Welcome to our series, The SleepFit Diaries. Sleep is crucial for our physical and mental health, yet so many of us struggle to get enough quality rest. That’s why in 2022, we teamed up with Sleep Coach, Bernice Tuffery, to launch our SleepFit Programme, helping six lucky Kiwis achieve better sleep habits. From practical tips to insightful advice, read on to discover how you too can get sleep fit and wake up feeling refreshed and energised.
Do you struggle to sleep due to partner disturbance? Or find that years of shift work have impacted your sleep? If your answer is yes, you might find our sleeper Faye McCann has some valuable tips for you.
Before starting the SleepFit series, Faye found herself unable to get comfortable, tossing and turning into the early morning hours, often leaving her feeling unrested and desperate for a cup of coffee.
Four weeks into the SleepFit Programme, the tide has turned for Faye.
Thanks to Sleepyhead SleepMap technology, Faye was matched to a Serenity Peace bed, which is made with pocket spring technology to deliver targeted support and minimise partner disturbance.
“My Sleepyhead bed is so comfortable, it’s like sleeping on a cloud, and the additional space from the King size means my partner’s different sleep times no longer disturb my sleep,” says Faye.
Interestingly, Faye was not matched to the bed she thought was best for her.
“I’ve always gone for firm beds, thinking this would be better for me, so I was surprised when the mapping technology recommended a softer feel. Though it has been amazing and so much better for me.”
The SleepMap technology uses a pressure map to find the perfect bed to support your needs.
Like many Kiwis, Faye is often on her phone right up until it’s time to shut her eyes, but after advice from Sleep Coach Bernice Tuffery, Faye has found that switching off her phone earlier has made a massive difference to her sleep.
“Our phones are our best friends for wakefulness and worst enemies for sleep. We know we shouldn’t use them before sleeping because the light they emit messes with our melatonin, the helpful hormone that helps us fall asleep, and the relentless scrolling over-stimulates our brain when we are trying to switch off. Yet many of us keep them by our beds and are on our screens well into the night. So, we know our sleep suffers, but there’s often a gap between knowing what we should do and actually doing it,” says Bernice.
Once a behaviour becomes a habit, we no longer think about it – it’s automatic. We just do it. Bernice says the trick is turning the helpful behaviour into a new habit and the unhelpful behaviour a conscious choice. Neuroscience has shown us that ease and convenience are crucial to creating a habit. In contrast, if things are inconvenient or difficult this can help to break unhelpful habits.
To stop us from using our phones before bed or at night, we need to make grabbing the phone an annoying hassle. The key to this is keeping your phone out of arm’s reach.
To help break her phone-in-bed habit, Faye chose to put her phone on the other side of the room. She knew it was still there, which was reassuring because of her partner’s shift work, but if she felt compelled to check it, she’d have to drag herself out of her comfy, warm bed and walk across the room. That, of course, would only happen if it was truly necessary! So even though Faye loved having her phone in bed, a simple habit adjustment made all the difference.
What Faye called mission impossible no longer seems so impossible thanks to the SleepFit Programme.
