We spend one-third of our lives sleeping, and thanks to ongoing research dedicated to uncovering the power of sleep, we know it has a profound effect on our health and happiness. In fact, Matthew Walker, neuroscientist, and author of the bestseller Why We Sleep, says sleep is just as important as food and exercise, if not more so.
Scientists here at Sealy agree with this, which is why we’ve developed the largest research and development lab of its kind in South Africa. We know that quality sleep is the fuel that powers your day, and it’s the driving force behind our passion to deliver the world’s most advanced sleep system.
THE POWER OF SLEEP
A 2019 survey by sleep tracking app Sleep Cycle revealed that around 30% of South Africans who used the app slept for around seven hours each night, while around 27% get the recommended eight hours of sleep. The COVID pandemic helped put the spotlight on the benefits of good sleep, however, we are also seeing a marked increase in sleep problems related to the virus.
Difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep can result in daytime sleepiness, which is more than just a minor annoyance. Walker points out that daytime sleepiness costs developing nations billions of dollars every year through loss of productivity, increased healthcare requirements, and work absenteeism. It could even be deadly, causing people to make careless mistakes while on the road or at work.
SLEEP STAGES
To get a good night’s rest, the brain must work through the four stages of sleep. Each stage of sleep serves a different function, and each stage is equally important, causing your body to grow and repair itself, strengthen the immune system, consolidate memories, and restore energy.
Stages 1 to 3 are NREM (Non-Rapid Eye Movement), also known as quiet sleep. Your body begins to relax in Stages 1 and 2, guiding your brain to deeper sleep. Stage 3 is when deep sleep occurs, and your body receives the most healing. Stage 4 is REM sleep when your body becomes most active, and you begin dreaming. Typically, a person moves through these stages several times in one night.
Spending hours tossing and turning each night is disruptive to this sleep cycle, and if your mattress is not supporting your body as it should, you might wake up still feeling tired the next morning. This is simply because the tossing and turning and general discomfort prevented your body from cycling through these four stages of sleep.
WHEN COMFORT AND SCIENCE ALIGN
Your mattress’s night-time comfort and its ability to help you perform at your peak during the day are all dependent on its quality. We designed Sealy Posturepedic with one goal in mind: to help you wake up feeling rejuvenated every day.
Without adequate spinal support, poor alignment can lead to back pain, discomfort, and restlessness. We teamed up with leading orthopedic surgeons to develop a mattress that aligns with your body, and our ground-breaking research has defined that ideal alignment. We discovered that when the spine rests in its natural posture the surrounding muscles can relax, reducing the need to toss and turn throughout the night.
To achieve this, we used state-of-the-art techniques to develop a network of coils that sense your weight and respond with the increasing levels of support needed. Working together with pressure-relieving comfort layers, this unique system results in a deeper, more restorative rest.
For more than 100 years, Sealy has been dedicated to constantly evolving, working with orthopedic surgeons around the world to better understand how our mattresses can support your sleep. We believe that anything designed to carry the human body must be relentlessly refined and tested, and this is our commitment. We will continue testing and developing superior sleep solutions not only at our research and development lab in South Africa but with our Sealy partners around the world.
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