Wednesday 23 June 2021

ad | Sleep Cycles with TEMPUR®

This is a paid partnership with TEMPUR®.

I absolutely love sleep - it's my favourite thing ever alongside orange flavoured chocolate, true crime documentaries, and perusing the snack aisles of a European supermarket. I'm thrilled to be working with Tempur® to talk about sleep cycles, and how they can help you balance sleep and exercise!

What is a sleep cycle?


When we sleep, our bodies go through repetitive sleep cycles which last around 90-110 minutes each. Depending on how long you sleep, you'll have multiple sleep cycles each night. And each cycle itself is made up of 5 stages of sleep! Obviously over the past year a *lot* of peoples' sleep cycles have been a bit messed up, what with everything going on - mine included. It's been really interesting to read about sleep cycles and what your sleep means. Sleep cycles alternate between REM sleep and non-REM sleep, which you can read more about below...


What's the difference between REM and non-REM sleep?


REM stands for 'rapid eye movement'. This is the type of sleep where your brain copies the sort of activity it does while you're awake - this is the time during which you are most likely to have vivid dreams. In lockdown one, I was having *such* vivid dreams. They were SO boring, usually just a dream about working behind the bar or going for a walk. None of your dragon-slaying, deep-sea-diving princess adventures here! I noticed I would wake up exhausted, though.

Non-REM sleep is the proper deep sleep - your sleep cycles are supposed to be 75% non-REM and just 25% REM. This is what a good night's sleep should look like, and a TEMPUR®  pillow and mattress can help you achieve that.

My sleep cycle


As I mentioned, I love sleep. However, I'm not that good at it - I don't tend to get a lot of non-REM sleep. But since I've been using my TEMPUR® pillow, I have noticed that I've been getting a deeper sleep and waking up less tired. Another thing I've found that helps me sleep well is exercising. I'm not a huge fan of exercise; as a kid I did gymnastics, badminton and dancing, but as an adult you're more likely to find me watching sport than playing it! But during the most recent lockdown, I was going for long walks every day with my boyfriend - miles and miles around where we live. Not only was this a lovely way to spend time together and explore our hometown, it definitely helped me sleep better. Now things have opened up we are walking less, but it's something I need to get back into to ensure my sleep cycles are mostly non-REM sleep...

Exercise and sleep


There is a link between exercise and sleep. Exercise has been shown to make you fall asleep quicker, and it also stops you from being so sleepy in the day - this is a big one for me, because I often find myself needing a nap partway through the day... told you, I just LOVE sleep! Polls and studies show that the more you exercise - and the more intense that exercise is - the better you'll sleep. This is almost enough to get me onto a football pitch! TEMPUR® are a big fan of exercise, given its link with getting a good night's sleep - they are now supporting the wonderful Drops Le Col women's cycling team. TEMPUR® are helping ensure the team gets the optimum amount of sleep, and can therefore perform at their very best.


TEMPUR® - helping sleep cycles


TEMPUR® have their own mattress material, which comes from NASA-created technology. So not only are you using the same pillows and mattresses as some incredible athletes, you're also sleeping like an astronaut which is pretty cool. I'm loving my TEMPUR® pillow, which is the Comfort Pillow Original. I'm obsessed with it, and I'm probably going to have to order another one so me and my boyfriend can have one each...

What's your sleep cycle like? Mine is definitely improving!

No comments:

Post a Comment