how your sleep pattern compares and get some tips for improved sleep.
Also see:
5 Tips for More Productive Sleep
Sleep more to raise productivity
5 Sleep Myths and 10 Techniques that really work
