Do you get enough sleep?

The most important and restorative hours of your day may occur when you're not even conscious. Deep sleep is the time our body uses for healing. In this deep sleep time, there is physical renewal, hormonal regulation, immune system boosting and growth.

Nearly every night of our lives, when we sleep deeply, we undergo an amazing metamorphosis.

Many important physiological processes occur during the stage of our sleep called “deep sleep”: The human growth hormone is released which helps with cell repair and cell renewal: fighting signs of aging. This stage of sleep is an especially refreshing part of the sleep cycle, also uplifting your moods and helping you emotionally. Whether or not we are aware of the state of deep sleep, it functions to restore us physically and mentally.

But many people are not aware of this important stage of sleep. The dramatic nature of dreams (REM sleep) has become well known to the public, but few of us know about this mysterious deep sleep stage (also known as delta sleep, or N3) which can improve us in both health and beauty. 

Unfortunately, our access to deep sleep is vulnerable due to the effects of stress, sleep disruption, natural again and drug use. By preventing adequate deep sleep, these factors contribute to the run-down feelings that many people experience daily and a faster rate of aging mentally and physically. Medical research has gone so far as to blame poor quality sleep for increasing the risks of high blood pressure, heart disease, anxiety, obesity, diabetes and dementia.

So how can we all achieve this amazing, mysteriously restorative sleep stage?

There is no easy fix—we can't turn back the clock on aging, or eliminate life's ubiquitous stressors. But we can take these few steps to ensure that we have a regular, helpful sleep.

1. Pre-midnight bedtime (yes it's true your body is in sync with The Earth.)

2. Use relaxing breathing techniques to slip into sleep

3. Change the fabric we sleep on… Our natural 100% mulberry silk sleep masks and pillowslips aim to do just that. Silk threads contain amino acids which work together with our skin cells to relax stressed nervous systems.  Did you know silk is the closest material to our own skin? This helps out bodies feel the most comfortable. 

Silk is well worth the investment. And not any silk. Make sure the silk you invest in is over 14 momme count (ours is a boastful 22 momme), make sure its 100% mulberry (like ours) and make sure it's genuine silk too! 

Image by Henry Meynell, Sleeping Beauty