photo: woman enjoying a restful night's sleep

To Sleep, Perchance to Sleep Well

Sleep is indeed precious, so endless nights of tossing and turning can leave you …well, tossing and turning. A recent National Sleep Foundation study found that people need about nine hours of sleep a night, but the average American only clocks around six. No wonder so many people are cranky!

Sleep aids can help dozers reap the healthful benefits of a good rest.

Fortunately, an industry of sleep aids has arisen to help dozers reap the healthful benefits of a good rest.

The first key to sleeping like a princess (minus the pea) is a good mattress. Where can one be found? Companies like Vi-Spring and Hastens offer some of the world’s coziest beds, with mattresses and linens woven from cashmere, wool, silk, and flax. Technology-loving sleepers can opt for a magnetic mattress pad, which combines miniscule healing magnets with NASA-inspired memory foam in order to create the sensation of sleeping on a cloud.

Chamomile can help you get in the mood to drift off, and there are ways of enjoying it even if you’re not a tea person. The Thymes Limited offers a line called Sleep Well, which includes herb-infused anti-insomnia lotions, bath gels, and candles. Alas, even the most perfect sleep will eventually have to come to an end. To make the Z’s less painful to part with, the good people at Axon Sleep Research Laboratories are currently designing an alarm clock that will monitor your sleep cycle and wake you only during the stages of sleep when you’re least likely to wake up groggy. The gadget won’t be available until the end of the year, so, in the meantime, you can make the inevitable wake-up call less unpleasant with the deep gong of the Now and Zen clock, designed to draw you out of unconsciousness slowly, gently. Just try not to press “Snooze.”

Posted on January 09, 2006