Whether you’re at the top of your athletic game, an enthusiastic amateur or even an avid gym-avoider (hey, no judgements here!), it’s no secret that sleep is a key ingredient to sporting success and general good health. Serena Williams was once quoted as saying that she enjoyed getting to sleep at around 7pm! Whilst that might seem a touch excessive, when you take into account her gruelling schedule and undoubtedly early alarm times, it all starts to make a lot more sense! As for me, anyone that knows me well will tell you, I love my sleep! Like, seriously love it. If I don’t get it, or what I do get is deemed sub par, then I am one extremely unhappy camper. I have even caught myself not being able to fall asleep because I’m so stressed about the fact that I’m not going to get enough sleep! (I swear, it’s an illness! Ha!) I genuinely believe that I need 8 hours a night to function optimally especially when my body needs to recover from a crazy high training load, as it currently is right now. As much as Dan likes to take the mickey out of me for this little trait, he has also been known to leave his keys in the microwave, milk in the oven and phone in the fridge when ‘over tired’…
Joking aside, why is it so important, really?
When we train we deplete our energy and fluids, along with a mass breakdown of muscle tissue. (At the moment I am training up to 7 hours per day so you can imagine the deficit I’m in!) Lack of proper sleep and recovery alone leaves us susceptible to countless little illnesses and niggles if not accounted for and treated properly. So, when we finish training we need to refuel, rehydrate and make sure we catch enough of those all important z’s. Easier said than done in todays busy society ‘You can sleep when you’re dead’ I hear you all hollering!
It’s more than just about athletic prowess though… Moving into B R E A K T H E L O O P H Q wasn’t the smoothest of transitions and due to a few issues it actually took us longer to settle here than we had originally anticipated. Neither of us were sleeping super well and along with this new rigorous work schedule things were starting to take their toll, some little injuries started rearing their head along with general nasty feelings of exhaustion. So, along with the other bits and bobs that were slowwwwly getting sorted out (yay for overpriced, totally useless London letting agents!), we decided early on that we wanted to / needed to raise our bedding game. Enter Soak & Sleep.
Game changer, you guys.
Seriously.
I mean look at this… Don’t you just want to jump right in?
The perfect reading nook…
We both suffer from asthma and allergies so can’t really go anywhere near down. However, we still wanted that luxurious hotel like experience (but at a fraction of the cost, obviously!), aka I like to feel like I’m sleeping sandwiched between clouds! We opted to go for the ‘100% Pure French Bed Linen’ (in white, of course! I am a blogger, after all! Ha!), the ‘Luxury Soft as Down Topper’ and we also decided on two of the ‘Ultimate Microfibre with Silk’ pillows. We’re happy with our current quilt so will be keeping that a little longer but I do see a potential upgrade in our future. The quality of their products is amazing, especially when you look at the price of them compared to others on the market. They also have a lovely small business vibe to them so customer care is second to none. We both prefer our pillows on the firmer side so one comment for any potential customers would be that the ‘Ultimate Microfibre with Silk’ pillows we purchased were perhaps a little too soft and plush for sleeping on, perfect for nestling into whilst enjoying that morning coffee in bed though! Definite luxurious hotel vibes. We will be adding to our collection with two of their firmer pillows that we can then swap out at bedtime.
The bed linens are actually a revelation. It was our first experience of pure linen sheets and they’re amazing! They keep you cool yet simultaneously snug and cosy, my only complaint is that I don’t want to get out of bed in the morning! So, we’re now one step closer to making this big old place of ours, feel like a home. We’re both sleeping better and this is having positive knock on effects to our training, our creativity and just happiness in general. There’s still a lot to do and it can definitely feel a little overwhelming at times but if you find yourself in a similar position to us, kicking things off with your bedroom is a damn sensible place to start I’d say!
