What is ‘Revenge Bedtime Procrastination’ and Are You a Victim to It?

A term that has been gaining a lot of attention lately in the sleep industry is ‘revenge bedtime procrastination’. This phenomenon refers to the behavior of people to intentionally delay their bedtime because they want to spend time doing what they want. The ‘revenge’ part refers to the act of taking back the time one might have lost during the day doing something they do not like or enjoy.

The term is coined and popular in China. With their notorious ‘996 schedule’ which refers to a work schedule of 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., 6 days a week. This amounts to 72 hours of work in a week, something that some countries will consider criminally high.

And with so much time spent at work, people can barely do anything else in their days anymore. Forget hobbies, meeting up with friends, or even having some substantial family time since there are other things that can take up one’s time like commute and sleep.

Unfortunately, in such cases, sleep has become the most expendable activity for many. Instead of sleeping, many opt to stay awake instead so they can still do other things. In turn, their health and performance suffer.

While we don’t have a culture that endorses a 996 schedule, there’s still a very good chance that revenge bedtime procrastination is happening in this country. With how hectic and stressful things can be, from one’s work, commute, and even personal life, some might want to spend a few hours of their time doing what they want to de-stress. Unfortunately, doing so comes at the cost of one’s sleep.

By choosing to delay sleep, people get feel like they’re regaining some control over their lives. So even if they look and function like a zombie the next day and they incur massive sleep debt over time, many still soldier on. It’s an unfortunate phenomenon, especially since it will have a major impact on one’s health.

Are you indulging in ‘self-revenge’?

Wondering if you’re engaged in such a behavior? If you find yourself delaying your sleep for one non-essential reason to another, there’s a very good chance that you are doing some self-revenge. This is particularly true if you don’t like what you do during the day and you feel like you should make up for the time you spent on other stuff by engaging in activities that you actually enjoy.

It can be argued that spending an hour or two engaging in a relaxing activity that you enjoy shouldn’t be considered as ‘self-revenge’ and that can be true. However, if you’re already very strapped for time and an hour or two will already cost you your precious 7-8 hrs of shuteye, then it can already count as self-revenge. Now, if you sleep at 2 a.m. even if you could’ve dozed off at 10 or 11 p.m. just so you can binge a whole series or get far in the novel you’re reading, then you definitely need to reassess your bedtime routine.

How to Deal with Revenge Bedtime Procrastination

If you already fell into the habit of delaying your zzz’s to do something you enjoy, then, you certainly have to do something about it. It might seem complicated but it’s truly very straightforward. You just need to go to sleep at the right time.

Executing this idea, however, can be a major challenge. With a routine like this, you can already find yourself averse to sleeping early so you need to change your behavior towards sleep. This will need some discipline and commitment to improving your slumber and overall health.

We won’t discuss the steps in improving your sleep anymore as we’ve already talked about that hundreds of times before. The general idea is to cultivate a good bedtime routine and sleep hygiene. Its strict implementation and you following through will help you improve your zzz’s unless you have a condition that will prevent you from getting more shuteye. In such cases, addressing that problem will a necessary first step.

You should also focus on the root cause of the problem if you tend to commit ‘self-revenge’. If you work long hours, maybe you should try to make some adjustments in that area. If your commute to work is too long, maybe moving to a new place that’s nearer to your workplace would be ideal. Improving your time management is also important in battling this problem. Your willingness and determination to make things better will help you get rid of your revenge bedtime procrastination.

Image from here.

How Do You Sleep? Understand Your Zzz’s to Improve It in 2021

Sleeping better is an excellent New Year’s resolution for 2021. High-quality zzz’s offers lots of benefits which will prove to come in handy, especially during the pandemic, so why not attempt to take advantage of it?

if you’re already considering changing your sleeping habits for the better, the first thing that you need to do is to assess your current sleep hygiene. Doing so will allow you to identify your problem areas, address the issues, and craft a good plan that will work best for you.

How do you better understand your zzz’s, though? Let this guide clue you in on the most important points that you should know about your sleep habits.

Count how many hours of sleep you normally get at night.

This is one of the first things that will teach you if you’re getting enough slumber or not. While there are some people who can survive on just a few hours of shuteye nightly, it’s still believed that a large chunk of the population still need at least 8 hours of sleep every night.

Take note of when you usually start feeling sleepy.

If you have a regular sleep schedule, you’ll start to feel sleepy around the time you usually hit the hay. This should help you learn if you’ve already created a routine. From there, you can tweak the little details so you can improve the quality of your zzz’s.

Figure out how you wake up.

If you wake up on your own around the same time every day, there’s a very good chance that you already have a regular sleep pattern. It’s not necessarily a sign of high- quality sleep but it’s a start. It means that you can stick to a schedule so now you only really need to work on improving it to get better slumber.

Pay attention to how quickly you doze off.

If you fall asleep the moment your head hits the pillow, there’s a very good chance that you’re sleep deprived. If it takes you more than 30 minutes to doze off, there’s a good chance that you’re not getting good sleep.

Take note of when you feel the most energetic.

There are different types of people based on chronotype or circadian typology. This determines the differences in level of activity and alertness of a person in the morning and evening. Some are just designed to work better at certain times of the day so it’s best to find out what your peak productivity time is so you can map your day accordingly, especially your sleep.

If, for example, you’re a morning person, sleeping early and waking up early would be ideal for you as you can be more productive. Night people should be able to go to bed and get up late as they operate best later in the day. Forcing yourself to go against your chronotype is unproductive and unhealthy.

Assess how you feel on a regular basis.

Are you always feeling tired and lethargic? If yes, it’s likely because you don’t get enough zzz’s. If you often fall asleep during the day, it’s a good confirmation that you’re not meeting your body’s need for shuteye.

Feeling stressed and emotionally exhausted are also great signs that you’re not getting enough sleep. Sleep deprivation can significantly affect your mood, so if you’re quite irritable all the time when you generally have a happy disposition should clue you in on the fact that you need more zzz’s.

Take a hard look at your diet.

Do you often crave for sweets, caffeine, carbs, or just about anything that can help you stave off your sleepiness? We tend to turn to food when we need an energy boost because we’re feeling tired so this is also a good sign that you’re not getting enough sleep.

Learn from the experts

Another way to get to know your sleep better would be through quick quizzes like this. Created by experts, they can help you learn important details that can help you get better acquainted with your zzz’s.

How to Use the Information Above to Improve Your Zzz’s

Once you’ve assessed these key points about your sleep habits, you can already take steps in improving the quality of your shuteye. Use the information on your chronotype to best craft a sleep schedule that will suit your needs at take note of the cues your body sends you to help you find the right amount of shuteye your body needs.

Most importantly, making sleep a priority will also be an essential step if you truly want to sleep better in 2021. Improving your shuteye is not a walk in the park – it will require quite a lot of work from you so you have to be committed to it. The benefits you’ll enjoy will be well worth the effort, so we strongly recommend going through the process.

Sleep Vectors by Vecteezy

Prioritizing Sleep in 2021

2020 has been a tough year for a lot of us with the pandemic still raging and lots of people’s lives have experienced significant changes in a short span of time. These have certainly impacted lives in various degrees that bouncing back in 2021 feels like a must.

If you’re looking for ways to do just that, we recommend that you add getting more zzz’s in your to-do list. Better quality sleep can help address a lot of your concerns even if it doesn’t really seem like it at first glance. By prioritizing sleep, you can enjoy the following and you might just manage 2021 in better shape than you did 2020:

Better stress management

Stress and sleep has a complicated relationship wherein high levels of stress can make it hard for people to sleep but if you get a good amount of zzz’s, you’ll be able to handle stressors more effectively. However, it’s not impossible to get better shuteye even during stressful times. It would take quite a bit of work but it can be done and the benefits will surely be worth it.

By working on improving the quality and duration of your sleep, you can also enjoy better mood. It’s also very useful for boosting your mental health, helping you keep anxiety and depression at bay.

Better health

Better sleep also promises better overall health as it improves quite a lot of bodily functions. It helps your heart health, boosts immunity, keeps your sugar levels in check, and even assists in weight loss. This shouldn’t come as a surprise as sleep is a basic necessity but lots of folks still get shocked to learn that improving their sleep can help them get in better shape. Studies have established the connections of sleep to improved health, however, so if you want to be healthier in 2021, you should work on improving your zzz’s.

So if you’ve always sacrificed your sleep just so you can do more within 24 hours, it’s time to reconsider and pay some attention to your zzz’s. This activity might be what you need to improve your overall health and well being in 2021.

One thing that can help improve your zzz’s would be a cozy bed. Check out your options from our selection here.

Bedtime Laughter Might Help Boost Your Zzz’s

We’ve all heard of the saying that “laughter is the best medicine” and if you missed the memo, it’s a science-backed fact. Laughing has both short and long-term effects that can boost your health from improving your air circulation to relieving your stress response and providing some pain relief. It can also help boost your immune system by releasing neuropeptides that can fight off stress hormones which can cause ill effects on your body.

Aside from these, it turns out that laughter can be very helpful to your slumber as well. And as you should know by now, with better quality sleep also comes better overall health, so getting a good laugh on the regular is certainly good for your well being.

But how does laughter help your sleep, you might be wondering? According to Dr Nerina Ramlakhan, an expert sleep therapist and neurophysiologist, a good belly laugh before hitting the hay can be beneficial for your sleep.

The idea behind this is simple: laughter will help decrease the levels of your stress hormones which can then help you relax and ease into sleep. Stress is one of the biggest reasons why you toss and turn in bed at night so combating those with something as simple as a good laugh will be a great help for your shuteye. It can be brought in by a funny TV show or video clip, talking to someone who makes you laugh, or reading something funny.

With a large chunk of the population experiencing sleep issues during the pandemic, talking about simple tricks like this that can boost one’s slumber will be of great help. If you’ve tried lots of things just to fall asleep easier at night and did not get good results, this is another option to try out. With how easy getting a good laugh can be, it might just turn out to be the very addition your bedtime needs for a good night’s sleep.

Quality Sleep can Help Boost Your Flu Shot’s Effects

Medical experts from various parts of the world are recommending people to get flu shots this year as a way to toughen up their immunity. The idea is that because COVID-19 and the flu have similar symptoms, being able to reduce your odds of contracting the flu might be quite helpful in detecting signs of coronavirus infection. So if you have access to it, you might want to consider getting the shot.

However, if you want to get more out of your flu shot, sleep specialist Matthew Walker says that having a good sleep hygiene will benefit you. He cited a study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association that suggests the quality of sleep on the night prior to a vaccination is critical to the efficacy of the vaccine.

Why? According to studies, not getting enough sleep will cause an up to 50% of antibodies production reduction. With lower antibodies in your system, the vaccine will be rendered less effective if at all.

It’s also a fact that sleep boosts immunity, so by sleeping better, you can further beef up your immune system. Since the flu vaccine typically has live virus to elicit a reaction from the body to prepare it against future infections, having a strong immune system will really help you out.

Experts recommend getting at least 7 hours or more in order to get your body’s daily dose of zzz’s.

The Best Times to Drink Water to Get Great Zzz’s

“Drink lots of water.” This is possibly the top health tip that can apply to a large number of health concerns in existence today. Feeling tired? Drink water as it can help give you some energy and feel more awake. Got dry skin or hair? Drink lots of water as hydrating your body will also help hydrate such body parts. In pain? Drink lots of water as hydration can help the body reduce pain. It’s truly astounding how drinking water can help your health in various ways.

With these said, it shouldn’t be surprising that drinking water can also help your zzz’s. In fact, we’ve already written about this topic before. You can read how your sleep can benefit by keeping yourself hydrated HERE.

However, while we push for water drinking, we also understand that it can be a bit difficult to do. There are certain times of the day that you don’t want to feel the urge to urinate as the logistics can be tricky. It would also be a problem to load up in the evenings as it can disrupt your slumber. But then again, not drinking water before bed can make you dehydrated throughout the night which can also wake you up because you’re feeling parched or your legs have cramped.

This is why we want to discuss more about timing your drinks accordingly. By doing this, you can stay hydrated all throughout the day without having to affect your other activities negatively.

For sleep, here are the best times to hydrate:

1. Upon waking up.

It’s highly recommended to drink a glass of cold or room temperature water upon waking up. Doing so will benefit you in these ways:

• Wake you up and give you some energy to start the day.
• Jumpstart your metabolism.
• Replenish the fluids you expelled as sweat while you were asleep.

2. With your meals.

It’s important to drink water with your meal as it aids digestion. It can also help you feel fuller, allowing you to eat less if you’re trying to lose some weight.

Drinking lots of water with meals is also helpful for your zzz’s as it will also help ensure that you’re hydrating yourself at a regular interval.

It’s best to stick with just water when you’re trying to hydrate yourself but any other beverage can contribute to your daily needs. However, some may contain sugars which can cause thirst so they’re not necessarily great options if you want to quench your thirst. Others have empty calories, too, so if you’re trying to be healthy, they’re not necessarily the best options.

Drinking coffee with breakfast not recommended by experts, however. Since coffee is a diuretic, it can hinder the replenishment of loss fluids in your body in the morning. This doesn’t mean that you can’t or should not drink coffee at all, though, it’s just best to put it off to about 2 to 3 hours after you wake up so you can focus on rehydrating your body first.

3. All throughout the day.

Especially in a hot country like ours, replenishing our body with liquids is essential if you want to stay in top shape and perform well. This is why it’s crucial to drink continuously all throughout the day.

Remember: Don’t let yourself feel thirsty as it’s a sign that you’re already somewhat dehydrated. Experts say that it’s ideal to drink 2-3 cups of water per hour to avoid dehydration. Drinking more than the said amount is essential if you’re sweating a lot.

If you’re going to commute, however, and you’re worried about the traffic, you might be better off in holding off hydrating until you get to your destination. This way, you don’t have to worry about having the need to go to the bathroom while you’re traveling.

4. Before going to bed.

Experts recommend drinking a glass of water before hitting the sack as it will help keep you hydrated as you sleep but not too much that you’ll have to wake up because you have to pee. If you’re still worried because you often have to get out of bed in the middle of the night to urinate, it could be because you drink too much water before your bedtime, you have a sleep condition, or an overactive bladder. In such cases, seeing your doctor is necessary.

Scheduling your liquid intake can have a huge impact on the quality of your sleep so it’s best to pay closer attention to it. The benefits you’ll get afterwards are definitely worth the effort.

Beauty Sleep can Really be Taken Literally

We know we’ve talked about beauty sleep before and how it helps improve your skin, recent studies further attest to the earlier findings. It’s been found that disruptions in one’s circadian rhythm can also affect the body’s ability to synthesize collagen, the substance that is responsible for your skin’s elasticity. This can result to faster skin aging as chronic sleep deprivation can increase your cortisol levels, make your skin more susceptible to environmental damage, as well as increase inflammation and acne. High cortisol levels also breaks down collagen, so on top of damaged, inflamed, and acne-ridden skin, sleep deprivation will also result to aging.

Another proof that ‘beauty sleep’ is real is the fact that skin aging is attributed to two things: genetics and epigenetics. Genetics make up for 25% of it, meaning you don’t get much of a say if your family’s skin ages rather quickly. However, 75% of it is contributed by environmental and lifestyle factors like sleep, so that’s where you should work hard. By getting enough zzz’s and taking steps to protect your skin, you can definitely slow down your skin’s aging process.

So if you need some additional motivation to get better zzz’s, maybe better skin would convince you. By getting ample sleep, you’ll also be able to fight signs of aging on your skin, so that’s a great trade off, if you ask us. Give it a go and you might just unlock the key to a successful skin care routine.

How to Keep Your Bed Virus-Free

Your bed may be the coziest space in your home but it’s not necessarily the cleanest. Dust and shed dead skin cells will certainly accumulate on its surface and sweat and other bodily fluids can get absorbed into its cover fabric and top layers of foam. Even if you try your best to keep it clean, there’s no guarantee that it will be spotless.

Then, of course, there are bacteria and viruses that can make your bed a hotspot in your home. This is true for the common cold and flu. And even if the coronavirus is primarily passed on from person to person, it might still linger on the surface of the mattress for a day or two. This can still spread the virus and create serious health problems for many.

If you want to make sure that you won’t bring viral diseases to your bed, here are a few things that you can do:

Never lay down in your bed while still wearing the clothes you wore outside.

It’s highly recommended to shower and change clothes as soon as you come back home after being outside. This means that you should also make sure not to get your outside clothes in contact with your bed so the virus won’t be transferred there.

If you had the coronavirus, disinfect your mattress and pillows once you’ve recovered.

If you survived an infection, even as an asymptomatic patient, it’s important to disinfect your mattress as well to increase your odds of getting rid of the virus altogether. While the coronavirus is believed to die on surfaces within a couple of days, it’s still best to err on the side of caution if you can. This is especially important as cases of reinfection are on the rise, so if you don’t want to fall ill again, it would be best to just try your best to get rid of the virus on every surface that you’ve made contact with.

Here are the steps to disinfect your mattress:

Steam vacuum the surface.

This will help deep clean the surface of your mattress and remove the contaminants from it. If you don’t have a steam vacuum, you can also just vacuum the surface thoroughly to get rid of the dust and debris on the surface.

Spray a disinfecting solution.

To make sure that you’ll kill the virus that may be on the surface of your bed, make sure to spray an effective disinfecting solution on it and let it sit for a while. This will ensure that the virus will be killed and destroyed. Dry the mattress before using it again.

There are several products that you can use for this purpose. You can check this EPA list for quick reference. Some are easier to find than others, so be quite thorough when going through the list. Avoid the ones that contain bleach and chlorine, however, as they can be quite damaging to the materials of your mattress.

Wash your bedclothes a few times and leave it in the sun to dry.

Treat your bedclothes like the way you treat your regular clothes and wash and disinfect it properly to kill the virus that might be lurking on its surface. For safe measure, use laundry detergents with bleach unless the material recommends against it. If you can wash them with hot water, that’s also a good idea. If you can’t, drying it under the sun may be a good alternative to using hot water. Do this 2 to 3 times before using the bedclothes again for safe measure.

Clean your pillows thoroughly, by washing, if possible, or by disinfecting.

The pillows you used when you were sick should always be washed or cleaned properly to avoid reinfection. This is true not just for the coronavirus but also for coughs, cold, and the flu. Since you are in close contact with your pillow for long periods, it’s essential that you keep it clean so you’ll stay healthy.

If you can’t wash your pillow, you can also do the vacuum and spray method used in your mattress. Leaving it under the sun to dry is also a good idea for extra safety measure.

However, if your pillow is already quite old, throwing it out might be more ideal.

Air out your bedroom.

Due to the small size of viruses, you should also make sure to push it out of your bedroom or enclosed space by airing it out. Open the windows and take steps to improve the circulation of air inside. This will help further remove any lingering virus inside.

Disinfect the surfaces of your bedroom.

To avoid bringing illnesses to your bed, the area surrounding it should be clean, too. Apply the safety measures you use in the shared areas in your home to your bedroom to further minimize the odds of bringing viruses to your bed.

Cleaning your bed after you get sick is an important step to avoid getting ill again or spreading the disease to the other people in your home. Taking steps to avoid bringing the coronavirus or any kind of virus to it is also ideal since we spend a lot of time in bed on a daily basis.

DISCLAIMER:
The tips mentioned above are based on recommendations from experts. These are not medical advice about the treatment of COVID-19 or for the prevention of its reinfection. We do not vouch for their effectiveness against the coronavirus, especially since studies are still ongoing about the handling of the said virus. These are just general tips on cleaning mattresses after its user got sick with a virus. For scientific and medical-based advice, please refer to the Department of Health and the World Health Organization’s advisories.

How Naps can Benefit Your Brain Health

Naps tend to be better enjoyed nowadays, what with more and more of us losing nighttime sleep and the rainy season upon us. But did you know that they can be extra beneficial to those with a healthy sleep schedule?

According to experts, cat naps that take about 20-40 minutes taken from 1-4 pm promise significant brain benefits like better health and boosted memory. These naps can be restorative, allowing your brain to process information and do some repairs.

It should be noted, however, that these benefits are only really seen in those with healthy sleep. Those who are sleep deprived may not necessarily get the same kinds of benefits since they do lack some zzz’s in the first place. So if you want to enjoy such perks, it would be best if you can improve the quality of your sleep first.

Where can you nap comfortably? Anywhere, really, especially with our foldable mattresses. You can find the complete range at Puregold stores that carry Salem Bed products. Find these stores by clicking here.

This Diet Addition Might Be What Your Sleep Needs

Scientists have already established that diet can really impact a person’s sleep. This is why many of us try to eat dinner at the right time or do strategic midnight snacking. In addition to the diet hacks you try to boost your zzz’s, you might also want to consider adding prebiotics to your diet.

Prebiotics are a lot like probiotics since they also help foster the growth of the ecosystem in your digestive tract. As most people know, the bacteria and fungi in your gut also contribute to your overall health, so nurturing the right ones will be beneficial for you. The main difference between the two is that probiotics are good bacteria that add to the ecosystem while prebiotics are non-digestible food items that are more food for the bacteria in your gut.

According to a new study, prebiotics has shown positive effects on sleep and can also help boost stress resistance. By feeding the microorganisms in your gut, they help create a good relationship between them and the body which then has a good impact on the brain. This translates to better sleep as the study noted how the test subjects have shown to spend more time in non-REM sleep which is the more restorative phase in sleep. They have also shown evidence that they can keep sleepers in REM sleep for longer, promising more effective stress recovery.

However, while the amount of prebiotics that a person needs to intake before they start to see the effects on their sleep is still unknown, scientists are still taking the new discovery in a positive light. It can certainly encourage more exploration of the relationship between sleep and prebiotics, so it’s certainly a good start.

It still wouldn’t hurt to add more of these fibers into your diet, though. Since they can also help boost your digestion, consuming them in healthy amounts is always recommended.

What are the best examples of prebiotics? Here are some that you might enjoy:

Garlic

Garlic’s fiber content comes from inulin and the prebiotic known as the fructooligosaccharides or FOS.

Onions

Similar to garlic, onions also contain inulin and FOS as its sources of fiber.

Leeks

Since leeks are from the same family as onions, they share similar health benefits. However, leeks have higher inulin content and also has lots of vitamin K and flavonoids.

Bananas

Bananas may not have as much inulin but it’s rich in resistant starch that has similar effects to prebiotics.

Asparagus

With high content of inulin and protein, the asparagus can be a great addition to your next meal.

Apples

Packed with pectin, apples are definitely rich with prebiotics.

Cocoa

Cocoa is a great source of flavanols which are associated with healthy growth of gut bacteria, making it a nice source of prebiotics as well.

You may not know it but it’s highly likely that you’re already consuming prebiotics on a daily basis. It’s just a matter of increasing your consumption to better boost their effects to your zzz’s.