I just watched a very interesting interview with Jamie Corroon, a Naturopathic Doctor at Bastyr Center for Natural Heath (below). In the interview he discusses how lack of sleep affects our bodies. Now, as someone who has trouble sleeping, my interest was naturally peaked.
You won't be surprised to hear that sleeping six hours or less is not good. Some not-so-pleasant side effects of sleep deficit that you might see reflected in your health include weight gain, irritability, hypertension, and an increase in anxiety and other mood disorders.
Luckily, Mr. Corroon has some helpful tips on how to get to sleep, stay asleep, and buck some of those bad habits such as eating late. One of Bastyr’s recommendations—and of course, we at , Soaring Heart second it—is to use natural and organic bedding, as sleep hygiene is just as important as sleep habits.
If you want to learn more about sleep hygiene as well as helpful, healthful sleeping tips, subscribe to our blog and/or "Like" us on Facebook. There are many articles on and tips about having a great night's sleep. Start with these two:
LIVING NATURALLY: BETTER SLEEP, BETTER ENERGY - BASTYR UNIVERSITY
A lecture from Bastyr University; Living Naturally: Better Sleep, Better Energy.
GUEST BLOG: CHANGE YOUR SLEEP. CHANGE YOUR LIFE
Some helpful tips to fall asleep faster an stay asleep longer by guest blogger and Authorized Teacher at Sounder Sleep System,® Becci Parsons.
About a month ago, a friend remarked on the irony of my working at a mattress company. The irony comes from the fact that for my entire life I have struggled with a sleep disorder. I decided to write a blog post about it after posting a New York Times article about ADHD and sleep disorders to our Facebook page yesterday.
I have had trouble sleeping my whole life. Like a good movie villain, I just won't go down. It quite honestly takes hours. As soon as I'm in bed, and all the usual daily stimulation is gone, my brain goes into hyper drive and I'm still trying to find the off switch. No matter how tired I am, I still lie there for at least an hour—essentially just waiting to fall asleep while visions of everything my admittedly-odd psyche can dream up dance in my head. So, I have gotten used to being tired all the time; it is basically my natural state now and I don't even realize it. My tired is everyone else's (save for my fellow sufferers) exhausted.
Now, most sleep disorders are the symptom of something larger, so you can't just cure them; but you can manage them. I've tried eight billion different tools and techniques (I'm being a little hyperbolic) but—you knew it was coming—a new mattress made a big difference. I won't lie to you and say that after one night all was fixed--that I fell asleep immediately and leapt, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, out of bed the next morning like a newborn fawn. I did, however, feel more rested and waking up wasn't quite so excruciating.
Over time this has improved even further. I still don' t sleep much--a new mattress won't change that-- but when I am asleep, I stay that way and feel more revitalized the next morning. It has become easier for me to wake up and the AM stress I had become used to over the years is essentially gone. I now—for the first time in my life—am confident I will wake up when I am supposed to wake up.
This might sound pretty small, but for me it's huge.
Visit Soaring Heart Natural Bed Company on Saturday April 27th for the Northwest Eco-Building Guild's Northwest Green Home Tour 2013 and receive 10% off our wool pillows! If you can't join us in person, our wool pillows will be 10% off online as well! But it's only for Saturday the 27th!
At Soaring Heart one of our favorite mattress solutions is the Organic Shikibuton. They are incredibly versatile. They can be rolled up and put away; they can become chairs or couches; and they make a wonderful organic guest bed that is easily stored. This versatility, and the versatility of similar products such as the ever-popular Organic Futon, makes them perfect for city living where efficient use of space is often incredibly important.
This got me thinking--what other ways could one get more use out of limited space? Granted, a bed takes up a lot of room and is therefore an understandable first target, but there are numerous areas that can benefit from a little space saving. After some searching, I found a great list of items that are designed to do just that: save space. Pair them with one of our futons or shikibutons and add some space to that studio.
Dear Soaring Heart,
I'm confused. I have been looking at mattresses recently and have found two additional categories outside what the mattresses are made of: mattresses you flip and mattresses you don't. What's the difference? Is one better than the other?
Dizzy in Denver
Dear Dizzy in Denver,
Yikes! This is a simple question that's deceptively difficult to answer. The short answer is, there is no difference! Why? Because there is no such thing as a "no-flip mattress" if by that you mean a mattress that doesn't need to be flipped in order to maintain its structural integrity and comfort. There are, however, mattresses that are unable to flip, due to having a sewn-on pillow top on one side. They are marketed as simpler and more convenient, but of course, there's a catch...
There's a reason mattress manufacturers have always told you to flip the mattress: it makes the mattress last longer. A lot longer! These “no-flip “mattresses aren't using some new miracle mattress material that never compresses--they are using the same materials that have always been in mattresses or a variation of the same. Pocketed springs and springs are both springs, folks.
So what happens when you can't flip your mattress,? Your mattress doesn't last very long--and that pillow-top that got you in this mess in the first place is even shorter-lived. When you lie on the same spot every night, night after night, without ever flipping, tossing, or fluffing it, that pillow-top will be dead real quick. Imagine never being able to fluff your actual pillow... how long would it stay comfortable? Get my drift? So, a few short years after the purchase, you're saddled with a mattress that is uncomfortable in some key spots, even though the majority of it is just fine. And that nice big warranty they gave you, well, that doesn't cover the pillow-top. Bummer.
This is why we here at Soaring Heart Natural Bed Company have designed our mattresses to have a disconnected pillow-top, or Mattress Topper. This allows you to flip the heavier bottom section (what we call a Mattress Support) once every three to six months and flip your mattress topper once every two weeks or so. It takes less than a minute and will double--DOUBLE!--the lifespan of your mattress. And what happens when the mattress topper has finally lost its loft five to ten years down the road? You get a new topper and keep your still good, completely comfortable mattress support with the 20 year warranty. In short, you save money. A lot of money.
Let me set the stage for you:
It's early morning and you just woke up. Lying in bed, your back feels stiff and your hips are sore, shoulders tight. It doesn't make sense; when you bought the mattress, it felt fine-- what happened? You spent so much money on that mattress and it isn't that old; do you really need to go out and get a brand new one? Maybe not.
An all-natural, synthetic-free handcrafted Soaring Heart mattress topper can bring old, uncomfortable mattresses back to life--and give you your mornings back. The topper’s all- natural and organic wool, cotton, and latex conform to your body, rejuvenates your mattress and provides you with a relaxing and restorative sleep. It's a match made in heaven.
Maybe you've been reading about all the chemicals and fire retardants in bedding and you are--reasonably--becoming a little worried about what might be in your mattress. Our Eco-WoolTM or Latex Toppers are a great first step to an all-natural, chemical-free bedroom. The mattress topper (pillow top) is the part of the mattress closest to your body, so make it the healthiest.
But what if every morning as you sit, bleary-eyed and sore at the table, complaining to your partner about how uncomfortable that king-size mattress has become, but they don't see it. "Feels fine to me," they always say, much to your fury.
Just because you both like Thai food and foreign films, doesn't mean you like the same type of mattress. They may require a firmer, supportive bed and you need a softer, luxurious one. Two extra-long twin mattress toppers equal a king... you thinking what I'm thinking?
Soaring Heart mattress toppers are a win-win.
Soaring Heart is relocating our production to a newer facility right next door to our showroom!
For a long time we have lamented the fact that people couldn't see our craftsmen working at their art: mattress building. Our customers are constantly asking us how our beds are made and what the process is like. We try to accommodate visitors, but the current workshop isn't really designed for observers.
The new workspace is designed for viewing. Large pane windows allow curious customers, casual passersby, or even the neighbors, to see what it takes to build a mattress by hand. And a nice awning takes care of any pesky Seattle weather.
Construction has already started and we're really excited that at last people will be able to see the quality, craftsmanship, and time that goes into every one of our mattresses, pillows, futons, and shikibutons. More updates as things progress!
At Soaring Heart Natural Bed Company we get a lot of questions about our organic mattresses. For example, how are they made? And, what are they made of? Well, I could prattle on about it for pages, but as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. So, here's a little infographic to explain the birth of a Soaring Heart Mattress.
Now there are a lot of people, skill, craftsmanship, and tools involved in this process, but that would have made a very long infographic, which would have defeated the purpose of an infographic, really... So I decided to represent their hard work and labor with colorful little arrows.
Everyone here at Soaring Heart Natural Bed Company is excited to introduce our newest pillow, the Cotton & Kapok. This all-organic pillow takes the softness of the traditional kapok pillow and the supportive resistance of an organic cotton pillow and blends them together to make the wonderfully soft, but perfectly supportive, organic cotton & kapok pillow.
We wanted to unveil the Cotton & Kapok with a little bit of fanfare--it’s certainly deserving--and thought that Thanksgiving weekend would be the perfect opportunity.
However, you can't really release a product during the Thanksgiving weekend without offering a deal, so, what the heck, the Cotton & Kapok Pillow will be 50% off to the first 50 people who visit our showroom this weekend.
That means that between Friday, November 23rd and Sunday, November 25th, 50 lucky customers will be able to buy a 100% organic pillow, handmade by our craftsman right here in Washington, for only $40.00. We'll understand if this gift becomes a gift to yourself...
We at Soaring Heart take pride not only in handcrafting the most comfortable organic mattresses available, but our location, as well: Seattle! We love our city and happily call ourselves, Seattleites. Unfortunately, we, (or maybe it’s just me), were not exactly sure how to spell Seattleite. It sounds simple, but one would come off sounding pretty silly announcing, chest puffed, that one was a Satellite.
With that thought in mind, I decided to do a quick check and typed it into my browser. It turns out I had spelled it correctly, but the definition that came back, the very first link in fact, was quite interesting...
Seattleite
So, as I sit here drinking my coffee--a grande triple Americano with no room--I confess that I'm unsure where I stand on this list... Are you a Seattleite?
Last week, I, along with two of my colleagues and Soaring Heart's owner (Mike), took a three day road trip down to sunny California. Why? So we could see how the sausage is made so to speak, and so we could tell you about it.
We were visiting one of our suppliers, Wool Gatherer. They are the wonderful people who collect, card, and process all of our wool, which we use in our organic mattress, organic futons, organic shikibutons, and organic bedding (yeah, we use it a lot).
We throw around the term, Eco-Wool™ quite a bit here, for the aforementioned reasons. Well, Nathan - the guy who owns Wool Gatherer - he invented it. "How?" you may ask; I wondered, too...
According to Nathan, it was his background in architecture that helped him design Eco-Wool™ to be so strong and resilient. Just as an architect uses different materials to build the foundation, structure, and support in a house, Nathan built his wool batting using different types of wool from different breeds of sheep. As a result, he created the cleanest and longest-lasting wool we have ever found. Lesson from this? Learn everything you can.
Now I just glossed over a little word up there, batting. It’s what we’re really talking about when we talk about wool here at SH. Essentially, batting is multiple sheets of thin, carded wool layered on top of each other to make a thick, strong, and usable material. The technology for making batting hasn't changed since it was first invented, which is good, because Wool Gatherer's equipment is about as old.
In a nutshell, this is how carding works: the wool is fed into a large hopper which drops a certain amount of wool onto a conveyor belt at a time.
The wool is then grabbed by all these little wire talons and goes for a ride around the wheels, getting separated, pulled apart, and then meshed back together (I'm simplifying). Most places stop here, but at Wool Gatherer, this happens three times.
Each time it is made finer and finer until it finally flows down in sheets to make the Eco-Wool™ batting.
It has given me new appreciation for the great materials we use, and the amazing people who make them. It really is quite refreshing to work for a company that asks—no, insists that all its employees visit the people who make it possible to produce our organic mattresses.
Folks, I'm excited to announce Soaring Heart Natural Bed Company's newest pillow, the Side Dreamer™. Over the summer we have not been idle; no, our guys in production have been busy creating our newest and most luxurious pillow yet.
For those of us who sleep on our sides, neck and shoulder pain has become something we've resigned ourselves to. Fortunately for us, Soaring Heart set out to remedy that. What we came back with was the Side Dreamer™, a pillow perfectly designed for the side sleeper*. Side Dreamer’s crescent shape hugs your upper body,. reduces pressure on your lower shoulder and keeps your upper shoulder in good alignment as you wrap your arms around the Side Dreamer.™ Meanwhile, it provides the perfect loft and support to cradle your head at the proper elevation. It’s like having two pillows in one, keeping head, neck, shoulders, and spine in alignment throughout the night, thus alleviating soreness and stiff joints.
Soaring Heart Side Dreamer™ Pillow is made from silky soft 100% cotton sateen and comes in any of these wonderful organic and natural fills; cloud-like organic kapok, fluffy Pacific Northwest Eco-Wool™, or supple natural and organic shredded latex. Get yours today; you'll never leave home without it again.
