re’s a need – a real one or just a perceived one – you can count on some company somewhere to create a product to meet it at a profit. It will probably be a technological solution. Our age is in love with technology. And the profit will be as big as possible. Maybe a drug will also be patented for that need and be sold everywhere ? that drug may even work. But that’s another article.
When it comes to a need, hundreds of thousands of people world-wide say that they don’t get enough good sleep. And reams of studies from researchers of all kinds seem to back them up.
The Japanese electronics giant Matsushita decided that the ideal solution was a technical one, and their solution was the “perfect sleeping room.” They put their designers and engineers to work. Here’s what they came up with.
The Technological Solution
It’s like something out of science fiction. There’s a giant TV screen and a control panel on the wall. The walls are thick sound-absorbing material.
There’s music. Most of it is gentle guitar or piano music. There are sounds of a brook, with birds in the background.
The bed probably doesn’t look like your bed at home. It’s upright like a giant recliner or a hospital bed. The TV screen, over the dresser, is aligned to be directly in your line of sight.
After you’ve sat in the bed for a while, the room starts to do its thing. The lights dim. The screen goes dark. All sound except the brook die away as the back of the bed lowers you into sleeping position.
The bed begins to massage you. This is not one of those cheap motel devices where you put in a coin and for five minutes of vibration. This is gentle and concentrated on your upper and lower back.
After a while the massage stops. The room goes completely dark.
Air is released from the mattress. Your body settles deeper into it.
According to the people at Matsushita, everyone who has tried the system has fallen asleep. Sounds good, but there’s no track record of people who’ve had a system for any length of time.
That could have something to do with the price. If you want the “perfect sleeping room,” Matsushita-style, it will cost you $30,000.
Do It Yourself
That’s an awful lot of money for a system that might or might not give you a good night’s sleep. And what happens if the system goes on the blink? Do you have to send it out for warranty repairs? If so, now you’re dependent on it like a drug, how do you sleep until then?
That all makes no sense to me. Instead, try some low-tech, low-cost things that we know will help you sleep better.
A Good Foundation
Good mattresses aren’t cheap these days. That may be why most people keep them far too long.
According to the British Sleep Council, most people hold on to a bed for almost twenty years. By then a bed is just a lump of tired and old rags with metal springs.
When you get a new bed, make sure you get one that’s big enough. The Furniture Industry Research Organization says that 80 percent of Britons sleep on standard double bed, which is not big enough to be comfortable.
With a bed that size, sleeping with another person, you have as much relative room to move as a baby in a crib. Get a bed that’s at least 5 feet 6 inches wide. It should be at least 6 feet 6 inches long, too, unless one of you is really tall and you need something longer.
A Cool, Dark, Quiet Place
Light is a signal to your body to wake up. So keep light out.
Police officers and others who have to sleep during the day have been known to nail sleeping bags over the windows. You don’t need that. Quality lined drapes will do a better job and not make it seem like you’re sleeping in a youth hostel.
If you’ve got an alarm clock with a bright display, turn it off or at least down. Turn off other lights or displays that might affect your sleep.
And keep your sleeping room cool. The general rule is that cooler is better, but stay above 12 degrees Celsius. Keep cool but comfortable.
You won’t be able to do much about the noise outside your room unless you move. But you can do some things inside.
Those good curtains I mentioned will help keep noise out. There’s a technological solution, too.
“White noise” is noise made up of all the available frequencies. Practically, “white noise” is used to mask background noise and sounds.
An inexpensive white noise generator can do the trick. So can a small fan that runs while you sleep. The unobtrusive fan noise will mask other, more annoying noises.
Scent and Feel
Where you’re sleeping also involves the material of everything you’re sleeping on.
Pick natural fibers for whatever you wear to bed. They absorb moisture well and breathe better than synthetic fabrics.
For a little extra relaxation help, try a natural lavender scent. Research shows it can improve the quality of sleep. Naturally lavender-scented ironing sprays are a good solution.
Your sleeping room is only part of the formula for great sleep. And, the “Perfect Sleep Room” is an expensive, high-tech solution. But it may not work as well some simpler, easier and less expensive ways to create your own perfect sleep room.
Environmental versus psychological
Everything in this report deals with the external surrounds for where you are sleeping. Personally, it’s my belief that all these are nothing more than training wheels on a bicycle.
It’s great to get you started, but one day you need to progress beyond it.
The real key to sleeping anywhere and anytime is to learn to flip the sleep switches inside your mind and body. Once you learn that, you’ll be able to fall asleep on a bus, plane, foreign hotel bed ? even with a partner snoring next to you like a drowning water buffalo.
