We’ve all heard that sleep is an essential part of overall health and wellbeing. When you get enough quality rest, you generally feel more energised and focused. After a restful night’s sleep, your brain has had enough time to relax, recharge, and reset for the day ahead. And while that’s always a plus, just how important is sleep in the grand scheme of our lives?
Dreams, metabolic function, healing, and many other systems of the human body rely heavily on sleep. It’s integral to keeping us functioning at our best and ultimately living longer, better quality lives overall.
At DI Home, our philosophy is that setting the right sleep mood can play a crucial role in the quality of your health and life overall.
So, what is ‘sleep mood’ anyway?
When you wind down at the end of the day, certain conditions must align to yield the best possible rest for your body and mind. When conditions are favourable, you can enter deeper modes of sleep that allow you to dream vividly, heal better, lower your risk of disease, and wake feeling refreshed and motivated.
For each person, this set of ideal conditions is different. And it’s all about finding the best combination for you.
Finding your sleep mood can affect your daily life.
Improved Brain Function & Productivity
The brain is the control centre of the entire body. It dictates how you function, communicate, and how efficiently you can perform tasks, as well as many other critical elements of human existence.
While you sleep, your brain is extremely active. It is easy to think that as we slip away from the waking world and shift to a subdued level of consciousness, we experience less mental activity - this is hardly the case.
Sleep is such a complex phenomenon that it has phases of depth. The general rule: the deeper the sleep, the more active your mental function during slumber.
Not all sleep is created equal. You can get your 7-9 precious hours of recommended rest to varying degrees, and some are better than others. Generally, the depth of your sleep enters the following phases:
The depth of your sleep (and which phase you reach on a regular basis) is deeply affected by your Circadian rhythm. What is this, you ask? In short, it’s your sleep cycle.
Biologically, long before we were born, our body was programmed to be awake during certain hours of the day and to rest at certain times of the night. Before modern times, man’s sleep cycles originally followed the rhythm of the sun, because our distant ancestors would need daylight to hunt animals and gather their food.
It logically follows that one should rise as the sun rises and go to sleep when the sun sets. The demands of a modern lifestyle rarely permit this to be the case. Our modern-day Circadian rhythms are far different than those of generations past, as they rely on so much more than the mere need to obtain food — they are dictated by work schedule, family life, stress level, and other everyday factors.
No matter the case, there is nothing more frustrating than brain fog. Getting enough high quality, restful sleep will improve your brain’s ability to absorb, learn, and retain information. Cognitive function can only be at its peak when a mind is well rested and full of vitality.
Restful sleep is key to fully maximising the potential of your mind and cognitive function. Brain cells regenerate during different phases of sleep, resulting in better overall ability to respond, analyse, problem solve, and remember information as we process it.
Each of these vital functions is an ingredient in the cocktail of productivity — and all of them, together, creates as sense of alert and focus.
Physical Wellbeing
It is essential to let your body heal properly after you engage in exercise. Getting the required amount of sleep will significantly improve muscle recovery after you engage in sport. It also provides you with higher levels of accuracy, agility, and better reaction times.
All of this will result in better physical wellbeing and general alertness.
Supporting the Immune System
“Get plenty of rest”, says every doctor when you’ve just been in the office for a sick visit.
The human body’s ability to fight infection and disease is directly linked to the quality and frequency of sleep. Proper immune function simply cannot occur if the body is not well rested. Sleep fortifies and strengthens our immune systems so that they can act as blockades for all sorts of antigens, from the common cold to COVID-19.
And while sleeping properly can’t literally prevent any disease, it will make your chances of fighting it off in the first place that much greater.
During a restful night’s sleep, your body repairs, revitalizes, and recovers itself, deep down to a cellular level. Crucial to this process is the production of cytokines, which are proteins that fight against infection and inflammation. Without them, a person has no defence against a wide range of illnesses.
This is especially important in colder seasons when airborne illness is on the spread.
Improving Mental Health
Poor quality sleep can affect you in ways you hardly realise. In severe cases, when a person is sleep deprived, their mental health can be affected profoundly — and not in a good way.
Depression, anxiety, and a host of other mental health conditions have been directly attributed to disruptions in sleep. Generally, a person who hasn’t slept well may act moody or irritable - especially before their first cup of coffee.
Emotional Effects
Sleep deprivation is directly related to emotional issues. Just imagine if that “don’t talk to me until I’ve had my coffee” feeling lasted all the time.
Without the right depth of sleep, you might discover antisocial behaviour knocking on your brain’s door.
Take this effect and compound it over years, and you’ve got a recipe for sleep-deprived disaster. On the long term, the effects can be detrimental in large ways, leading to hormonal imbalance and potential mental health issues.
But this doesn’t sound like you, right? You’re the smart, well-slept person who gets their daily dose of 7 to 9 hours. Or at least you’d like to be.
Enter DI Home – We have a range of bedding to help you snoozing in now time. We’ll help you find your perfect sleep mood!!
]]>If that’s true, your bedroom should never be the culprit. Your bedroom is your haven, your safe space, your retreat away from the world. It is the one place you go to relax, unwind, and seek tranquillity from the stresses of everyday life.
So, of course, it should never be a source of stress all on its own.
All too often, the bedroom becomes like an extension of your closet. Before you know it, it’s become overrun with clutter, miscellany, and yesterday’s still-needs-to-be-folded laundry. But what we sometimes don’t realise is that a dishevelled abode can bring about anxiety and generate unnecessary stress.
We all know the feeling: you walk into your room, turn on the light, and instantly you’re reminded of that project you’ve been putting off or that dresser you should’ve bought months ago.
Either way, you made your bed and now you have to sleep in it. There’s just no getting around it: your surroundings have a profound influence on what’s going inside your head.
By both design and function, your bedroom should be set up in a way that eases your mind. The decor, the placement of the furniture, the amount of light — all of it plays into your subtle attitudes toward bedtime.
Quality sleep plays an important role in living a healthy life. Your bedroom should be a welcoming and relaxing environment that is designed to bring you deep, sound rest — and help you get there quickly, time after time.
For a better night’s sleep tonight, why not give your bedroom a makeover?
Sometimes, a little sprucing up is all you need to completely transform a space from a messy nightmare to an inviting haven.
Reclaim your bedroom today with these useful tips and tricks.
Front & Centre: Redesign What Matters
Your bed is the focal point of your bedroom. It is the object around which everything else coexists.
We have some good news: if you change one small detail about your bed, a massive bedroom improvement can follow. Simply rethinking the linens, blankets or throw pillows on your bed can dramatically enhance the look and feel of your boudoir space.
You’d be surprised how a new comforter, throw or linen can work wonders in transforming the decor in your bedroom. It really can be that quick and painless — and affordable!
Keep a rotation of fresh prints and patterns, mind-easing colors, and plush textures stowed away in your linen closet. Swap them out periodically for a completely different look and feel to your bedroom — and perhaps it won’t even feel like the same room!
And who doesn’t love the feel of a fresh, clean bed? Changing out your bed linens regularly is a great way to ensure a better night’s sleep. There’s nothing like slipping into a tidy bed that’s freshly made with clean sheets.
The Devil is in the Details
It is important to feel a sense of connection with your sleep-space. It should represent you, express your personal style, and welcome you into it with open arms — and lots of pillows.
Overlooking details in the bedroom is a sure way to feel out of sorts with where you sleep. Don’t downplay the importance of addressing messes, clutter, dust, and other unsightly items around your bedroom.
At the end of the day, it’s all about one question: how does your bedroom space make you feel?
Take a second glance — a real, thorough look — at how the room is set up. How is your furniture arranged? Is there ample space for moving around or exercising? Are you fully utilising the windows and natural light? How is the room decorated? Does it give you feelings like that of a warm embrace, or is it more abrasive to your subconscious mind?
All of these details affect your overall attitude toward restfulness and ultimately, sleep within your chosen room. After all, if your sleep-space isn’t conducive to sleep, what kind of space is it really?
If things just don’t feel right (and you’ll know it if they don’t), call your attention to the merits of a makeover. Maybe a simple bed rearrangement will be enough to do the trick. Take your time with this process, as you’ll want to do it right the first time.
Surround yourself only with items that ease your mind and promote a sense of restorative relaxation. Try to eliminate clutter by putting messy items out of sight in drawers and closets. Fully maximise any not-too-visible storage options available to you.
Organisation is key to creating harmony in your bedroom space. Perhaps your closets could use a bit of reimagining. A simple closet revamp can restore the openness of your bedroom by allowing you added space to store miscellaneous items out of sight.
Before long, you’ll create a peaceful, serene space where you can achieve the restful sleep your body and mind need.
Go with the Flow: Adjusting for Sleep Mood
Your bedroom is a safe place to express yourself. It’s a great place to display the unique, personal items you curate in the expression of who you are, what you value, and what brings you comfort.
Align your bedroom setup with what is most important to you. Do you like to draw for relaxation? Or perhaps you prefer a good book before bed. Whatever your passion, make sure you’ve got the right dedicated areas in your bedroom so you can indulge in the activities you most enjoy.
Always make sure your bedroom is well ventilated and free of anything harmful or dangerous, like mould, dust, and toxins. Keeping a clean bedroom is paramount in the quest to sleep soundly.
Try out these tips in your bedroom today. You’ll be surprised at how quickly your boudoir can transform from shabby to swanky — and get you the quality sleep you deserve.
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