According to The Dalai Lama, “sleep is the best meditation”. He spends a couple of hours preparing for sleep and then sleeps eight or nine hours a night. His mattress must be comfortable. For the sake of our health, we would do well to follow his sleep schedule. However, the comfort of your mattress should be the first consideration. Your health depends on your sleep.

If the stuffing is falling out of your mattress or if you sleep better other places than you do at home, consider buying a new mattress. There are so many to choices. Descriptive words like plush, firm, soft, and memory foam can be confusing. Medium Firm works for most sleepers and gives your body the right support. Prices are all over the place and may dictate product longevity but not necessarily comfort. Add more comfort and support and get a better night sleep by trying the new Live and Sleep memory foam mattress. It’s medium firm and they include a 100-night sleep trial for their mattresses, no hassle returns and a portion of each purchase goes to charity.

Maybe allergies are disturbing your sleep. You have probably seen the disgusting magnified photos of dust mites. Unfortunately, they are real and many people are allergic to them. Place a barrier between you and the invisible mites by using a good mattress cover that envelopes the whole mattress. Add a comfortable and washable mattress pad and then your sheets. Wash the bedding often as in at least once a week.

Your sleeping problem may not be your mattress. Look at your pillows. Dust mites like them too. Protect them the same way as the mattress. The pillow itself, if not washable, can go in the dryer to freshen it. If you are waking up with neck, shoulder and back pain experiment with pillow placement. A smaller softer pillow or no pillow at all may be the solution to your morning neck pain. Many people sleep with a pillow but not on the pillow.

Who and what you share your mattress with will decide your sleep quality. If you share it with your phone and lap top you will check messages in your sleep. Do you really like having the dog on the bed at night or do you let him in because he makes you feel guilty. Your sleep is suffering if you cannot stretch out because he insists on sleeping angled corner to corner. Dogs snore and chase rabbits in their sleep and wake up feeling great. You do not. Buy the dog his own bed. Do not make eye contact with him for two weeks. Stretch out and get some sleep. Your health depends on it.

This website is provided for general information only, and should not be treated as a substitute for the medical advice of your own doctor or any other health care professional. Live & Sleep is not responsible or liable for any diagnosis made by a user based on the content of this website. Always consult your own GP if you’re in any way concerned about your health.