Tuesday 7 January 2020

The quality of sleep you get matters…

It’s been tagged as the most amazing remedy—sleep. Scientific findings tell you it helps you live longer and boosts your immune system. It puts you in a great mood, reduces your risk of everything from heart disease to diabetes—and it’s completely free.


It has no side-effects and is available to everyone. “Taking steps to get a better night’s sleep could be the most important decision you would ever make,” says an expert, “Maybe you live with a world champion snorer or a sheet huger; perhaps you toss and turn until the wee hours. Now is the time to get things sorted out because recent research has found that the right amount of sleep can have an enormous effect on your long-term health—not just on how you feel the next morning.” 

Without regular sex, women risk mental disorder – Psychiatrist

According to a sleep expert, Dr Neil Stanley: “A good night’s sleep every night is just as important as diet and exercise. If you get a poor diet every day, that has long-term consequences. Exactly the same is true of sleep, but these days we know that it’s not just a matter of getting eight hours sleep. Avoiding health risks is about getting the right amount of sleep for you. Having less sleep than you need—or more—is the problem.

Back in the 1990s, a team of American researchers studied the sleep patterns of 459 female subjects aged between 50 and 81. Then they tracked them down 14 years later to see how many of them were still in good health. They found out that those who slept for five to six and a half hours a night had the best survival rate. Those who had less than five hours sleep or more than six and a half hours had the worst. The lesson? Too little sleep won’t increase your life’s span—but neither will too much.

The expert advises it’s time to throw out everything you thought you knew about sleep— that you need eight hours every single night just to function; that those who need more sleep are lazy or boring; and that sticking a lavender bag under your pillow or listening to a CD of whale sounds will somehow magically give you a solid 12 hours of sleep from now on, you could make the biggest and best lifestyle change ever—and all you need to do is lie still and relax. 

You don’t need eight hours:
Worried because you’re not getting the amount of sleep your mum insisted on? Don’t panic, says Dr Stanley. “The media says everyone needs eight hours, but that’s just not true. The amount of sleep people require varies a great deal—it can be from three to 11 hours, though most of us find that we need seven to eight hours. If you’re a three-hours-a night person, and you believe the hype and try to get eight, you’ll be spending five hours a night trying to have something you’re never going to get. 

So how do you work out the amount of sleep that’s right for you? “Scientifically,” says Dr Stanley: it is very complex to work out your actual biological sleep need. But there’s a simple technique—do you feel awake during the day? If you do, you’re getting enough sleep. If you don’t, you’re not,” Dr Stanley then tries to punch holes in some sleep myths:

Bin the lavender and ditch the chamomile:
We all know the standard advice for getting a good night’s sleep—Milky hot drinks, herbal preparations such as chamomile tea, lavender pillows, and getting rid of the TV in the bedroom. But Dr Stanley says there’s only one thing that will work being relaxed in mind and body. And how you achieve that state is up to you. “I hate the taste of chamomile,” he says, “I don’t like the smell of lavender, and listening to relaxing whale music just make me laugh, I’ve heard people eating bananas late at night because they’re supposed to help you sleep, or that a milky drink helps you. Well, milk, bananas, turkey and bread, all contain tryptophan, a chemical that helps your body produce melatonin, a hormone that tells your body it is night time.

But there is no evidence whatsoever that eating a small amount of tryptophan will help you sleep. The value of making a milky drink is that it’s a wind-down ritual—nobody ever did the vacuuming while boiling up some milk. You need to find your own ritual that helps you and nothing should be off-limits. If having the TV on when you go to sleep helps you, that’s fine.” 

Sleep is sexy—” Let’s face it,” says Stanley. “In today’s 24-hour society, sleeping is not regarded as a valuable way to spend your time. Margaret Thatcher famously only got four hours a night—and this is somehow good? There’s no implication that getting a good night’s sleep is a desirable, sexy thing. It’s negative. I personally need nine and a half hours’ sleep, I go to bed at nine every night and get up at half-past six. 

If you stand up and say that in front of an audience, they look at you as though you’re a friendless boring person. But if you say you eat your five a day or do your 10,000 steps, they all applaud and say, ‘Well done!’ We need to change the way we think about sleep, it’s been scientifically proved that getting the right amount of sleep won’t just make you feel better —it’s great for your skin and can even help you diet successfully.” 

Be a selfish sleeper: 
Fed up with your snoring partner? You’re not alone. A new survey discovered that one in four couples sleep in separate beds because one of them has an ‘unbearable’ night-time habit—and snoring was top on the list. Another problem which affected six out of 10 couples, was hugging the duvet, followed by restlessness. According to Dr Stanley: “A standard double bed is 135cm  wide. A standard child’s single bed is 90cm wide, so each of you sharing a double bed has nine inches less to sleep in than a child has! And when you’re both snoring and dreaming and hogging the duvet, no wonder you’re not sleeping well. 

Of course, some people like the feeling of safety and security that co-sleeping brings. But separate beds or bedrooms shouldn’t be off-limits as a discussion. A lot of people say they ‘Banish’ their partners to the back bedroom. Well, my wife and I don’t sleep together—she has her own bedroom. But she’s not ‘banished.’ That’s where she goes to sleep. It’s perfectly possible to have your own sleeping space and still have your intimacy. But sleep is the most selfish thing you can do. You can’t share your sleep with anyone. So don’t be scared of sleeping separately.” 

Bed King says that you need to be sure you’re sleeping on a suitable mattress - perfectly chosen for your sleep needs - find a bed shop that will be able to offer you the best bed advice.

Article source: http://enchantedbybeautifulbedrooms.weebly.com/blog/the-quality-of-sleep-you-get-matters

How To Fit a Headboard To Your Bed

Fitting a headboard to your bed couldn’t be simpler. There are three main ways in which to do this: you can either use a headboard with struts, a floor standing headboard or a wall-mounted headboard.
Headboards with struts
Headboards with struts are the most common form of fitting a headboard to your bed. The struts (wooden thin plank-like objects) are usually sold with your headboard at Bed King. These are shown below on the Vienna headboard.
struts

These struts simply screw into the back of your headboard, whilst the other end will neatly fit onto the back of most standard divan beds. The size of your bed will dictate the size of the headboard you will need to purchase: so a king size 5ft bed will only fit a king-size 5ft headboard. This may seem like obvious information but you would be surprised at the number of people who don’t realise this!
struts on bed
Your divan bed should have two bolts on the back on the back of the divan (most divans include the bolts on both sides so you can decide which way to face your divan). These bolts unscrew, you can then put the headboard in place and then screw the bolts back in place. Some divans hide the screw holes for the bolts underneath the cloth and may not include the bolts.
If there are no bolts in place on the divan, the best thing to do is run your hand across the fabric at the top of the divan base to find the screw holes (usually situated 3 or 4 inches from the end of the divan base and towards the top of the base). If you have misplaced the divan headboard bolts for the headboard, don’t panic, we sell them in our shop.
The struts supplied with most headboards will allow you to slide the headboard up and down the back of the divan depending on how thick your mattress is and how high up you want the headboard to go. Once you’ve found the perfect height you just tighten the bolts on the divan and Ta da! the headboard will hold in place. Take a look at our Skye headboard with struts:
headboard blog 2
Floor standing headboards
Floor standing headboards are similar to those with struts but operate and look slightly different. Rather than including separate struts, the struts are part of the headboard which will reach down to the floor; this allows the headboard to stand in place behind the bed. In most cases the headboard will include a gap on the standing frame which is where the bolts can be screwed in allowing for a sturdy head end which won’t move about – like the Esher headboard below.
headboard blog 3

Wall-mounted headboards
Wall-mounted headboards or wall hung headboards are usually used for larger headboards which cannot be supported by struts or to make a visual statement. As you can see in the image below, mounting a headboard on your bedroom wall can really make a huge impact in your bedroom.
Wall hung headboards are popular in boutique hotels and should include wall mounting fixings. We always recommend you use a professional DIY expert when fixing your wall hung headboard to the wall, they will ensure the correct tools are used and that your wall will support the headboard you choose.

Top Tips For Fitting Your Headboard

1.)    If your headboard is missing either struts or bolts, don’t panic you can buy them in our headboard accessories shop.
2.)    If you are buying a new divan and plan to fix a headboard to it, ensure it has the screw holes to fit the headboard in place (if you are purchasing a headboard with struts or a floor standing headboard).
3.)    Always use a DIY expert if you plan to wall mount your headboard.
4.)    Get the right fabric and colour before ordering a headboard, use our free fabric sample service.


Article source: https://www.justheadboards.co.uk/blog/2014/10/how-to-fit-a-headboard-to-your-bed/