If sleep be the food of love, snooze on!

Ok, so we’re having a shameful play around with one of the most famous quotes from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Now we’re not suggesting we take sleep to excess like Orsino, but like love, sleep is an essential part of our human make-up.

Sleep Research

A survey by the Sleep Council found that nearly half of us are getting just six hours sleep or less a night. (Sleep Council ‘Toxic Sleep’ survey, January 2011). Other research has suggested that sleeping too much or too little can be a contributing factor towards getting diabetes. People who get five or less hours of sleep a night are five times more likely to contract diabetes than those who get over seven. (Asahikawa University and Hokkaido University, 2012)

Getting the right amount of sleep helps us deal with the day ahead. Too little and we’re just not functioning at our best. Of course getting a good night’s sleep requires us to follow good lifestyle habits and to eliminate the factors that are causing disturbed sleep. For example creating the right bedroom environment from the lighting in our rooms to turning off gadgets and power supplies that are disturbing our slumbers.  Avoiding foods and drinks that can hinder sleep and adding some exercise into our daily routines all helps to aid more restful sleep.

At Dalzell’s we take our customers’ sleep concerns seriously. That’s why, with the assistance of our friends in The Sleep Council, we’ve compiled a list of sleep tips that will have you more star-crossed lover than sleep-deprived sufferer this Valentine’s Night!

Sleep Tips

  1. Try going to bed and getting up at roughly the same time every day. This will help programme the body to sleep better.
  2. Ensure your bedroom is a restful sleeping environment. Neither too hot, nor too cold; and as quiet and dark as possible.
  3. Make sure the bed and mattress you sleep on is comfortable. Having the correct support and comfort levels from your bed is essential to good sleep. It’s difficult to get deep, restful sleep on a bed that’s too soft, too hard, too small or too old. A bigger bed is better too to avoid partner disturbance.
  4. Try and add some exercise into your daily routine, but not too close to bedtime or it may keep you awake!
  5. Too much food or alcohol, especially late at night, can play havoc with sleep patterns. Now we’re not trying to be spoilsports here as there may be a few bottles of bubbly popped this evening; remember though alcohol may help you fall asleep initially, but will interrupt your sleep later on in the night.
  6. Try to relax before going to bed. What better excuse, and Valentine’s gift to yourself, than to have a lovely bubbly, warm soak in the bath.
  7. If you can’t sleep, get up and do something you find relaxing until you feel sleepy again – then go back to bed. The perfect excuse to watch that latest Rom Com or leaf through a few pages of 50 shades of something! Oh come on, it is Valentine’s Day after all!

‘Good night, good night. Parting is such sweet sorrow,

That I shall say good night till it be morrow.’

What to do next

At Dalzell’s of Markethill our expert staff are on-hand to advise on any sleep questions you  may have. As an accredited Sleep Council retailer we take your sleep concerns seriously and will provide you with the best advice on beds, mattresses and bedding to suit your particular circumstances. Visit us in-store, call 028 3755 1260 or email where you’ll find lots of information on getting a good night’s sleep, best buys and choosing the right bed for you. A short drive from Lisburn and located conveniently between Armagh and Newry, we’re perfectly placed to accommodate your new bed purchase. What’s more, we provide a Free Collection and Recycling of Your Old Bed service and Free Delivery of your New Bed throughout Northern Ireland, and Counties Louth, Monaghan and Dublin. *Delivery throughout the rest of Ireland available at Highly Competitive Rates.