Sleepdemic: A bad night’s sleep is causing over half of Brits to feel lethargic (55%), unproductive (47%), and stressed (46%) the following day.
Despite 74% of Britons surveyed admitting that a night of good quality sleep was the most important factor to overall health and wellbeing, results revealed that Britain is a nation of restless sleepers with 38% feeling agitated and 31% feeling anxious after a bad night’s sleep.
Over half of Brits (55%) said their friends and families found them more irritable, and 29% found them more anxious, following a poor night’s sleep. One of the most clear-cut questions for those surveyed asked whether sleep was important to a healthy, stable mind and 96% agreed that it absolutely was.
The Menopause: A bad night’s sleep is affecting women’s relationships at home and in the workplace.
When asked how the menopause affects sleep, over half (52%) of respondents said they suffer from night sweats with 68% of women struggling to fall asleep at night. After having a bad night’s sleep, 47% admitted that it brought on mood swings, with 61% saying that people close to them noticed they had become more irritable, 39% found them less sociable, 29% found them more anxious than usual and 30% of women said people at work noticed they didn’t perform tasks as well as usual.
Brits are ditching the duvet in summer – you shouldn’t.
A staggering 66% of Brits admitted that summertime was a period they struggled to get to sleep, with 61% resorting to sleeping without a duvet to get around the issue. However, a little-known fact about wool is that it can actually help regulate body temperature, as unlike other bedding fibres such as feather, down, or polyester, wool has the ability to absorb (and desorb) moisture which improves sleep quality by 25%, and allows moisture to evaporate rapidly, due to the unique transportation properties of its fibres.
Allergies are keeping the nation awake at night – mostly because they’re sleeping on and under irritable fibres.
Almost half (49%) of respondents reported waking up with a blocked nose and blocked sinuses, and 37% with a sore throat. These symptoms can often be mistaken for common allergies or ailments, when in fact, man-made, treated fibres such as polyester in bedding and mattresses host hidden allergens that can cause sleepless nights or leave people waking up feeling unwell.
Interestingly, 64% of survey respondents said they were aware that allergies can be triggered by indoor allergens such as dust mites and mold spores contained within bedding and mattresses, however, only 18% considered wool when purchasing bedding for themselves, despite 81% believing in the importance of purchasing fibres and materials that are irritant and chemical-free.
As the only company with the complete natural sleep solution approved by Allergy UK, Woolroom aims to establish the association of allergy symptoms with the sleep environment. An interesting fact is that wool is naturally hypoallergenic, making it the ideal fibre for the sleep environment. Wool has long been recognised as a fibre that reduces exposure to allergens, by resisting house dust mites and other allergens through its natural moisture management.
73% of Britons believe in buying sustainable bedding, yet their purchases say otherwise.
There appears to be a lack of awareness about natural wool in the sleep environment, as less than half of respondents (43%) recognised wool as a comfortable fibre and only 12% considered wool to be the most sustainably produced bedding material. Despite 73% saying that purchasing bedding from a company that sourced materials sustainably was important, 21% still purchased polyester – one of the most unsustainably produced fibres.
