Sleep Information Guide + Sleep Tips!

  • By NW Bedding
  • •
  • 31 Oct, 2016
  • •

Sleep, Learning & Memory

According to the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School, it is more difficult to take in new information after a night of inadequate or poor sleep and, surprisingly, it is just as important to get a good night’s sleep after learning something new in order to process and retain that information. Also, undisturbed sleep is very important when learning new skills that require motor coordination and performance (athletic skills, work skills)

Sleep & Heart Disease

Poor, or disturbed sleep can result in long-term negative health consequences. Study after study shows there is a high degree of correlation between poor sleep and incidences of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and hypertension, mood disorders, alcohol usage and lower life expectancy.

Sleep, Performance, and Public Safety

Healthy sleep plays a critical role in all of our lives. Investigators concluded that sleep deprivation played a key role in the nuclear accident at 3-Mile Island, at the nuclear melt-down at Chernobyl, the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the Challenger disaster. Doctors that are sleep deprived are responsible for medical errors that result in tens of thousands of deaths each year. Untold traffic accidents each year are a result of drivers that are drowsy or fall asleep at the wheel.

Sleep Deprivation

According to the National Institutes of Health, the average adult sleeps less than 7 hours per night. In today's fast-paced society, 6 or 7 hours of sleep may sound pretty good. In reality, it's a recipe for chronic sleep deprivation.

While sleep requirements vary slightly from person to person, most healthy adults need between 7.5 to 9 hours of sleep per night to function at their best. Children and teens need even more (see box at right). And despite the notion that sleep needs decrease with age, older people still need at least 7.5 to 8 hours of sleep. Since older adults often have trouble sleeping this long at night, daytime naps can help fill in the gap.

Sleep Tips

  • Stay away from caffeinated drinks after 2 pm
  • Don't eat heavily right before bedtime. If you're hungry, try something light like yogurt sprinkled with cereal, or cottage cheese with banana slices, or milk & graham crackers
  • Restrict alcoholic drinks to dinnertime or well before bedtime
  • Don't raise your body temperature right before bedtime (like a hot soak in the tub). Your body needs to cool to a certain temperature to achieve a deep, sound slumber
  • A little stretching or yoga to relax before bedtime may help you fall asleep faster.
  • Swap out bright bulbs in your bedside lamps to lower wattage ones. Dim light signals your body that it's time to go to sleep.
  • Keep your cell phones in another room or far away from you. Invest in an alarm clock so you won’t be tempted to keep your cell phone close.

Should I buy a mattress over the internet?

By NW Bedding • June 20, 2017
Buying a mattress over the internet may not be as convenient as one thinks.

Made in the Northwest

By NW Bedding • June 7, 2017
A number of years ago, the local ABC affiliate sent a crew out to our production facility to do a feature story on a business that manufactures in the Northwest.  You may find this interesting.  There are a number of clips of the various processes that go into producing a top-quality mattress.

Is Memory Foam Obsolete?

By NW Bedding • June 6, 2017

Carpenter, a leading supplier of foams and fiber has invented a new cushioning foam they've dubbed Serene™.  The new foam features billions of microscopic air capsules which act to enhance support properties while reducing pressure on critical areas like hips and shoulders. Serene™ is less temperature sensitive than memory foams. In fact, our plant manager took a 6 inch cube of Serene™ and put it in his freezer for 3 days. The foam compressed as if it had been kept at room temperature.

Serene™ has been demonstrated to dissipate heat faster than memory foam. Serene™ is far more durable than a comparably dense piece of memory foam and is as or more durable than a memory foam that is almost twice as dense.

Because of these characteristics and more, we have been experimenting with some prototypes featuring a hybrid design of a stratified core with a thick piece of Serene™ on top. We have also been experimenting with combinations of Serene™ and Talalay Latex. Those combinations have produced some incredible feels and will be available soon both on our retail floors and at our dealers.

Mattress Construction Styles... Which One is Right for Me?

By NW Bedding • January 7, 2017
  • In either one or two sided models, the construction is as the name implies. Support cores, cushioning layers and quilt layers are assembled and then enclosed with two beads of binding tape.

What size mattress is right for you?

By NW Bedding • January 7, 2017
Below are depicted the comparable standard mattress sizes.

Mattress Firmness Index

By NW Bedding • January 7, 2017
The following descriptions of firmness are numbered 1 through 5 with 1 being the firmest and 5 being the softest. We'll try and make comparisons with objects you probably have in your house.

6 Reasons Why You Should Consider a Latex Mattress

By NW Bedding • October 31, 2016
Talalay latex cores and comfort layers have the most incredible feel of any sleep surface available. It is resilient, luxurious, breathable and incredibly comfortable. Unlike any other sleep surface you've experienced before, Talalay latex is pliable, yet supportive. It responds to your body's curves without that feeling like you're sinking in wet sand as is true with certain memory foams. When you need to reposition yourself during sleep, you can. Latex is resilient, responsive and recovers immediately. You won't have a tendency to wake up "holding on" while the sleep surface recovers its original shape.

The Mattress Buying Guide

By NW Bedding • October 31, 2016
If you're like most consumers shopping for a mattress, chances are you haven't been in the market for 8 to 12 years. Many people have commented that they'd prefer having a root canal rather than go through the hassle and confusion of shopping for a mattress!

Amazing, isn't it? We spend up to a third of our life on a product and yet we deplore having to buy one. One thing, that will immediately catch your attention, is that the cost of a mattress product has gone up dramatically since the last time you shopped for one. Everything that goes into a mattress has escalated tremendously over the last decade. Steel, foam, rubber, plastics, fibers, etc. and the cost to transport those items to the manufacturers. Plus, mattress designs have changed during the same time period to include better, more costly components.

Once you get over the sticker shock, you still have to decide on a mattress. If you've read our Sleep Facts and Tips, you know that this decision could have a dramatic effect on your overall health and well being. When you shop at different stores, you'll be barraged with terms and jargon that you might find confusing and unhelpful when trying to compare one product against another. If you visit our Mattress Buying Guide Blog, you'll find a litany of terms and their meanings and uses that may arm you with enough knowledge to make an informed choice.
In the final analysis, though, it turns out to be a true "Goldilocks" moment. One is too hard, one is too soft, one is just right! To make the process less painful than a root canal, you may want to adhere to the following process:

Innerspring Support Cores

By NW Bedding • October 30, 2016
Like all support layers, innersprings control how deeply your body is permitted to sink into the mattress. This is one of the most affordable support cores, so there is no surprise that it is also the most popular. Innerspring mattresses vary in coil count and gauge size, but they basically fall under one of the four categories: bonnell, continuous, offset, and pocket. So, although most mattresses pretty much look the same from the outside, they are all very unique inside. With Innerspring support cores, wire coils comprise the support structure of innerspring mattresses. A heavy duty border wire provides support to the coils to help reduce sagging, so it can better retain its shape.