Waking up not fully mentally revived or energized is a harbinger for poor sleep quality. Sleep quality is a function of several factors - ranging from bed, through lifestyle to sicknesses.
A finding made by the United States Sleep Foundation shows that people seek medical attention for cases such as fever, body pain and the likes, but rarely do that for cases of poor sleep quality.
Poor quality sleep has been implicated in several poor health conditions such as low immunity, physical body pain due to soreness of several skeletal muscles, nerve compression, most importantly, reduced intelligence quotient (IQ). This is corroborated by the position of the United State Sleep Foundation that sleep problems and lack of sleep problem affect every facet of an individual's life - from personal and work productivity to behavioral and relationship problems.
So many cases of low IQ are regrettably traceable to poor night's sleep quality. This is owing to the fact that the stage of sleep called the rapid eye movement (REM) elude the sufferers of this case, as a result of several interruptions of the sleep cycles and circadian rhythm. Sleep occurs in cycles in the sense that it progresses from p-wave (the first stage of sleep) to REM (the fifth level of sleep) and back to p-wave, not to the fourth level, when interrupted. I It is not like coming down the ladder after climbing. Here it is like jumping down from the highest height. And findings show that memories are concretized in the brain during REM.
So many individuals suffer low cognition, owing to the disruption of their sleep circadian rhythm. Circadian rhythm is the sleep and wake rhythm matched with the rhythm of rotation of the sun. A disruption of the circadian rhythm engenders mental fatigue, and is always difficult to correct.
Some surprising findings show that sleep quality depend mostly on bed quality. This is to say that sleep disruption and poor sleep quality are mainly caused by poor bed quality. Bed quality is determined mostly by mattress quality. Pillows also form part of the bed.
Pillows
Pillows come in different forms sizes and shapes. Research shows that pillows are used to support and put the body in the right posture while lying on the bed to rest or sleep.
The best lying posture is lying with a pillow under the knees and the head and neck resting on another pillow while lying on the back. But while lying on the side, a different kind of pillow support is applied. The pillow under knee is not necessary here
The use of pillows, sometimes, could be a preventive or corrective/curative preventive measure to deal with postural issues of patients. In this case, different kinds of pillows are used to bring the body curvature to it's proper alignment.
Mattress
Mattresses come in different forms and qualities. But one should be concerned more about how the quality of mattress supports the quality of sleep that revives and energizes the brain for maximal cognitive performance. A mattress is of when it supports the best and healthiest body curvature/posture during sleep or rest. This makes one to wake up feeling reinvigorated. How posture affects brain health and cognition has been x-rayed in an earlier blog. Also, how quality sleep overhauls and repairs the brain is a popular post on this blog. These two blogs buttress the facts here.
Good bed; good sleep. Good sleep; good brain.
