Empowering women to reclaim a natural nights sleep
I remember making my bed one day, walking away and sobbing. I desperately needed sleep but with a newborn son and a business to run, I knew it was many hours before I could collapse in between those sheets.
The number one priority for women in 2023(probably forever) is to get enough quality sleep. According to Mintel, 7 out of 10 women worry about not getting enough rest.
It’s no accident that sleep deprivation is a recognized torture.
Regular loss of sleep makes us stressed, triggering production of cortisol, normally produced when we need to fight or run away. When cortisol levels increase that will increase blood pressure and heart rate, muscle tension, and halt digestion, because your body is preparing for action. Inevitably, a disrupted sleep creates a chain reaction which is negative to health and wellbeing, with a feeling of confusion and brain fog causing a loss of personal confidence.
It begins with a feeling of lethargy, of not wanting to start the day, a heaviness to limbs. It’s more difficult to balance mood, and irritability is barely manageable. According to recent research high cortisol levels caused by poor sleep can entice a woman to eat an extra 350 calories a day.
Once women reach their mid-forties, the earliest symptoms of menopause are making themselves known, even though she may not realise it. These symptoms are a disruptor of quality sleep because poor body temperature regulation is one of the first symptoms, causing night sweats and breaking a habit of restorative sleep.
In my work as a menopause coach and educator, clients regularly ask how they can improve sleep. Often, they have tried gentle sleep aids such as tea or herbal remedies. The answer most often is temperature control. Many clients tell me about trips to the bathroom three and four times every night. Those happen when the body temperature rises which mimics the normal awakening signal, triggering the bladder to work.
This is where Herdysleep mattresses support you and your longed for restorative sleep. Due to the nature of their manufacturing and the fact that it is all done in the UK using age-old techniques, by buying Herdysleep products, you are helping to preserve traditional crafts and skills that have been nurtured here for hundreds of years.
Temperature regulation is the magic behind every Herdysleep mattress, and it is (almost) all down to those wonderfully quirky sheep which have roamed the high Lakeland fells for hundreds of years. The Herdwick sheep are protected from wild weather challenges because, over centuries their fleece has evolved into coarse, springy, strong fibers which allow air to freely move through them and which trap cool or warm air as required. Great temperature regulation.
Clients tell me they regularly change their bedclothes because a night sweat has left them feeling damp and chilled. This is awkward when you share your bed. Unlike synthetic materials, wool is breathable, highly absorbent and able to wick away moisture, keeping you fresh throughout the night.
What is even more awkward is the constant leg out, arm out routine women practice, as well as moving around to find a cooler part of the mattress. A Herdysleep pocket sprung mattress will allow all the movement and hokey-cokey you need to make, allowing your partner to sleep on, undisturbed.
Sometimes I hear a client say they are suffering from random, totally disconnected from menopause symptoms, such as allergies in the winter. Once more that wonderful Herdwick wool content could support this since it is dust mite resistant, hypoallergenic and antibacterial, which is why wool is the perfect choice for allergy sufferers.
By the way, you have no need to be concerned for those Herdwicks, there are plenty of them and their fleece must be removed annually for their health, total sustainability. Many farmers struggle to get a good price for their wool but, for the farmers who supply Herdysleep, they get a fair price for it and that alone could improve your sleep.
As you relax on your Herdysleep mattress or pillow, you can count the sheep it has taken to give you a cloud of woolly goodness to settle into.
Freddy Carrick is the author of Menopause Unzipped, how to emerge as a goddess; and in response to many requests from women - Menopause Unzipped for Men, what women need men to understand about female menopause. This is eBook and Audible, both available on Amazon.
Freddy is also a menopause educator and offers a simple system for every workplace to become accredited as Menopause Friendly. Menopause is not a game of solo, and the misery of menopause affects everyone. Looking at www.freddycarrick.com Freddy’s mission statement is powerful, she says “I aim to end the misery of menopause for every woman who finds my work so that she can empower herself to realize her true potential and achieve her 'ideal self'”.