Healthy sleep
What is a healthy sleep?
You had a pleasant day. Filled or filled by your work, regular meals, you’ve taken time to balance yourself: sports, yoga, jogging, a round of golf or a walk. There are endless possibilities.
You have a free head in the evening, you may withdraw and read a beautiful book or paint in a quiet atmosphere, make music – you take your time for yourself.
This is to be avoided for healthy sleep:
Watching TV in bed, working on a PC, alcohol or heavy meals are not your first choice. You leave your fingers on valerian or other substances that supposedly make you tired or give you a good night’s sleep.
The basis for good sleep:
So you would have created a good base for your body to get tired.
This is matched by going to bed at a suitable time for you and giving you the opportunity to sleep in peace for 8-9 hours a day.
Your bedroom is neither too cold nor too warm. You lie well bedded: a mattress and a pillow that support you, a bed in which you don’t sweat. Natural materials surround you and give you long-term support in your healthy sleep.
You wake up refreshed and cheerful in the morning and can start the day full of energy and look forward to the things that are coming.
Regeneration in sleep
You offer yourself and your body the opportunity to regenerate night after night, to recharge strength and to process what you have lived and lived. Your bodily functions, such as your circulation and breathing, are slowing down. Your heartbeat becomes calmer. Your consciousness is switched from your brain to sleep mode. What you have learned and experienced are transferred from short-term memory to your long-term memory. Reminders are consolidated and information is processed.
So you’re tired in bed, shut tingles and slide into your sleep.
This is what a healthy sleep looks like.
Do you sleep like that? Would you like to experience such a sleep? It sounds like a picture book and yet it’s not a story. This is healthy sleep that we should and can all have every day. Unfortunately, many of us have walked away from a deep, restful sleep.
Here’s not how you’re recovering:
You often stay up to the “don’t go-no-more” until you fall your eyes. Many lie in bed in the evening with their mobile phones, look into the computer on the side and possibly watch TV in the same 
room afterwards. Sport and healthy eating are too short, the evening beer is also too often on the table. Because the cycle is not moving, we start to freeze and heat the bedroom too warm and fresh air we see only in the morning on the way to the car again. We long for the weekend to finally “sleep out”. But this only works to a limited extent and even if we lie in bed for a long time, it doesn’t feel like a rested night afterwards, but rather like a night without a party.
Those who sleep in this way are overexploiting their bodies. You can’t get your performance 100 and you can’t regenerate.
The good thing is that a healthy sleep can be put back into action at any time.
Healthy sleep is important for your brain
It’s not just the sleeping environment and that that contributes to a healthy sleep. As you sleep, so much more than just lying there and waking up the next day.
When you sleep, your brain starts to fully charge its batteries.
5 sleep phases
During your healthy sleep, your body goes through 5 phases of sleep. The sleep phase, light sleep phase, two deep sleep phases and the REM phase.
As soon as we fall asleep, our body begins to go through the different phases. In these sleep phases, our brain processes the information of the day. Learned and memories are transferred to the long-term memory.
So our brain is very active, helping us to regenerate and relax mentally.
If you are in deep sleep for long enough, your muscle coordination and immune system will also benefit. Recreation takes place at all levels.
Healthy sleep runs cycles, with each cycle ending with the dream phase, REM sleep.
Deep sleep is especially important because there the muscles relax, blood pressure can drop and breathing can slow down. There is also an increased level of tissue growth and repair. Only in these deep sleep phases are hormones released and energy refuelled. Sufficient deep sleep is therefore extremely important for every person.
Course of the sleep cycle
The course of the sleep phases is repeated somewhat every 90 minutes, with the exception of the sleep phase.
- Phase: Sleep phase: Our muscles begin to loosen, sounds are still remotely perceptible, our breathing slows down
- Phase: light sleep: Our body relaxes even more: breathing and pulse slow down even more. We are slowly sliding into the deep sleep phase. In the light sleep phase we also like to “twitch” times. Do you know that, you run in a dream and suddenly fall down? In the second phase, it is more of a superficial sleep.
- Phase: Transition to deep sleep: we are completely relaxed. No physical exercise.
- Phase: Deep sleep: It is the most important phase of all. Here we can recover physically as well as psychologically. For a healthy sleep, it is therefore very important how long we are in the deep sleep phase. Sleepwalkers and also the speech in sleep takes place in this phase.
- Phase: REM stands for REM = Rapid Eye Movement. In this sleep phase, our eyes move very fast behind the eyelids. We dream intensely and our sleep is not quite as deep anymore. We are easily awakened by our dreams. Normally, muscle activity is inhibited at this stage, but it also happens that people live out their dreams in the form of kicking, beating and sleepwalking.
Sleep disturbances or lack of sleep
Sleep disturbances or lack of sleep interrupt the course of the sleep phases and thus also our learning success or regeneration. In the long run, we are exhausted: physically and mentally.
Healthy sleep is essential for your intact immune system.
If we do not sleep “healthy” at night, we feel stricken the next day, we are irritable and energyless. The consequence of unhealthy sleep can be far-reaching. Our immune system can be weakened and our mental health (such as the development of depression) can suffer. We’re not as powerful either.
In summary, we can say:
For a healthy sleep you need the following factors:
– sleep through in a healthy environment
– sufficient sleep time,
– going through the sleep phases to process what you have experienced
– a healthy way of life during the day, so that you can sleep healthily at night.
You have it in your hand,
whether you can sleep a healthy way. What can you change to optimize your sleep?
Restful sleep is an important prerequisite for health, well-being and performance.
A good day starts the night before.
Questions about healthy sleep:
Why is sleep so important to us?
Healthy sleep enables our body to repair itself, memories are solidified and we process information from our everyday life. If we don't have a good night's sleep, this has a negative impact on our physical and mental state.
Which factors are crucial for a healthy sleep?
In order to sleep through and get a good night's sleep, you should take action during the day: a balanced diet, exercise for your relaxation and stress relief, a healthy sleeping environment with the right mattress, pillow and duvet, a comfortable room temperature and the right one Sleep time will help you get a healthy night's sleep.
How many hours should I generally sleep at night so that we are fit and rested?
Between 8-9 hours are optimal. However, this is not a guarantee of healthy sleep. Above all, it is important that our body enters the dream and deep sleep phase in these 8-9 hours in order to be able to regenerate completely and to wake up rested and fit.
What can I do about sleep disorders?
In order to get back into balance and feel fatigue, you should avoid disturbing factors in bed such as: light from cell phones, computers and television, alcohol, stress, too warm sleeping temperature. Try to relax beforehand through sports, night walks or reading and create a calming atmosphere.
Which mattress is the best for a healthy sleep?
So that we can fall asleep and sleep through relaxed, the bed should promote a good sleeping climate and wick away moisture, support it and help our muscles to relax. It should also have antimicrobial properties so that mites don't feel at home. These are an allergy trigger.
Which pillow should I use for a healthy sleep?
We recommend a pillow that supports the head and neck. It should be breathable and not force posture. That is why there are pillows that can be individually filled to meet your own support needs.
What sleep phases are there?
There are 5 sleep phases that are part of a healthy sleep. The sleep phase, light sleep phase, 2 deep sleep phases and the REM phase. (Rapid eye movement = rapid eye movements). As soon as we fall asleep, our body begins with the different phases.
What happens in the sleep phases?
During these sleep phases, our brain processes the information of the day. So it is very active and a blessing for our well-being. The sleep phases are repeated every 90 minutes with the exception of the sleep phase.
Can a healthy sleep help me regenerate? Do I get fitter?
Yes. A good night's sleep is essential for well-being, performance and our health. If we are not well rested, this affects many areas of our life and we cannot call the actual performance. Mentally and physically.
Did you know
We spend 1/3 (!) Of our lives in bed. We sleep a third of our life and spend this valuable time in one place: in our bedroom. That is why the focus should be on a healthy sleeping environment and a healthy sleep. He rarely gets the attention he deserves.