The Sleep Obsession

Apparently, we sleep for about one-third of our lives, or we spend it in bed trying to sleep. We are obsessed with sleep and how well we sleep.

When my children were small, I never got enough of it; my first-born was not a sleeper and GG and I took it in turns to get up with her at 4.00am. When they were young adults and out partying, I never slept until they were safely home. During a period of stress, around seven years ago, I found myself up again around 4.00am, exhausted but unable to sleep. Now I am a ‘sleepaholic’ and generally get eight or nine hours shut-eye. I reckon I am making up for all those lost hours.

‘Generally’ is the key word here. Because, of course, there are always exceptions and my sleep had been severely disrupted in recent months. Why? Because Gorgeous Graham has been snoring! Usually a dig in the ribs works and he would turn on his side and all would be well. But then the digs stopped having the usual effect and even swearing at him and kicking him were to no avail. It was time for serious measures; either he sorted it or it would be separate rooms!

So tired of my ‘whining’, he went off and bought himself a ‘Good Night’ Anti-Snoring Ring. Working around the principles of acupressure, it applies light pressure on two points on the little finger and guess what? It works!  Seemingly there is an 85% success rate,which I reckon is pretty good. His cost €40 in a local pharmacy, but when I looked it up online, I discovered that there is a special offer of €30 for the month of March and if you buy straight from the company, you can get a  refund within 30 days if it does not do the job for you. (www.goodnightsnoring.com)

SLEEP GUIDELINES

We all know the guidelines for getting a good night’s sleep but here is a quick reminder. It is not always possible to adhere to all of them, but if you are having problems, try to incorporate them into your routine:

1. Go to bed and get up around the same time every day
2. Get rid of all blue light sources from your room
3. Don’t watch television or use your phone or computer for an hour before bed
4. Listen to music, read or do some stretching
5. Get some exercise during the day, every day
6. Spend some time outside in sunshine, if possible
7. Stay away from coffee late in the day
8. No heavy meals late at night
9. Make sure the room is cool; open the window
10. Wear comfy, breathable cotton or silk sleepwear…or none!

MONTMORENCY CHERRY SUPPLEMENT

Unlike me, GG has problems with sleeping and finds this supplement helps hugely. It has naturally- occuring melatonin and since getting it he sleeps much better and if he forgets to take it, he notices the difference. You should be able to purchase it in any health store.

THE RIGHT BED

We all know that the bed, or rather the correct mattress, is key to a good night’s sleep, but we all like different types, so what is right for me might not suit you. We were happy for years with our memory foam, but having spent some time while on holidays on harder mattresses, we decided we might need a change. First of all, I found that my back was in better shape following a night on a firm bed.

So we went to Harvey Norman, (www.harveynorman.ie) who claim to be Ireland’s biggest bedding retailer, and spent nearly two hours trying out their huge selection. Finally, we opted for an Irish-made (Co. Kildare) ‘Mighty’ King Koil.  Seemingly this is the mattress found in all the 5-star hotels! Well if we can’t have a 5* life, at least we can have a 5*bed!

An individual dual coil spring pocketed mattress offers maximum support and correct spinal alignment. Most importantly, it offers minimal partner-to-partner disturbance.  So if Graham gets up to go to the loo, I am not aware of it! It is a really strong mattress with very little settlement. But we were advised by Catherine, the very helpful and non-pushy sales person, to rotate the mattress monthly for the first six months and every three months after that. A word of warning though, this is a heavy mattress so it certainly would not be possible to do on your own.

By the way if you decide that you made a bad choice, you have an option to return and exchange, under 40 days on the condition that you have used their mattress protector. The mattress and divan base also come with a 15-year warranty.

DELIVERY

The bed came within two weeks and I must say they were very efficient, phoning us to arrange a day to deliver and then checking the day before and confirming a more accurate time on the morning of delivery. The bed was brought upstairs with no fuss and the old one taken away. Catherine had told us to remove all the plastic from the mattress and let it breathe for as long as possible before making it up. And she was right, as there was quite a chemical smell initially; it needed an open window also to let the air circulate.

PILLOWS

We also decided we needed new pillows, so we availed of their neck measurement sevice and both of us went for the Visco memory foam pillow at €49 for the extra support. It has taken me a while to get used to mine and I am not certain that I prefer it to my old moulded memory foam . There is no option to return the pillows, even though we also bought the protectors for them also.

So here I am with a new bed and a non-snoring husband. All is good in my little world.

 

Thank you my friends for reading. I love your feedback and please share with any friends or enemies whom you think might enjoy my posts. If they are not on FB, there is the option of signing up by email and it will go straight to their inbox.

 

(This is not a sponsored post and all opinions are my own…and GG’s, of course!)

 

 

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