When I saw the email from the Sleep Council, I admit I rolled my eyes a bit.
Yes, yes, we know. Change your mattress. It’s good for you. We all need good sleep. Yada yada.
But then I saw this little fact jumping out at me:
Obese adults who lose at least 5 percent of their body weight report that they sleep better and longer after six months of weight loss, according to a new study. (Department of Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, June 2014)
And I took a moment to pause. As my lovely regular readers will know, Mr LittleStuff has had cause over the last 18mths to seriously change his ways in the health department, dropping over 6 stone and beating his Type 2 Diabetes into submission.
And as well as the myriad health benefits he’s seen along the way, one of the things he’s noticed (and appreciated) most has been his new ability to sleep. He no longer snores, falls asleep easily, and wakes feeling refreshed and invigorated – a massive difference to the way he would drag himself blearily from his bed a couple of years ago, feeling as though he’d barely slept at all.
He had always associated his poor sleep with bad back/headaches/various ailments and stresses and workloads. We had never tied it to his body size. And yet, the facts are staring us in the face.
So I read on, to see what other gems the Sleep Council had for me.
And I watched this. And gulped a bit..
Our mattress is 9 years old – and our wooden bed frame was a wedding present when we set up house. 23 years ago.
Jeepers.
And also – EEewwwww…
Okay. So that settles it – we need a new mattress (Two baths of body fluids? *shudders*). Like, this week.
But then my eyes were caught by the second in the series of videos – about why you should buy the bed and the mattress together. Now we have a wooden slatted bed frame – we’ve always replaced the mattress, and never the bed itself. I mean; it’s wood, so what’s the point? It doesn’t sag or wear (though it has for 23 years provided the husband with a sly middle-of-the-night shin kick fairly regularly), so no need for a new one.
Or so I thought… (this one’s my absolute favourite – though there is a warning that it’s NSFW as it’s an outtake, and contains a swear)
Oka-a-a-yyy – so we need a whole new bed.
Point taken.
We’re off bed shopping this weekend, honest. And right now I’m off to steam clean the mattress… (half a ton of dead skin? Ick ick ick…)
For more on how to get a good nights’ sleep please visit http://www.sleepcouncil.org.uk
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