World Sleep Day: All the Interesting Facts about Sleep.

When I initially heard about World Sleep Day, on 18th of March, I thought: “Wow! This is MY day. A good excuse for me to sleep more than usual!”, but eventually, with a little bit more research put into it, I realised how wrong that acclamation was. When one first discovers the existence of this day, the primary idea of it that comes to mind is that it cherishes the importance of good sleep. We think that we can have a day to celebrate sleep, as a relief from work, or responsibilities. Of course, this is one of the day’s goals, however, the inceptive aim of World Sleep Day is to raise awareness about the negative effects that bad sleep can have on society.

This day has been organised every year since 2008 by the World Sleep committee from the World Sleep Society. Indeed, the message they are trying to convey is that unhealthy sleep can lead to many side effects from an educational, professional, social and health point of view, which will further be explored in this article. These sleeping disorders include insomnia, sleep apnea, RLS (Relentless Leg Syndrome), and many others. The UK loses an average of 200.000 working days a year because of these sleeping disorders, without even mentioning their costs of about £40 billion a year.

The question then is: how can these losses be decreased, and how can society optimise its healthy habits of having a good quality and quantity of sleep? We will go through this list step by step to pinpoint exactly what can help you sleep better at night. Buckle up, the journey awaits!

The sleep cycle

Let’s first talk about the basis of sleep: the sleep cycle. The general facts about sleeping cycles will tell you that they last about 90 minutes. They will also state that an adult should have at least 4 to 6 of them every 24 hours. This suggests that an adult should have between 6 and 9 hours of sleep at night. For children and teenagers under the age of 18, it is said that 6 to 9 cycles of sleep a night will allow them to grow healthily. If one does the maths correctly, this would mean that they need between 9 and 13.5 hours of sleep at night. Considering that this information is specific, one would generally advise the population to get an average of 8 hours of sleep at night to feel refreshed and ready to conquer the day. This does not include any sort of exception as all ages need an equal amount of sleep to feel revitalised. 

Secondly, it is important to understand the four main categories of sleep. Here is a picture explaining the sleep cycle.

The question now is, if these sleeping cycles are so organised, why do certain individuals get disturbed during their sleep? Well, it is rather simple, but there is a long list. Sleeping cycle disturbance can be due to old age, sleeping disorders, pain, mood disorders, other health conditions, lifestyle, nocturnia, etc. From personal experience, what has disturbed me the most while sleeping in the past were infections, distress, or pain from a sprained ankle. Of course, there are also factors such as noise from neighbours or from your morning alarm ringing. 

All in all, undisturbed consecutive sleeping cycles is necessary for good sleep. This, in its turn, will have a positive effect on the quality of your learning, on being creative, making sensible decisions, building your memory and controlling behaviours or emotions.

Sleeping positions

Another important factor to maximising good sleep are sleeping positions. Everyone has their own way of sleeping. Some individuals have even reported that they can only sleep in one specific position. If this position, however, happens to be sleeping on their stomach, as it is for me, the risk of pain and issues will arise. Every position has its pros and cons. Unfortunately, sleeping on your stomach can increase or cause pain in the neck, back, and hip. It can also aggravate symptoms of acid reflux. On top of all these negative effects, this position may require your body to spend more energy and effort on breathing. The one and only positive effect of this sleeping position is that it can decrease levels of snoring and sleep apnea. Despite these positive effects, it is not recommended to sleep in this position as the risks of negative effects outweigh anything else. Thus, for the audience that can only sleep on their stomach, please start shifting towards sleeping on your side. 

Sleeping on your side is said to be the best way to sleep. If one sleeps on their side with a straight back, it will not only decrease sleep apnea, but it will reduce neck and back pain. To increase the benefits even further, you can place a pillow or a big blanket between your knees to release pressure off the hips. Additionally, sleeping on your left side has proven to be better for your health as your digestive system has a better flow than on your right side. 

After having spoken about sleeping on your stomach and on your sides, sleeping on your back is next on the list. Although sleeping on your back does increase the benefits in contrast to sleeping on your stomach, it can also cause lower back pain. This, however, can be altered if you place a towel or a pillow under your knees. It will relieve your lower back and help you adopt a healthy sleeping position. Another benefit from sleeping on your back is that it reduces acid reflux. 

Now that we have explored the three main positions, we have yet to explain why this is so important. Sleeping in good positions can minimise pain or the risk of pain. It can also improve spinal alignment and protect your back. As stated before, different positions provide different benefits, such as a reduction of pregnancy pain, acid reflux, tense muscles, etc. Indeed, muscles and ligaments of the back can heal themselves when you sleep. Nevertheless, if a poor position is acquired, it can have opposite effects. Hence, we can say that it is salient to make sure you sleep in a healthy position to optimise your chances of getting good sleep. 

What your sleeping position says about your personality

A) Skydiver - has a playful character and isn't afraid of adventure.

B) Stargazer - positive and helpful.

C) Starfish - outgoing and positive but don't want to be the centre of attention

D) Pillow-huggers - as well as caring about personal relationships like stargazers, you are more family-orientated than others.

E) Foetus position - they are more sensitive people. Although more sensitive, they can often exhibit a tougher exterior. They can come off as shy, but they are more personable than others.

F) Stomach sleepers - have bold personalities and are often more sociable than others, they are not as confident on the inside.

G) The Hugger - an affectionate cuddler. These people like to feel safe, warm and protected, but they can also be strong.

H) The Yearner - they are less gullible, however, they tend to take a long time to make up their minds. Once they have their mindset, you can't change it. They can also be more cynical.

Dreams

As we have previously mentioned, dreams occur during REM sleep, the last phase of the sleeping cycle, but what does this mean? What are dreams? Well, a straight-forward explanation would be to say that they are images or stories that our minds develop during our sleep. They can be vivid or lucid. Sometimes it is hard to tell a dream apart from real life as you can feel like you are truly experiencing the event, but you can also know that you are dreaming and that you are safe.

Dreams follow five main principles that we thought you should know about. The first is that what you see in your dreams usually reflects what you see, experience, or feel in real life. The second is that emotions play an important role in dreams. This would explain recurring themes in dreams or actual repetitive dreams. This can quickly turn into a nightmare if you are experiencing and feeling fear, great sadness, conflicts, or even worse, as what is now happening in Ukraine, war. Another reason that nightmares occur is when the individual is using drugs, experiencing illnesses, or having great emotional problems. It is therefore crucial to stay healthy mentally and physically during the day to optimise your healthy sleep. The third principle is that dreams help consolidate memory. It helps the mind process information and emotions. The fourth principle highlights that dreams may help forecast the future. Naturally, there is no scientific evidence for this, nevertheless, a large majority of the population has experienced déjà vu’s before. These flashbacks come from our dreams. Finally, the fifth and last principle is that the symbolisms of your dreams are highly personal to you and you alone. Thus, this means that even though you may find certain answers on the internet about why a tsunami is appearing in your dreams, only you can know what it truly represents based on your experiences with the real world. 

Now that we know what dreams are, we have to understand why they are important. While dreams seem like an addition to life, they actually are a key role in development. Whether this is from an educational, professional, social, or personal level, dreams help the brain process information, emotions, incorporate memories, and solve issues. If you have ever been tired, or sleep deprived, you will have noticed that you forget more than usual, or that you let your body make decisions for your brain. This could be a form of auto-pilot of the human body. You cannot think for yourself. Dreams also process the day’s events and the dreamer’s thoughts. This means that it amplifies your ideas about what you have experienced and thus, helps you in future social events. Henceforth, dreams are critical to our emotional and mental health, but it also helps maintain physical health.

How do bed sheets affect one’s sleep? 

The final influence on our sleep that we will be investigating in this blog are bed sheets. You may wonder how material can alter our healthy habits of sleeping. Well, let me tell you, it does have an important role in your physical and mental health. Quality bedding optimises your comfort and with it, your satisfactory sleep. Duvets have two main roles: (1) they alter your body temperature, and (2) they bring consolation, whether you enjoy being wrapped up in them or if you just enjoy a light cover at night. 

The purpose of stating this is that even in summer, when it is extremely hot outside, the simple use of a sheet or a light duvet does help you sleep better. Nevertheless, the use of poor quality bed sheets can counter these positive effects. The more sheets trap body heat, the more the body temperature will rise and this will eventually wake you up. Another reason why you should not sleep in poor quality bed sheets or with no sheets at all, is that it is greatly unhygienic. As the mattress would be exposed to germs and bacteria, it can lead to illnesses such as sneezing or even worse, skin-infections.

It has been proven that luxury bedding does optimise your quality of sleep at night. You tend to wake up refreshed and revitalised rather than sweaty and scruffy. Now the importance is to know how to choose this bedding. Unfortunately, many companies claim to use only 100% natural fibres, this is why you must be aware while making bedding choices. In order to avoid having a negative surprise, you must research which manufacturers work for the bedding company. It would be wise to look at which material they use, avoiding synthetic fibres or mixed and blended fibres. HolyCosy would advise you to stick to 100% cotton, whether this is sateen or flannel. 

Of course, when choosing your luxury bedding that provides you with the right thermal environment for sleeping, you must respect this by wearing 100% natural fibre pyjamas too. The same amount of research must be put into which pyjamas to wear as well in order to maintain a healthy habitat for your sleeping body. 

Throughout this blog we have highlighted the importance of sleep on one’s mental and physical health. It is crucial to listen to one’s body by giving it the respect and the rest it needs to live in a healthy way. We have also learnt that to increase quality of sleep, we need to have our consecutive sleeping cycles, go through the process of dreaming, and optimise our comfort. Although good sleep rests highly upon our lifestyle and work schedule, the comfort of our body while we sleep is also a factor. Therefore, you need to adopt a correct sleeping position, and most of all invest in bedding that offers superior quality of sheets and covers. HolyCosy’s choice of using only 100% natural fibres sheets will provide you with the quality and quantity of sleep that your body desperately urges for.

From my personal experience, I had been sleeping very poorly because of strong emotions that had colossal effects on my body heat, my heart rate, and also on my dreams, which eventually became nightmares. I would wake up in distress during the night, and find myself having to get rid of my duvet, my sweatpants and my sweatshirt. The problem that followed was that my body would get cold. As a response to this, I began to use some cheap warm covers that I would find in multinational companies that do not use 100% natural fibres, to try to regulate my body heat. Indeed, wrapping myself up in these covers would put me to sleep feeling safe, but it would also make me wake up because it trapped the temperature. My body just did not feel comfortable staying asleep during my sleeping cycles. This took a toll on my exhaustion and set me back even further in the processing of what I was going through. This was a long and bumpy ride until I received my HolyCosy sheets. Opening those boxes was like a shot of espresso. Placing my hands on the sheets for the first time almost gave me a sense of relief. However, when I took it out and placed them on my bed, I realised how the texture of the sheets was not even the best part. The way the design of the bedding fit perfectly with my room made it look refreshing. I could not wait to have a shower and lay in my bed. That first night of sleeping with my HolyCosy sheets might have been one of the first nights I slept well in over two months. I whole-heartedly believe that HolyCosy’s bedding has given me the comfort and the quality of sleep I needed, and I am glad to celebrate the World Sleep Day with my new Blue Blossom sheets.

HolyCosy is offering a time-limited discount, just for World Sleep Day - get 15% off our new collection when entering the code WORLDSLEEPDAY15 at checkout. Shop the collection here.