A GOOD night’s sleep

A new year, a new sleep pattern for me? Well, that was the plan… I promised myself that I would get up earlier, (and by ‘get up’ I mean, not waking up at 7am and being on my ‘phone in bed for an hour) and I promised myself that I would go to bed earlier – and by ‘going to bed’ I mean, to read a book, or heaven’s above…

go to sleep! instead of, guess what, reading the paper on my phone, or what, browsing instagram…)

A week in, and so far – FAIL.

There is SO much evidence to support my plan too…  scientists have been warning us against using light-emitting devices before bed. Why? The light from our devices is “short-wavelength-enriched,” meaning it has a higher concentration of blue light than natural light and blue light affects levels of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin more than any other wavelength. source Scientific American

Now, I KNOW that the iPhone has a ‘night mode’ introduced by Apple in 2016 to allow people to use their iPad and iPhone at night, and still sleep soudly… It uses your iPhone’s clock and location to determine when it’s sunset and shifts the colours in your display to the warmer end of the spectrum. Yet that’s not the real problem is it? It’s HABIT – and breaking that habit can be tricky.

I read an article by Viv Groskop on The Pool recently, which struck a ‘doable’ chord with me – the headline said:
“As soon as you wake up, put your feet on the floor” – and that got me thinking, (if only my bed wasn’t so toasty warm and comfy!) and the next morning I sprung out of bed (sorry, no mattress-spring-pun intended) as soon as my alarm beeped (yep, guilty, using my iPhone as my alarm, I’m even considering an ethical alarm clock – seriously, they exist! I’ve found these h2o weather station clocks – Simply add water to the H2O battery to activate it, and enjoy free energy. No batteries necessary!)

And whilst we are the subject of toasty comfy eco slumbers, Emma Mattress are bringing their wares to the UK for 2017 – Founded in Franfurt, Germany in 2015 and are OEKO tex certified meaning they are non-toxic and safe for infants. The British mattress materials, as you would expect, they do not use animal products and nothing has been tested on animals, which will please my vegan sister when she comes to stay right??

Each mattress is constructed in the Emma factory in Derby. The cover of the mattress cover is polyester and made in Belgium. This is all then combined with the top-most support of the conical spring layer.

Hey they even offer a 100 day test – read more about that here: If the Emma mattress is not perfect for any reason, within the 100 day test, they will pick it up, no questions asked and issue a full refund.

So – planning a new start NEXT week, I promise to ‘put my feet on the floor’ as soon as I wake up, and I promise to TRY to switch my ‘phone off at bedtime… the sleep council (yes there is such a thing…) says:

• make your room completely dark
• aim for a cool bedroom temperature of around 16-18° C (60-65° F).
• say no to technology in the bedroom
• switch off your mobile phone, tablet, and any alarm clocks with a digital display an hour before sleep time
• lavender and germanium essential oils are naturally calming

read more here

We spend about a third of our lives sleeping, so let’s make it a GOOD sleep…

Are you following @incredibusy on instagram? Check out our bedroom tips on Pinterest too…

This post was written in association with Emma Mattress.
Photo credit: -jay wennington and kari shea