Sleep Environment & Bed

Tips for your perfect bedding climate in winter

31. January 2017 von Redaktion Leave a Comment

Never suffer from cold feet or a subtropical bedding climate again – no problem with the suitable bed equipment.

Care for your room climate. Your apartment or your house is heated during wintertime; but the room temperature of your bedroom should be between 16 and 18 °C. For persons who chill very easy 20 °C at maximum. In any case avoid a room temperature exceeding 20 degrees – this would negatively influence melatonin production.
A mattress overlay not only protects your mattress but also protects from cold from below. Preferably the overlay is filled with sheep wool.
For a harmonious bedding climate an appropriate comforter is necessary, too. Synthetic materials or common eiderdown support a humid-warm climate and favor the habitat of dust mites. Sheep wool products support a warm but dry climate. This deprives the dust mites from its livelihood.
Depending on need of warmth resp. respiration the filling of the sheep wool cover can be different.
The size of the comforter is decisive. We are turning about 80 times, each night. When your body size is 180 cm it is advisable to use a blanket in the size of about 160×210 cm to avoid being uncovered.
We are losing the most heat via our head. Therefore it is important to care for an optimal pillow. A sheep wool filling not only keeps you warm but also absorbs surplus humidity and releases it to the surrounding.
It is important that your pillow prevents the bend in the neck and that it optimally supports and positions the cervical spine. Otherwise, pain in the neck and tensions might arise.
Our nightwear as well as the linen are significant for a good bedding climate, too. A cover filled with sheep wool can’t work efficiently when the linen is synthetically. Therefore care for natural materials, preferably cotton.
A further contributor for optimal bedding climate is your bed frame. It should be easy to air and able to “breath”.
Generally, your bedroom has to be ventilated daily. Right after getting up and/or before going to bed.
Tilting the window only favors heat lost but is doing nothing for air exchange. A wide open window on the other hand cares for a quick air exchange and minimizes heat loss.
Too low temperatures in your bedroom are not good as well. Is the temperature too low, the air can absorb too few moisture. That means: for living rooms at least 18 °C and for bedrooms at least 16 °C are ideal.
To enable the rest humidity to escape beddings always should be fluffed. Of course you can put your comforter into the open window for airing. Dust mites dislike sub-zero temperatures.

Personal advice of sleeping expert Prof. Dr. med. h.c. Günther W. Amann-Jennson:

“Our sleep and our health depend on each other. Therefore it is especially important to have a good and restful sleep. Healthy sleeping already starts during daytime. To perfectly prepare for the night it is important to have a healthy nutrition, sufficient exercise, day- and sunlight, a balanced water management, sufficient rests as well as a positive attitude towards life. All these factors favor regenerative sleep.”

Receive further information in our sleep-healthy-guidebook “sleep yourself young, fit and successful”, free of cost.

Imagesource: @fotolia

Pain in the back

25. November 2016 von Redaktion Leave a Comment

Is your bed too soft or too hard?

Sink into your bed, relax your tense back, let go and fall asleep – and then, wake up the next morning fresh and pain-free! Too many only dream about this, especially people suffering under back pain. Overstrain and incorrect loading during the day, overweight as well as lack of movement lead to a constantly increasing number of people suffering under back pain. More and correct exercise, correct lifting and carrying are a requirement for an improvement. But – don’t underestimate the power of a proper sleeping underlay! This is the decisive factor for an improvement may occur overnight.

Sink into a soft bed?

Embedding yourself on top of a soft underlay has little value. Are slat frame and mattress too soft the body weight will simply press it downwards; you end up lying in a “hammock”. Independent from the sleeping position chosen the spine will constantly be brought into an unnatural “hanging” position. Tensions and pains won’t get better like this, on the contrary, they are going to be increased.

Better supported with a hard bed?

But, simply putting a hard board into the bed surely is the wrong way. Once your bed is too hard your musculature is constantly busy with supporting your body resp. your spine. A hard bed makes it impossible that your shoulder and hip can sink deeper into the bed when lying in the lateral position. And this would be important for your spine. The pressure arising due to the body weight massively disturbs blood circulation, especially in the capillary.

Solution: an orthopedic sleeping system working independent from weight

The proper sleeping underlay leads to a restful night and enables your spine to remain in its natural-double-S-shape and supports it at the same time. And this independent from body weight and whenever you are turning, without any delay. An orthopedic sleeping underlay is supporting where necessary and gives way where it should. Due to a natural latex mattress no pressure points arise, on overlay made of natural sheep wool is perfect for a comfortable sleeping temperature – taken these things together, the urge to toss and turn minimizes and the sleep in total becomes much more restful. The ideal sleeping underlay is perfected by an individual orthopedic pillow.

Receive further information in our sleep-healthy-guidebook “sleep yourself young, fit and successful”, free of cost.

Imagesource: @SAMINA

Microcirculation and its importance for the body

15. November 2016 von Redaktion Leave a Comment

Good circulation and detoxification due to functioning microcirculation

The meaning of microcirculation for our health and our well-being is enormous. More than 70 % of our circulation take place in an extensive network of smallest blood vessels (capillaries). The capillaries are responsible for the oxygen- and nutrient-supply of our tissue and cells as well as for the removal of the toxic substances. This makes it obvious that a disturbed microcirculation leads to numerous health disturbances and more complicated recovery, weakens the immune-system, worsens the defense of free radicals and many more.

Besides mental processing, strengthening of the immune system and detoxification are “tasks of the night” that take place during a restful sleep. Good thing then, that the sleep-healthy-products of SAMINA and the innovative use of natural materials offer a wide-ranging support of restful sleeping as well as of a functioning microcirculation.

Minimize pressure with double-sided slat frame and natural rubber

Especially during the night when we spend hours in the lying position often the following danger arises: pressure areas inhibit or even stop the blood flow in the smallest blood vessels. Is our body lying on a too hard sleeping underlay, the blood flow in numerous capillaries becomes impossible due to the arising pressure. This massively impedes the microcirculation, which is important for a regeneration of the fasciae, the muscles and tensions. Due to the freely suspended slat frame that adapts to all of our movements without any delay these pressure points are minimized resp. don’t even arise. This not only enables a significantly better microcirculation but also leads to a quieter and therefore more restful sleep.

Bio-ceramic-cotton supports healthy infrared-radiation

Within a special bio-ceramic-tissue the special forces of different materials are bundled. This fabric is used in the production of special beddings and has the ability to support de-stressing and detoxification of the body as well as to absorb and to store the infrared radiation of the daylight. During night, the heat of the body activates the infrared radiation which then is emitted to the organism. One of the numerous positive effects of infrared radiation is the promotion of microcirculation.

Receive further information in our sleep-healthy-guidebook “sleep yourself young, fit and successful”, free of cost.

Imagesource: @SAMINA

SAMINA Gravity®

11. November 2016 von Redaktion Leave a Comment

The consequences of a missing earth’s magnetic field as well as of a missing gravity are known from space travel. Muscular atrophy, high blood pressure, increased eye-, ear- and brain-pressure are just some of them. That is why space medicine has dedicated itself to examination and research of the effects of zero gravity on the human organism as well as their health consequences. Within the framework of the research the participants had to spend days up to weeks in a normal horizontal position in bed. This led to an astonishing discovery: lying in horizontal position brings the body into a similar condition like zero gravity! The gravity is more or less suspended.

Based on these findings further researches have been made. These researches led to the development of SAMINA Gravity®. Here, the complete bed is brought into an inclined position (ideal angle of inclination are from 3.5° to 5.5°, meaning the head is about 6” higher than the feet). Due to lying and sleeping in this position the body receives the important gravity stimuli. Combined with the SAMINA sleeping system this leads to astonishing effects on numerous health disturbances. Life threatening sleep apnoea and snoring in general significantly improve resp. completely disappear, the restless legs syndrome as well as intermittent claudication (recurring pain in the legs due to circulation disturbances of the leg artery) improve, the development of edema is counteracted in the whole body, eye-, ear- and brain-pressure are not increased, head ache and migraine improve, cardiovascular- and blood-pressure regulation are improved, the overall regeneration significantly improves, you have more energy and vitality and many more.

Receive further information in our sleep-healthy-guidebook “sleep yourself young, fit and successful”, free of cost.

Imagesource: @SAMINA

Secret robbers of sleep #1

9. September 2016 von Redaktion Leave a Comment

Sleep disturbances diminish our quality of life and may lead to health problems. Our body and mind are not able to sufficiently regenerate. Besides known causes like stress there are numerous secret robbers of sleep that deprive us from sleep.

Let’s take a closer look

Allergies

You are going to bed at night. All of a sudden your nose is running, your eyes are itching, you are coughing. A calm sleep becomes impossible. When you are not having a cold these might be signs for a dust mite allergy. Covers, pillows, carpets, textiles and mattresses are the habitat of dust mites. Human and animal skin scales are the nutritional basis for the microscopic tiny spiders. The allergen excrements the dust mites defecate mingles with dust. Now, once an allergic person inhales this mixture cold-like reactions occur. Through the years, this might lead to asthma and chronic inflammations of the nasal mucosa as well as of the sinuses.

If a dust mite allergy is suspected, first do an allergy test at an ENT doctor or an allergist. Since mites develop especially well in a warm and humid bedding climate, you should pay special attention to the proper bedding content. Here, especially covers made of bio-sheep-wool are ideal. Bio-sheep-wool is able to create a dry-warm bedding-climate and therewith deprives the mites from their base of life. Regularly change your linen and wash them with 60 °C. Ideal room temperature is from 61° to 64°F as well as a relative humidity between 40 and 60 %.

Medicines

Some medications contain caffeine or influence the release of certain hormones or neurotransmitters in the brain and therefore might lead to sleep disturbances. Examples include medications with active substances against high blood pressure and heart problems, appetite suppressants, some antibiotics, cortisone preparations etc. Furthermore, some birth control pills, cough- and cold-preparations as well as medications causing heartburn or stomach trouble might impair with healthy sleep. Furthermore, it is suspected that a range of neuroleptics and antidepressants cause restless legs syndrome. Migraine drugs, high blood pressure medicine and some antiallergics should only be taken in the evening since they might cause tiredness.

In case of increasingly often occurring sleep disturbances check whether a regular medication intake increases resp. causes the disturbances. It is advisable to thoroughly check the package insert for side effects as well as for the ingredients.

Cigarettes

In a US-study it was found that smokers suffer more often under sleep disturbances than non-smokers. 40 smokers as well as 40 non-smokers participated in the study. The scientists of the University of Baltimore observed the sleeping phases, brain waves, breathing, circulation, activity of heart, muscles and eyes as well as snoring. Furthermore the participants were asked about their recovery during sleep. Subsequently, the results were compared. The evaluation of the results revealed that the sleep of a smoking person is much more superficial than the sleep of a non-smoker. Nicotine disturbs the change from light slumber into deep sleep and leads to nightly withdrawal symptoms which will influence decisively healthy sleep.

Read in #2 why dark chocolate might impair sleep.

Receive further information in our sleep-healthy-guidebook “sleep yourself young, fit and successful”, free of cost.

Image source: @istock

Puberty – a challenging time

5. September 2016 von Redaktion Leave a Comment

All persons involved are going to confirm that the journey from childhood to adulthood is a challenging one. Frequent side effects like irritability, mood swings and lack in self-confidence are even enhanced by an often occurring lack of sleep.

A lot of things change – so does the inner clock, too. The fact that teenagers go to bed later and like to stay in bed longer is no act of rebellion, it simply is a biological process. Besides the sexual hormones, the release of the sleeping hormone melatonin experiences a change, too. Amongst other things, the hormone is also responsible for our sleep-wake-cycle. During puberty it is released at a later time. Therefore, teenagers are simply not tired at their usual go-to-bed time, often not until 11.00 p.m. or even later. The early start of school often prevents the adolescents from receiving sufficient sleep. At this age, up to nine hours of sleep would be perfect – when the alarm goes off after seven short hours of sleep, two important hours of rest are missing. Every night. Added up, as much as ten hours until the weekend comes. It is thus hardly surprising that performance capabilities are missing and often bad mood prevails. But, what to do, when educational obligations prevent sleeping in late?

Healthy sleep makes attractive – make healthy sleep attractive

Stop the nightly discussions about bedtimes and indicate understanding. Unpleasant conversations and disputes are preventing sleep in this age, too. Show your adolescent that you take him serious and inform him about the influences of too few sleep on his everyday life:

Too few sleep makes unattractive. Studies clearly prove that slept-off people look more attractive.
Too few sleep makes more prone to pimples.
Too few sleep increases mood swings and bad mood. Conflicts and discussions with friends, parents and teachers are a consequence.
Too few sleep decreases performance and concentration. Bad marks mean more time for learning and increased pressure – times for friends and hobbies decrease.
Too few sleep induces to eat more and unhealthy. Often, overweight is the consequence.
Too few sleep weakens the immune system and leads to depressions.
Too few sleep leads to the same behavior like too much alcohol. The risk for an accident massively increases.

The oncoming article contains some tips for healthy sleep. If you succeed in integrating some of them into the everyday life of your teenager nothing stands in the way of managing this challenging time effectively.

Receive further information in our sleep-healthy-guidebook “sleep yourself young, fit and successful”, free of cost.

Imagesource: @istock