LIFESTYLE – Bed Head

Posted by Editor on October 24, 2018 in Health, Health and Fitness, Lifestyle | 1 Comment

As summer starts to feel like a distant memory and our tans start to fade it’s time to start to bedding down for winter – literally.
Like seasonal wardrobes it’s a sensible idea to accessorize your mattress for the colder months. Forget fiddly hot water bottles or thick, itchy PJs and focus on luxury bedding. If you calculate the cost to use ratio it’s well worth it. When you’ve got a busy work life in the city, it’s easy for professionals to forget just how important sleep is for a healthy body and mind. Those of us who have less than six hours sleep a night can have problems with obesity, overeating, lack of exercise, poor concentration, a greater risk of heart disease and even inflammation of the body. Yikes. So it makes total sense to make your boudoir super appealing to tempt your stressed mind in between the sheets.

England gets decidedly cooler in the winter so bulk up your bed with a thick meaty duvet. I went for The Duvet Store’s 100% Hungarian Goose Down Double Duvet 13.5 Tog (currently reduced from £265 to £238.50) made with soft, fine feathers. The thickness is perfect for the season and down filling means it’s light and fluffy. It’s 100% cotton casing dispels any rustling noises caused by tossing and turning in the night and the absence of any large feather avoids any unexpected piercing. It’s lovely to wrap yourself up in after a long, hard day slogging away.

But for the bedding pièce de résistance you’ve got to try the best kept secret in the hotel industry – a mattress topper. And I don’t just mean the foam ones which look like egg boxes, these are duvets for the mattress. I went for The Duvet Store’s 520 Count Egyptian Cotton extra deep mattress topper which came with a fitted sheet for £47.50. It easily straps onto your mattress updating it by years, in fact it can easily feel like you have a brand new mattress. The overall effect feels like a sleep sandwich incased between two cosy blankets, the mattress topper swallows you up and moulds to your body shape and sleeping position.
I love mine so much I hardly know how I slept PMT (pre-mattress topper), my biggest problem now is getting out of bed.

Sleep Hygiene tips:
1. Keep your phone in a separate room – 24-hour internet access is one of our biggest sleep distractions.
2. Limit daytime naps to half an hour
3. Reduce caffeine intake, try herbal teas instead.
4. Avoid booze and fags – they can massively interfere with your sleep patterns, especially as you get older.
5. A warm bath or quiet meditation before bed will help calm the mind to sleep.

Hannah, Heart London Magazine