Cover Story

Sweet dreams

By Corina Curry

ROCKFORD WOMAN

Aug 26, 2008 @ 08:27 PM

If you can’t remember the last time you woke from a night’s rest and felt great, you’re not alone, but you’re really missing out.

Getting a good night’s sleep and making it an everyday thing rather than a weekend-only indulgence can give you a new outlook on life, make you more productive throughout the day and improve your overall health.

“People don’t realize how much sleep affects everything about their day,” said Megan Nimmers, supervisor of the SwedishAmerican Hospital Sleep Disorder Center. “If you’re not getting good, quality sleep at night, it can lead to depression. It can lower your immune system. It can play a role in high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and sexual dysfunction. When you sleep, your body is rejuvenating itself. Without it, your body starts to suffer.”

The average adult needs seven to nine hours of sleep a night, Nimmers said. Some people can get by and feel great on six hours, but any less can lead to fatigue, moodiness and inability to focus.

The good thing is that many of us can get a better night’s sleep without spending a lot of money, and there are lots of little changes we can try to make that don’t cost a dime.

Nimmers has a number of suggestions for things you can buy that sometimes do the trick. And if worse comes to worst, a visit to the hospital’s sleep center can help diagnose a condition such as insomnia or sleep apnea.

Free: A good night’s sleep is priceless

Keep regular sleep hours. Go to bed at the same time and wake up the same time every day.

Don’t change it over the weekend. You might think sleeping in helps you “catch up” on lost sleep, but it doesn’t work that way.

Try a nap. For a nap to be good, it needs to be 20 to 30 minutes. Any longer and it can disrupt your nightly sleep schedule.

Develop a sleep ritual. Take a hot bath or sip on a cup of herbal tea. Settle down with a book.

These simple acts of relaxation can serve as cues to your body to get ready to sleep.
- Make your room dark and quiet. You can also try to adjust the temperature where you sleep. The optimal temperature for sleeping is about 62 degrees.
- Turn it off. If you like to fall asleep with the TV or radio on, use a timer so it’s not waking you up throughout the night.
-Avoid caffeine, alcohol, nicotine and exercise before you sleep. Exercise can be a stimulant, making it more difficut to fall asleep. Smoking and caffeine do the same. Alcohol is a relaxant that makes some people snore, which can decrease sleep quality.

Cheap: These simple accessories can help you sleep better
A number of over-the-counter medications are available. Be sure to read the instructions and follow directions. You also can try Breathe Right strips if you snore. They don’t work for everyone, but they’re worth a try.

Find your pillow
Sometimes, a better night’s sleep lies in finding the right pillow. Try a few different ones, and you may find the perfect place to rest your head.

Turn on some noise
White noise, that is. If you have surrounding noises that you can’t eliminate, like a noisy street, try a machine designed to cover them up. There also are a number of relaxation CDs with various sounds and rhythms ranging from rain forests to soft music.

The darker the better
A sleep mask can help you make your room darker if you get a lot of light from windows. Light is a trigger to our internal rhythm to wake up, so when you’re trying to fall asleep, block out as much as you can.

Pamper yourself
Make your bed as comfortable as possible. Luxury linens are a great way to soften things up.

Over the top: Get a bed you can’t wait to get into

Remember when your friend told you how she got a new bed, and now she can’t wait to go to bed every night?

Don’t envy her. Follow her lead and go mattress shopping.

A good mattress provides the optimum amount of comfort and support for you and you alone, said Rhonda McSweeney, a saleswoman at Gustafson’s Furniture and Mattress, 808 W. Riverside Blvd. That means firm could work for your best friend but feel like a hardwood floor to you.

“The right mattress is a personal thing,” McSweeney said. “You have to find what’s most comfortable for you and your pocketbook.”

Typically, the number of coils in the mattress makes a difference. The more coils, the more support the mattress provides. 

There also are a number of noncoil mattresses on the market these days ranging from latex and air to foam.

Gustafson’s has about 150 mattresses on display in its showroom so you can try out a variety of different kinds to see what’s out there.

“It’s great when you can help someone find the right bed and help them improve the quality of their life,” McSweeney said. “We spend one-third of our lives in bed. That’s a lot of time. You want to make sure you’re comfortable.”

Corina Curry can be reached at ccurry@rrstar.com or 815-987-1395.