We sleep about a third of our day and lifetime. Rest is one of the activities necessary for our existence, as it allows the mind and the body to recover, regenerating psychophysical wellbeing, mood and energy. It’s a real rejuvenating treatment of beauty and, during the rest, all the vegetative, organic and metabolic functions are recharged. During the conference, at the “VILLA Luxury Beds” Showroom in Milan, we talked about health and sleep hygiene. The speakers affirmed that sleeping alone does not mean regenerating and, in normal conditions, the good rest gives a new physiological vitality. Professor ALESSANDRO OLDANI, neurologist in the sleep disorder medicine centre at San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, defined the concept of insomnia, as a symptom of bad sleep, which is short, interrupted and non-resting, due to an organic disease or a psychological disorder, trauma, or stress. Since diseases that prevent us from sleeping do exist, patients are being admitted to the Neurology Unit at the San Raffaele Hospital to get sleeping activity and apnoea analysed and recorded, evaluate organic causes, adjust medication, and investigate neurological-psychiatric disorders, in order to get advice for a proper psychotherapy. In such cases, patients are already dependent on a magical sedating pill that makes them fall asleep at night, and a stimulating pill that makes them wake up in the morning without feeling dizzy.

As many people suffer from insomnia due to bad sleep hygiene, the doctor gave some golden hygiene advice, to achieve a higher quality rest. These pieces of advice are extremely important for younger subjects, especially for teenagers, who are endlessly connected with the Internet and social media, triggering a neural stimulation epidemic, or experience alcohol abuse, which accelerates the process of falling asleep but keeps waking them up during the night. According to naturopathy, there is no such thing as an insomniac, except for rare clinical cases. More accurately, it is about a person who does not sleep. By changing only four aspects of their lifestyle, 80% of subjects saw the disappearance of any insomnia issues they were dealing with, without resorting to medication or alternative remedies. 1) The fundamental rule is to alkalise the body in the morning before breakfast, by drinking warm water and fresh lemon juice, and with an alkalising supplement before going to sleep. This increases your PH to 7, improving stomach activity, metabolism, the endocrine system, and liver detoxification, as one of the major causes of insomnia is bad digestion and reflux. 2) Eat one fresh fruit before falling asleep, preferably an apple, as fructose immediately reaches the brain and reduces dopamine and the “alert” state, promoting relaxation and increasing melatonin levels. Alternatively, you can drink some warm white milk. 3) Adopt a balanced and healthy diet, to reduce acidity and ketosis, have a more natural and regular lifestyle, including rituals on a regular basis and time, like healthy children’s habits, like the goodnight kiss. Prepare the atmosphere in your bedroom, in order to facilitate separation from reality, access the world of dreams, and reducestress levels, chronical fatigue, swelling, and lethargy. 4) Balance your organs, make them rest and recharge by exploiting their maximum potential, according to the biological clock described in Chinese traditional medicine. There is a daily natural bio-cycle, when each organ boosts its maximum energy. It is extremely important to respect this cycle to preserve a natural biochemical balance. For example, from 7 to 9 a.m. you should focus on your stomach and protein digestion. Therefore, it is important to have a rich breakfast including proteins.

We discovered that sleeping is an active task, because proteins and endorphins are released, which benefits your mood and boosts your growth hormone. During the meeting, suggestions were provided on how to design the sleeping space, in order for it to be more relaxing and cosy: replace windows to avoid heat dissipationand noises; insulate electrical pollution, which affects melatonin activity, ideally, with a circuit breaker, that is a cheap button entered in the socket; choose a metal-free bacterial bed, to reduce electrostatic discharge; allow air to freely flow in closed environments, to reduce pollution in internal spaces, or place an air ionizer; choose calming colours for the walls, to favour sleep, such as light blue, blue, white, and green. Moreover, guideline was offered about the steps to take for relaxation, such as: go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day; do not train at the gym during the evening; avoid the consumption of exciting drinks at night, such as coffee, matcha tea, ginseng; cut down on alcohol; have a hot bath or a footbath before going to sleep. The best wellness and organic beds in the world are the famous Hästens beds, which for six generations, in Sweden, are handmade, tailor-made, to make endless dreams of gold, built to last over time, with 25-year certification, stuffed with burned horse mane, treated for three months, in Argentina, with a wait of two months of tailoring production, for more than 180 hours of work. Hästens is also a supplier of the Swedish Royal Court. Vispring, for the British one. They are products that come from nature and want to return to nature. True luxury is never artificial, but it is authentic and natural. CRISTIANO CARLUCCI, Italia Vispring Country Manager, guided the audience in the world of beds, explaining how to choose and place your ideal bed and mattress, in order to improve circulation all over your body and settle muscle, cervical, and back pain, leg swelling, formication, and water retention. Nowadays, tailored beds are available on the market, like the ones proposed by Vispring and Hastens. These two companies select from the very beginning of the production process the highest quality for their materials, in order to produce a bed for life, making sure you get the best sleep ever. The singer and song-writer PATRIZIA CIRULLI wished sweet dreams to the audience, singing live her songs “L’insonne” and “Dormo”, accompanied by the musician OTTAVIO TONTI. The showroom “Villa Luxury Beds” facilitated a good rest, offering a rich tasting session of relaxing herbal teas. The meeting raised awareness of the correct sleep hygiene and confirmed that a lovable bedroom in your house must be the foundation of peace and health for your life! (Raphaella Dallarda – INSPATIMEBLOG)