Sleeping seems so easy
Perhaps that’s part of it. Maybe not if you’re still in the middle of raising young children. Or if you have a demanding job. Or if you work irregular hours. Or if your mind just won’t switch off. Or if your lifestyle habits aren’t very supportive of good sleep. Or if you tend to overthink…
This list clearly shows that sleeping well truly sleeping well is not as straightforward as it seems. You might think, I’ll just lie down, close my eyes, and drift off to dreamland. But there are many reasons why you may struggle to fall asleep or find yourself lying awake for long periods during the night. Or you may sleep, but never reach that deep sleep the kind that ultimately leaves you feeling truly rested.
Pffff wat ben ik moe
I sleep fine, I think. It only takes me a few minutes to fall asleep, and thankfully my children only wake me occasionally during the night. I do sometimes have a coffee in the evening, and a glass of wine or a beer at the weekend, but nothing out of the ordinary. My phone sometimes feels like an extension of me it’s often the last thing I look at in the evening and the first thing I reach for in the morning.
So perhaps the real question is whether I’m actually living as healthily as I think which I find quite hard to admit. On top of that, I often catch myself saying, “phew, I’m so tired,” or when someone asks how I’m doing: “busy, tired, but otherwise fine!” A bit of self-reflection made me realise that my sleep might not be as good as the speed at which I fall asleep would suggest.
A simple Google search quickly confronted me with the facts. When I go through the checklist for good sleep, I fall below average and the promises of improvement are significant. You feel more refreshed, perform better physically, and your concentration improves (at night, your brain clears out toxic waste that has built up during the day). Losing weight becomes easier, and you grow mentally stronger. It almost seems like the solution to everything.
Assumptions are dangerous
My assumption that I sleep well doesn’t seem to be entirely accurate. The perfect place to talk about this turned out to be a work meeting with my colleagues, I do, after all, work in a specialist bedding store. A few colleagues nodded enthusiastically when I told them I wanted to focus more on my sleep and its quality, and what’s currently holding me back. Within 10 minutes, a plan was born: a sleep challenge 30 days of making (a few) different choices that increase the chances of a good night’s sleep.
For me, that means leaving my phone downstairs (or turning off the Wi-Fi) and putting it away more often in the evening. Another colleague plans to take a critical look at his bed, especially his mattress. Yet another colleague has decided to start with a different pillow. After all, Rome wasn’t built in a day, so small steps make a strong start and from there, we’ll see how to move forward.
FOMO, but with a good book
To be honest, I wasn’t really looking forward to it. But with an old-fashioned alarm clock and a book on my bedside table one I hadn’t read in months and had abandoned halfway through I left my trusty iPhone downstairs. I thought my FOMO would skyrocket.
The reality turned out to be far more positive. I’ve started reading my book again, and I’m waking up to birdsong (well, our wake-up light but it sounds just like the real thing). The next morning, I realise I’ve hardly missed any messages. So my FOMO turns out to be completely unfounded. What I thought would be quite a challenge beforehand has actually proven to be very simple.
Times flies when you sleep well
The 30 days flew by for all of us. And yes, with any change, there is always an adjustment period. Not every change delivers the benefits you might hope for or expect straight away.
When it comes to a pillow, we always recommend keeping your old one beside the bed for a while. If you wake up during the night and the new pillow doesn’t feel quite right yet, you can simply swap it for your old one. Our experience shows that you get used to a new pillow in no time. The same applies to an underblanket or a duvet. You’re less likely to swap those during the night, but it already helps to know that it’s perfectly normal not to sleep soundly straight away. So give yourself and your body time to adjust.
The moral of the story
And now, we’re more than a month on. Mission accomplished? Yes! As far as I’m concerned, absolutely. I look for tangible proof that I’m waking up noticeably fresher, but that really varies from day to day. I definitely notice the difference between using my phone before bed and not doing so. My mind feels calmer win number one.
And when I decided halfway through the month to stop hitting the snooze button and get out of bed at 6 a.m., it turned out to be the key to feeling fresher, clearer, and more active win number two! If you had told me that two months ago, I probably would have laughed at you. But that aside.
The moral of the story: every beginning may seem difficult, but it doesn’t have to be. Even a small change can make a big difference. Tell us, where will you start?
Topper versus onderdeken
Rutger, my colleague, has swapped his mattress topper for a (woollen) underblanket. He already has a good memory foam mattress, and a topper mainly slows down the performance of the foam. The underblanket provides ventilation, and the wool also offers insulation. It feels pleasantly cool in the summer, yet wonderfully warm in the winter. That’s enough about my enthusiasm for the woollen underblanket. His experience so far: “That woollen underblanket really sleeps wonderfully, and I genuinely feel less warm than before. To be honest, it did take about a week to get used to lying on an underblanket instead of my old topper. But I’ve noticed that I now have more support when lying in bed.”
Een nieuw hoofdkussen voor schouders en nek
Another colleague, Mark, has been struggling with shoulder and neck pain for quite some time and therefore regularly visits a physiotherapist. It’s no surprise that this sometimes affects his sleep. With a new neck support pillow, better suited to his body’s needs, he hoped to notice a difference quickly. It did take about a week, with some strong doubts along the way. But now, more than two weeks later, he wouldn’t want anything else. A cervical support pillow really does work!