Why Did You Sleep Better On Vacation?

Steal a page from the luxury hotel industry and design a home environment to promote healthy sleep.

Did you recently pass out like a toddler on your vacation and now realize just how poorly you’ve been sleeping on that sack of coils at home? You’re not alone. There’s a good reason many luxury hotels have started marketing their mattresses, but it’s not because their mattresses are special in any way. They’re simply newer and more supportive than yours.

If you’re like most people, you didn’t realize just how poorly you’ve been sleeping until you had a great night’s sleep somewhere else. In the hotel industry, a decent mattress is just the beginning. Luxury hotels understand good sleep is one of the most desirable amenities they can offer, and will design their rooms with heavy blackout curtains, sound dampening materials, luxurious sheets, and supportive pillows. All of these ideal hotel sleeping conditions trigger many people into realizing it’s time for a new mattress.

So how can you create an ideal sleeping environment at home? Here are  a few tips:

1. Replace your mattress at least every 10 years. Quality hotels replace their mattresses every 3-5, and they don’t have people sleeping in them any more nights than your bed at home does.
2. Rotate your mattress. We all tend to sleep in the same spot and in the same position, causing our mattresses to wear unevenly. It’s the same idea as rotating the tires on your car, and you should rotate your mattress at least once every 6 months.
3. Don’t skimp on the bedding. Comfy sheets and the proper pillows can make all the difference.
4. Control the ambient light. If you have bright street lamps outside your bedroom window, consider adding blackout curtains. Artificial light suppresses melatonin, a key hormone that promotes good sleep.
5. Make sure your room is quiet or at least consistent. This seems simple, but many times there are outside noises that we can’t control. If you’re in this situation, consider adding a box fan or white noise machine to drown out the unexpected noise.

Made up your mind it’s time for a new mattress?  Once you begin researching the options, you may realize it quickly becomes overwhelming to narrow them down. Sherman’s 4 Minute Mattress Match is the easiest way to find your perfect night’s sleep. You’ll lie down on a special testbed with over 2300 sensors and the computer will analyze your pressure points and give you a custom comfort rating. You’ll be able to know exactly which beds will give you the right support and the deepest sleep. If you can’t give your body another vacation, give it the best part of a vacation: that elusive-restorative- passed-out-toddler-deep-sleep.