We don’t really think too much about our mattress, despite spending a massive portion of our lives on it. Americans get nearly 7 hours of sleep daily – that’s almost one-third of your entire day. If you think about it, our mattress is no less important than the food we eat or the car we drive. That’s to say, you need to spend good money on it.
It’s not like we don’t recognize how important a comfortable bed is to a good night’s sleep. According to a poll by the American National Health Foundation, about 92% of people say a high-quality mattress is essential to getting high-quality rest.
It’s true that superior custom mattresses are out of most people’s price range, but considering the benefits of having good sleep makes them a worthy investment. On the other hand, the wrong mattress can cause you more than a pain in the neck.
Find out about the ways your bed and what you do in it affect your sleep and health:
Creaky Beds Can Cause Back Pain
When you hear creaking noises coming from your old mattress, that usually means you’re not getting the support you need. If the bed springs can’t support you properly, they mess up your natural spinal alignment, which can lead to dull aches and pains.
The strange creaking sounds can disrupt your sleep every time you toss and turn. The reason you toss and turn in the first place is that you’re uncomfortable with the lack of support.
It becomes a vicious cycle that you can end by investing in a high-quality mattress that gives you adequate back support.
New Mattresses Can Improve Your Mood
A 2009 study suggested that new beds can lead to “a significant decrease in stress.” The 59 respondents evaluated their stress levels based on factors like nervousness, irritability, headaches, trembling, and more.
After sleeping for 28 nights on their newly bought mattresses, they found that their moods improved and their stress levels went down. They guessed it’s because of the better sleep and reduced pain they’d been experiencing.
For mood improvement, we recommend getting a memory foam. It’s designed to relieve your body of stress and tension while you sleep.
Working in Bed is Bad for You
More people have been working from home since the quarantine started. For some, that means working in bed. Experts say this is not a good idea. The bed should be used only for sleep and sex. If you work where you sleep, your brain will be conditioned to answer emails and make spreadsheets when it’s supposed to be resting, making it harder to fall asleep.
The blue light coming from the screen of your laptop or phone, on the other hand, makes you produce less melatonin. This hormone is responsible for regulating your body clock, and having less of it means it’s harder to fall or stay asleep.
So if you have to work from home, do it somewhere else, anywhere but your bed.
Sleep deprivation affects all aspects of our life. It ruins our sleep/wake cycle, lowers our metabolism, makes us irritable and generally unhappy. Just as we prepare and get the right gear for a marathon, we should also get the right gear for sleep. Buy that good mattress.
