Wicked Sheets CEO Alli loves to get in touch with our readers and talk. She's written on ways to manage night sweats, the best blankets for those with night sweats and more. Below, she writes on May being Better Sleep Month. Read below to find out all about her thoughts on maximizing sleep.
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At Wicked Sheets, we’re in the business of creating better sleep. This, the last day of an entire month devoted to focusing on helping people find better sleep, I find it fitting to tell you the truth about my sleep over the past few weeks. It’s been awful.
As I write this, I can hear the echoes of my graduate school professors saying, “Remember, the most important thing you can do as a therapist is to practice what you preach!” So, it is with that mantra in mind that I share the shortcomings of creating better sleep for myself.
In March I was fortunate enough to be featured on one of my favorite podcasts, the Entrepreneur Podcast Network (you can listen to that here). It was in that interview I made a resounding reutterance of my dedication towards creating better sleep for myself and my customers. And at the very end we made a big announcement – you’ll have to listen to find out!
And that, my friends, leads me to divulging the shortcomings of my recent sleep:
1. No phone and/or social media in the bedroom.
In doing dealings with partners in different time zones, I’ve been forced to keep my phone nearby so that I can respond to them during their working hours. As soon as the light on that screen hits my eyes, I’ve taken myself straight out of the slumber-zone and into the over stimulation zone. Screen time is not good before bedtime, but it’s certainly not good during bedtime.
2. Hotel bedding is NOT Wicked!
This is my worst nightmare. Literally. Now that I’ve been sleeping wicked for over 10 years, I truly cannot sleep on cotton. It’s too hot, scratchy, and doesn’t breathe like Wicked Sheets. And then throw a fake feather-filled duvet on top of me and I wake up like I’m straight of “Night of the Living Dead”.
It is one of our most common customer comments. Just last week, one of our 5-time customers emailed me saying, “After sleeping on them for a long time now, I honestly feel I sleep better because of them. No more cotton in our house!”
3. My sleep routine is sh*t.
Up at 2am to send an email or text in a different time zone. Fall back asleep as soon as I press “Send”. Wide awake again when that ding goes off, making sure that I respond before their offices close. And if it’s a real emergency, then I get the email ding, the text beep, and the WhatsApp alert sequentially until I respond. Interrupted sleep leads to decreased REM cycles, cell rehabilitation issues, and decreased memory storage or fogginess.
4. The dreaded “Snooze” button. I’ve found that being awake from 2am-5am doesn’t exactly leave me as sharp as a tack when I get into the office, so my goal was to squeeze in an extra 2 hours from 5am-7am. That’s when I formed the new habit of hitting the Snooze button 2-3 times before I pull myself out of bed. Prolonging your normal wake time actually makes you more tired. And, as stated in number 3, interrupted sleep is just as bad, if not worse than hitting Snooze.
Now that I’ve shared each my shortcomings in my quest for better sleep this month, I want to take a minute to say that I’m completely dedicated to creating a healthier lifestyle and sleep is at the heart of that goal. From this moment forward, I will work each day to chip away at the bad habit that I’ve developed over the past month and start practicing what I preach.
Until next time – sleep better, sleep wicked.
