Brain Sleep

Sleep is when our bodies regenerate.  But do we need as much sleep as when we were younger?  What if we just relax in a quiet environment?  Can we function without enough sleep?  The answer seems to depend on what you want to do. 

In tests of sleep deprivation, cognitive skills seem to be the most affected.  But even in severe cases, cognitive functions still happened, just not as effectively as when there is proper rest.  Speech might be slurred, reaction time may be delayed.  We know this to be true because for years regulators have been trying to insure that truck drivers get the proper amount of rest.  They have found that when a truck driver drives too long he or she is more likely to have an accident.  the debate seems to be what is the right amount of sleep for optimum performance.  The laws have changed over the years as sleep science has progressed.  Consider yourself now.  If you do not get enough sleep will you be optimum?  Or will it affect your career? 

There are certain things that happen during sleep.  Each of the sleep stages helps to regenerate different areas of our bodies.  The less you sleep, the longer you stay in stage one, so the less time you have for the rest.  People who do not get enough sleep tend to not be as creative.  If you have a fast food or factory job, perhaps that won't matter as much, but even there, the best way to move up the ladder is by offering insight in to making the job more efficient.  With out enough sleep, you will not be able to.  If you are in customer service or office jobs anywhere, you rely on creativity to perform your job.  Finding the right solution for your customer is where you and your company profit.  Too little sleep would seem to hurt that ability.  Doctors, especially residents, are notorious for lack of sleep.  Kind of scary isn't it.

The time required to regenerate is pretty constant.  So it would seem you cannot 'train' yourself to need less sleep.  To ignore the need for sleep can only affect your health and career, it doesn't seem worth it.

As we discussed before, different people need different amounts of sleep.  The differences are based on age as much as anything else.  An infant as example will sleep 12 hours per day.  That gradually scales back as the person ages and in adulthood we need 7 - 9 hours of sleep.  For brief periods we can function with less, but not for the long run.  In 1900 the average adult slept for an average of 9 hours per day.  It would seem to explain why a lot of advancement occurred around then.  Things like the light bulb, car assembly lines, and other manufacturing improvements happened in this point in history. Think Thomas Edison, or Albert Einstein, both made their mark through the middle of the 20th century, growing up in a time where proper sleep was the norm.

Why nor err on the side of caution and try to get good sleep?  Regular bed and wake times, and enough to regenerate our bodies.  Will you take the pledge?

Sleep Well!

This post is not about sleep, maybe it is in a way.  It is about lost sleep, and it is about hope that it will never happen again.

All wars are fought over one of two things.  It is always about either territory, money, or both. Do you remember where you were when the current war began? When the planes flew into the World Trade Center, The Pentagon, and was crashed in that Pennsylvania field by every day hero's? We are at another anniversary of that event, September 11.

I was at work. On the Monday prior to this, I was at a meeting in the headquarters of the company I worked for in Nashville, Tennessee. I was packing out my suitcase, and was in a hurry, so I didn't have the TV on. As I loaded the suitcase into the car some people started talking to me. Which is a little odd in a big city like Nashville. They asked me if I saw it. I said, no what happened? A plane hit the World Trade center they said. For some reason I went back to my room and turned on the TV. News coverage was on, at first they thought it was a horrible accident. But as the cameras were trained at the crash site, another plane came into the frame and flew right into the second tower. My jaw dropped. At that instant I knew we were under attack. The American way of life was in peril. Most of us, Americans just want to be left alone, we have no ill will towards anyone. Perhaps our Government is a different story, but every day Americans are doing what most peoples are trying to do, make a living. Tears started to flow. I sat on the end of the bed for hours watching the coverage. At some point I guess I realized that my way of life was being threatened. And I remember making this promise to myself, I don't remember if I said it out loud, however, I was not going to let the bastards win. I took a few minutes to compose myself, then I went out to the car, I had sales calls to make. It was the hardest day of my life. But my life went on.

My kids were 16 and 20 years old, they and my wife were 500 miles away. Each mile closer to home had a certain apprehension. Was there to be more attacks? Where would the next one be. I do remember feeling some security in that President Bush, at least at first did what I was doing, his job. He was reading to some elementary students, a political event, but he didn't stop right away, that gave me some calm. I never understood, how later that would be seen as uncaring. For weeks or months after, I was worried that there was another attack coming. 

Now at the 11th anniversary of that attack, the mastermind is dead. Life is still not normal in our country, but is closer. Maybe it will never be like it was on September 10th, but I hope it will be. It is in living the way we wish to live that causes those who would attack us to stay on their heels. It is the retaliation, the eagles rage, that will keep us safe. Some day, in the future, my great grand children will ask their grandparents "what were you doing on September 11th 2001?" And they can answer, I was in school, learning, and living my life.

Let us not forget. Let us honor those who died, and those who risked their lives to rush in and try to save lives. Let us remember so that if it happens again we can be sure that we will survive, and thrive. Liberty assures that.

Thank you for your patience.

Sleep Well!

We Win!

This is going to be a blog that we pat ourselves on the back.  It is hard, as growing up I was taught to be humble, but I also have learned that it is OK, because it isn't bragging if it is true.  Today we randomly selected 19 of our customers that bought a Comfortaire bed from us.  They came from all around us, Cisne, IL to Metropolis, IL, to right here in Chesterfield, MO.  We have sold to customers as far away as Richmond, VA and Michigan.  We are proud of our ability to provide value in offering a great technology, at a fair price.  We were just a bit apprehensive, after all the 400 store chain that is our largest competitor and manufactures the product they sell, should offer a great value as well.

We pushed on.  We took those 19 random sales and went to their web site.  We used comparable beds based on over all height and amount of comfort materials (pillow top).  Our most popular selling bed is a bed they don't have anything like.  See Comfortaire is an innovative company, a few years ago they introduced a much shorter air chamber technology.  To date Comfortaire is the only mass producer of that technology.  Just like in 1981 when Comfortaire introduced their 6 inch cotton latex 24 gauge air chamber, no one else used it, at first.  Our biggest competitor started producing their beds around 1987 using a 6 inch cotton latex air chamber.  That's why Comfortaire calls this chamber the Original Design chamber, often copied.  If you have not tried a Comfortaire 3.5 inch chamber you really do owe it to yourself to try it, it is amazing!

So you might ask, what were the results?  Here is what we really are proud of.  Over all results showed that on average we saved our customer about $1059 on their purchase.  And over all our sales were priced 34.73% less than the comparable bed at their web site.  Click here to see the full results.  We added the mattress price to the delivery fee, then compensated for any free stuff either company was offering.  We worked hard to make this a fair comparison.  Not one of our customers paid more than they would have at the mall.  The smallest discount was 11.9%, the largest was 48.51%.  Yet the mall stores sell a lot of mattresses, and usually with a the "greatest sale ever" tag line.  Good for them! 

The bottom line is, if you are looking for great air technology, at least check our store out.  We might surprise you on our quality and price.  That is what true value is!

Sleep Well!