The benefits of a good night’s sleep

It’s been well documented how vital sleep is to our general wellbeing. Getting a good night’s rest, coupled with diet and exercise, is key to supporting mental and physical health. Sleep can also aid brain function, improve your concentration and productivity, and keep your immune system ticking over as your body gets time to rest and recuperate.

Before you can reap the rewards, though, it’s important to ensure your sleep hygiene is in good shape. Putting away your smartphone and avoiding any electronic screens before bed is advisable, while cutting out caffeine and alcohol late in the day is also viewed as a must. Keeping a consistent sleep and wake-up schedule is recommended, too. You should also ensure you have comfortable bedding to support your sleeping position and spine alignment.

Transforming your sleep

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

On the topic of posture, it’s important to remember that this isn’t just applicable to how we stand or sit, it also relates to how we sleep, as the muscles and ligaments in our backs relax and heal when we’re getting some shut-eye. Sleeping with the right pillow should support the natural curve of your spine and feel comfortable, keeping your neck aligned with the chest and lower back.

Smaller pillows can also be used to support your sleeping position. If you sleep on your back then a pillow behind your knees will help reduce stress on the spine. Those who sleep on their stomach can place a flat pillow under the stomach and pelvis to help with alignment. Side-sleepers, meanwhile, are advised to have a pillow between their knees to prevent their upper leg from pulling their spine out of alignment.

Of course, having a high quality mattress is also vital, because sleeping on an uncomfortable and unsupportive mattress is a sure way to disturb your sleep. The National Bed Federation recommends that you should change your mattress every seven to eight years**, while another study by Opinium Research found that 83% of respondents felt that the right mattress is essential for a good night’s sleep*.

The same Opinium study highlighted that improving how comfortably and deeply you sleep could actually help to enhance your memory. Conducted on behalf of TEMPUR® and MediaCom, ‘Sleep and Memory’ reports that 80% of participants wished that they had better memory, and that 67% believe that their memory is getting worse with age*.

Over half (54%) of those surveyed said that they believe a lack of or poor sleep makes their memory worse, with those who rated their sleep quality as poor more likely to rate their memory as below average too.

Memory and the TEMPUR® range

If you’re looking to improve the quality of your sleep with class-leading mattresses, pillows and sleep accessories, it’s worth turning to the TEMPUR® collection. In the 1960s, NASA developed a new material to cushion and reduce the pressure on astronauts during high-velocity take-offs and landings. Recognising the potential of a substance that moulds to your body while also springing back quickly to its original shape, TEMPUR® created its own unique TEMPUR Material® range, and while there are now many types of memory foam, TEMPUR Material® is the original.

The company’s mattress material offers 10 years of lasting quality, pressure absorption and distribution, and minimal motion transfer. The unique TEMPUR® Material is viscoelastic – meaning both fluid and spring-like – a quality achieved by billions of ultra-sensitive open cells existing between a solid and a liquid state.

By moulding to the shape of your body as you sleep, the TEMPUR® Material can offer a level of support that you don’t always get from other mattresses and pillows. This can help with sleeping position and spine alignment, which can improve your likelihood of getting a good night’s sleep.

It is often said that a good mattress and pillow feel like they were made just for their owner. The way TEMPUR®’s Material moulds to your body also means that it can help accommodate a variety of sleeping positions, whether you prefer to lie on your back, front or side. And if you are on a supportive mattress that helps you sleep better, when you wake up there’s a greater chance that your brain will be alert and firing on all cylinders. This could boost your memory, plus ensure your problem-solving capabilities and ability to think creatively are much sharper.

Take a look at TEMPUR®’s mattress and pillow range and other sleep accessories to help you create a comfortable and happy sleeping environment.

Explore the TEMPUR® Collection