How Does Your Mattress Affect Your Sleep Quality?
Sleep plays a vital role in your overall health and wellness. Getting enough sleep every night leads to better productivity and mental concentration, better calorie regulation, greater athletic performance, and lowers the risk of gaining weight. Your emotional intelligence and immune system will also improve if you prioritize getting at least eight hours of sleep every night.
But, regardless of how important sleep is, a lot of people still struggle to get some shuteye every night. Some are tired and worn out at the end of the day, but when they reach their beds, they find themselves twisting and turning.
If you find yourself in this kind of situation all the time, your mattress might be the culprit. This is because the quality of the mattress you regularly use can significantly affect your ability to doze off and sleep throughout the entire night.
To drive the point home, here’s how your mattress can affect your sleep quality:
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Your Mattress Could House Dust Mites That Can Trigger Allergies
In order to get some shuteye, a lot of people would strive to turn their bedrooms into dark and cold sanctuaries. They would invest in blackout curtains and AC units to help them sleep easier. There’s nothing really wrong if your bedroom also has the same ambiance, but over time, this kind of environment, coupled with an old mattress, can become the breeding ground of dust mites and other allergens.
Whenever you sleep, your body will shed off microscopic skin fibers that can serve as food to mites. The longer you use the same mattress, the more susceptible it is to dust mites and other allergens.
Aside from the presence of these intruders, their decaying bodies and feces can also trigger severe allergic reactions that’ll make it hard for you to sleep every night. Some of the most common allergic reactions you can experience because of dust mites include runny nose, sneezing, hay fever, and difficulty in breathing.
If you don’t want any of these to happen, regularly clean your mattress and bedroom. This is especially important if you have asthma or suffering from any respiratory conditions. If you suspect that your mattress is already too old that it has already become a home to mites, invest in the best futon mattress or other high-quality mattresses in the market today.
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Your Mattress Doesn’t Provide Support, Resulting To Back Pain
The amount of support your body receives from your mattress is important. In fact, a mattress that doesn’t provide adequate spine support will not only compromise the quality of your sleep – it can also become the reason why you’ll lose the natural curve of your spine and experience other health conditions, such as ligament or muscle strain, in the long run.
If you notice that you usually wake up with throbbing back pain, it’s a tell-tale sign that your mattress isn’t providing you the support that your body needs. Aside from investing in a brand new mattress that provides support, you can also consider purchasing the best CPAP pillow to properly support the entirety of your spine and neck.
It’ll be very easy for you to doze off every night if your entire body is supported and free from any type of aches and pains.
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A Mattress That’s Too Firm Can Result In Joint Pain
Different people have different preferences when it comes to the firmness of their mattresses. While some would want to sleep into something that’s too soft, others are looking for a mattress that’s firmer.
Since you’ll be putting all of your body weight to the mattress you’ll sleep on, it’s important to choose something that’s not too firm. Sleeping in a very firm mattress can cause excess pressure in your shoulders, knees, hips, and back, resulting in chronic joint pain.
It’ll be hard for you to sleep if you experience joint pain in any part of your body.
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Your Mattress Can Contribute To Night Sweats
There are several factors to consider before you can successfully improve your sleep. More often than not, you need to stay in a well-ventilated room to ensure that you can sleep soundly.
How can you possibly sleep every night if the room is too humid? How can you rest well if you’re shivering from too much cold?
Since temperature plays an important role in your ability to sleep, you should pay extra attention to your mattress since this can also contribute to night sweats. This is especially true if the mattress you’re using right now is made from dense foam and other materials that naturally hug your body. Instead of releasing the heat from your body, these materials can trap your body’s natural heat and result in excessive sweating and heat retention.
Waking up in the middle of the night feeling like you’re sleeping in your own sweat can surely disrupt your sleeping patterns.
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Using The Wrong Mattress Can Result In Stress And Anxiety
Losing sleep because of the above-mentioned reasons will not only affect your physical health, but it can also take a toll on your mental health and make it challenging for you to maintain your focus. Regularly losing sleep every night can have adverse effects on your cognitive functions and, eventually, can cause drastic changes in your behavior and personality.
If you want to properly care for your mental health, assess the quality of the mattress you’re using right now, and check if it allows you to sleep well every night. Using a comfortable mattress that makes it very easy for you to sleep and stay asleep can effectively ward off depression, bipolar disorder, and even anxiety disorders.
Using a high-quality mattress can improve your mental health, allowing you to do more physical activities during the day and make healthier lifestyle choices.
Consider Buying A New Mattress
If you want to improve your sleep pattern and get more sleep every single night, assess the condition of your mattress. If you’re using something that’s more than eight years old and no longer provides the comfort you once enjoyed, it’s best if you replace your old mattress with a new one.
The mattress you sleep in every night should support your body and pressure points, not become the reason why you’ll wake up with severe body aches and pains.
If your sleep problems are caused by more than just the wrong mattress, call Alaska Sleep Clinic today
and speak with one of our board-certified sleep specialists. Our free consultation will get you on the right track to improving your sleep and your life.