General

Dry-warm bedding climate thanks to sheep wool

In America, adults spend on an average around seven hours in bed per night. Children even a lot more. But, for a lot of people suffering under an allergy sleep is anything but recreational. An allergy is a hypersensitive reaction of the body’s own defence system on substances like dust, animal hair, mites, pollen and mould. These substances are also called allergens. When you are allergic to these substances, nasal congestion, a cold, watering eyes and other defensive reactions are the consequences.

A common form of allergy is the so-called dust-mite-allergy. This is because of the tiny mites that love to be in mattresses and are feeling especially well in a humid and warm environment, where they proliferate. But, the problem is not only the mite itself but its excrements it is leaving behind in mattresses and beddings. These excrements crumble and we inhale the fine particles. Consequences are itching, sneezing attacks and shortness of breath.

You find dust mites any place where human beings are. Because, these microscopically tiny, eight-legged flagellates with a body height of 0.1mm live on skin flakes of a human being and basically are harmless. Only their excrements may lead to allergic reactions.

So, mostly you will find them on places where we stay longer. And this of course includes our bed. Scientific findings revealed that dust-mites always are causing allergy-attacks with people affected during night.

The more microorganisms there are living in bed the higher the allergy risk. Out of this reason, sleeping in a dry-warm bedding climate has top priority. This is connected with the choice of the material for the mattress cover, duvet and pillow. Compared to products made of synthetic fibers, mattress overlays filled with natural and biologically active sheep wool offer from the beginning bad living conditions for dust mites. Because, these mites prefer a humid and warm bedding climate that does not even arise when using sheep wool products of good quality. A sheep wool fiber is able to absorb a lot of humidity and to quickly pass it on to the air again. This delivers a dry-warm bedding climate and therewith, the dust-mite is deprived of its basis of life.

The SAMINA sleeping-philosophy is considering the sleep surroundings as well as the sleeping underlay. The sleeping system uses the calming and regenerating energies of natural material like untreated massive wood, bio-active sheep wool, natural rubber and natural cotton. The build-up in layers of the SAMINA sleep-healthy-concept (slat-frame, natural-rubber mattress, sheep wool overlay) ensures breathing activity and is having a climate-balancing effect according to the respective season. The application of body-friendly natural material (wood, cotton, natural rubber, sheep wool) guarantees a sleep enhancing, healthy and natural sleeping surroundings. Large woolen fleece underneath and on top of the body regulate the necessary heat- and humidity-balance and ensure a dry-warm bedding climate (no freezing – no sweating!).

A known and ancient definition of allergy is that the flow and the balance of body-energy are disturbed. On the one hand, the allergy causing substance – like for example the number of dust mites – has to be reduced. On the other hand, the correct flow and the balance of the body-energy have to be restored again. There, a healthy and undisturbed sleep is able to make an important contribution.

As a popular saying goes: “The one who sets ambitious goals for the next day better sleeps through the night before to be filled up with enough of energy.” But contrary to this saying, the sleep medicine has discovered long ago that waking up regularly during nighttime sleeping is a normal phenomenon and not necessarily a pathological sleeping disorder.

With some people these sleep disturbances are very distinctive. In some cases, the nightly sleep gets interrupted up to 23 times. But even experienced sleep medics, doctors and psychologists, don’t immediately classify such cases as sleep disturbance. Because, the least affected persons notice these incidents knowingly. The reason for that is, that they only wake up for a couple of seconds and continue sleeping afterwards. Only, when they are waking up for more than five minutes, the body is deliberately noticing it as sleep disturbance.

Looked at it in this way, waking up a couple of times is not automatically a sleep disturbance but a “heirloom” of our ancestors. From an evolutionary perspective, this can be valued as a protective mechanism. From the vantage point of the present, the accomodations and sleeping places of prehistoric men where not really safe. To be prepared for possible danger caused by predators during nighttime, too, the human body got used to shortly wake up during the night and check the safety of the surroundings. The human being never really got rid of this “natural law”. And out of this reason, he still is waking up several times – even if only for a couple of seconds. So don’t act on the assumption of having a sleeping disorder, when you wake up several times during the night. Only, when you are really lying awake for a longer time and the body is not well rested in the morning it is advisable to look for help.

Healers, philosophers, poets and a lot more people have dealt with the question which areas of life are crucial for the personal rhythm of body, mind and soul and therewith for the overall health. Corresponding to the spirit and knowledge of our time, find below the most important levels and aspects:

•    Physical body
•    Balance of mind, soul and emotions
•    Thinking and believing patterns
•    Relation(s) to oneself and others
•    Outer living circumstances
•    Personal finances
•    Attitude towards the environment
•    Ability of handling stress and conflicts
•    Meaning of life and spiritual balance

The most important mediator of all these inner and outer influences we are exposed to is the very complex process of sleeping! One of the pioneers in the field of sleep research and sleep medics and therewith a real sleeping expert, Prof. Dr. Karl Hecht (Berlin), got to the heart of it: “From the regulatory point of view, sleeping is a way more dynamic and complex process than wakefulness.” And concerning health and well-being, sleeping has to be rated much higher than the state of awakeness.

Altogether, we are having a difficult starting position in our rather sleep-adverse society: a study carried out on the occasion of the “Word-Sleeping-Day” has pointed out that already 45 % of the global population are affected by sleep disturbances. 15 % with acute and 30 % with chronical sleeping problems. More and more people are complaining about the phenomenon of “non-recreational sleep” – in the USA more than three quarters of the population are affected by that! But, once you are focusing on conscious awareness and improvement of sleeping you will notice, that the individual inner and outer influencing factors are changing relative to each other positively and mainly self-regulatory.

To belong in future to the group of people who sleep healthy and recreational, you can set targeted measures that will support you thereby.

In the first step, the necessary measures refer to constant key factors, like

•    Your house or your apartment
•    Your bedroom
•    Your sleeping place
•    Your sleeping equipment (bed)

In the second step, you are dealing with variable key factors, like

•    Waking up and falling asleep (light and darkness)
•    Your daily routine
•    Your thinking and acting
•    Your countless habits (life-style)
•    Your working-place (if it is more or less stationary)