What do you sleep on?

[Wu Ming Jen]

Don't judge me I sleep on a stearns and fosters organic pillow top mattress.  In China I sleep on a hard as rock mattress with pillows   that  feel like they are made out of small rocks  sleep great never sore how weird is that.  

[Papayapple]

Those cost a fortune haha

[Goldleaf]

On 3/7/2018 at 12:17 PM, Wu Ming Jen said:

Don't judge me I sleep on a stearns and fosters organic pillow top mattress.  In China I sleep on a hard as rock mattress with pillows   that  feel like they are made out of small rocks  sleep great never sore how weird is that.  

 

\Oh I'll judge you.  In as much as my self-realised, that we are all basically aliens on our own separate journeys, can   (which is not much).

 

Necro'ing the sh*t out of this thread, I want to canvas views and experiences on great sleep from great individuals who are health-conscious.

 

Btw, I looked up that mattress you mentioned and couldn't find it on their website. 

 

I've always been interested in what mattress the chinese traditionally sleep on.  I figure they must be getting some sleep, having a civilisation which has lasted and thrived this long.  Can you remember the name of that mattress you slept on?  And if you don't mind, do you know if that is the typical mattress that a chinese person would sleep on?

 

I plan to compile all the info I get from these and other threads / PMs into a great sleep thread.  Well-written info, can bring benefits which transcend space and time, a bit like sleep, really

Edited April 4, 2018 by Goldleaf
to appear more awesome and less nerdy

[thelerner]

At ashrams I'd sleep on a bed with plywood w/ a thin (2") cushion on top.  Thus quite hard and it took a night or two to get used to, but after that slept very well. 

 

At home Sterns & Foster, and have the front legs up on 3 books, so there's a slight downward tilt to the bed (ie head higher).  When I'm up early I'll pull out my Spoonk (thorny yoga mattress) and that helps me relax. 

[Nungali]

 

 

 

[Goldleaf]

Thanks Nungali, I'll go out now and look for a bed made of tits and a$$!!  (Extra soft model)

[Goldleaf]

Quote

 When I'm up early I'll pull out my Spoonk (thorny yoga mattress) and that helps me relax. 

 

Have you ever tried sleeping on the Spoonk mat, to have acupressure all night??

 

So far, I can say the following things about sleep with confidence:

 

-firstly sleep is so individual so you must try and choose what suits you best, so take each of the articles below with a grain of salt

-seems like latex and memory foam are the most popular mattresses  (see also:  http://www.sleeplikethedead.com/bed-mattress-review-home.html),

-in addition to futon and floor-sleeping (https://www.menshealth.com/health/a19518135/health-benefits-sleeping-without-mattress-floor/)

-hard mattresses can sometimes be better for you than softer  https://www.savespendsplurge.com/10-reasons-why-sleeping-on-a-minimalist-futon-is-the-best-bed-you-will-ever-have/

-having a daily sleep routine before bed, free of gadgets, and relaxing the mind a little; 

-as well as a weekly sleep routine, of washing and airing bedding, sheets and pillows, can work wonders

 

I will post a blog shortly which details my experiences with each of these, as well as everything else I have tried and haven't, and will post it below.

 

note: I do not work for any of these websites.  

 

Anyone else care to share their secrets for a great night's sleep?  I'm currently trying sleeping on the floor, its my second day now, honestly I feel a little better but my shoulder is a bit sore when I rolled onto my side, since i'm a skinny guy.  

 

Edited April 11, 2018 by Goldleaf
editing is cool

[thelerner]

16 hours ago, Goldleaf said:

 

Have you ever tried sleeping on the Spoonk mat, to have acupressure all night??

 

Nah, the spoonk is great for relaxation and It keeps me from rolling around, but after an hour or two.. I've had enough, the effect is gone.   On the other hand at times when I can't sleep.  I've hit the floor with a blanket underneath for a little padding and somehow a change of altitude has helped.

 

Sadly, nothing works for long, I have periods where sleep happens, and periods where its like some tantalizing secret that escapes me. 

[Ekstasis]

I would recommend avoiding synthetic mattresses made with memory foam and the like. They are harmful for the environment AND to You! They are impregnated with chemicals, give off toxic gases, etc.

 

Always prefer mattresses made with natural materials like latex, coconut, cotton (preferably organic). A traditional futon or shikibuton is even better!

Edited March 12, 2019 by Ekstasis

[windwalker]

The chinese have pillows that are hard as rocks. 

 

 

The modern ones at lest the ones I used were not much better.

 

 

small story some might find funny...

 

a couple of yrs back me and my friend him ethnic hong kongese, he grew up in 

the US. 

 

We traveled to Beijing each yr to practice with our taiji teacher  

in one of the many local parks...

 

On the flight there I remarked to him he wasn't really chinese,  he insisting he was.

A middle aged Chinese woman overhearing us, turned to him and asked him if he was 

Korean...

 

We both laughed.  She said let me feel your head...

 

If one looks at the back of many mainland Chinese heads because of the hardness

of the pillows they used at a young age their heads tend to be flattened in the back.

 

She felt his head,  and said "your head is not Chinese"  she then asked him if he could speak Chinese. 

Most in HK can speak English and Cantonese.  He said he could speak Cantonese. 

 

 She said "no,  I mean Chinese "  which most in the mainland speak Mandarin.

 

I told him,  "see your not really Chinese"   we both had a good laugh. 

 

edited: follow up

 

 

" Flat-backed heads were believed to bring you good luck, making your face and head seem fuller, which was a sign of future prosperity (福相，fu xiang). They were also supposed to be attractive on girls, complementing the hairstyles of past times (Makes you look more balanced if you have a large bun on the back of your head. Ancient Chinese people never cut their hair in their life.).

 

So parents would lie the baby’s head on something hard and tirelessly turn them to face-up position every time they turned their head to the side"

https://www.quora.com/Why-are-the-backs-of-Asian-babies-heads-flat

 

Edited March 12, 2019 by windwalker

[Goldleaf]

Reminds me of Karl Pilkington, in my eyes one of the funniest man alive

Edited March 12, 2019 by Goldleaf

[thelerner]

I like Pine Pollen tincture from The Rural Apothecary,  Its a nice mens tonic.  For free shipping I ordered it and there California Poppy tincture.  It has no opioids, but is said to be muscle relaxant, good for sleep and general mood improvement.  Took a dropper and half last night.  Can't report anything out of the ordinary.  I did sleep well, but that does happen on its own, at least occasionally.

 

I worked out hard yesterday and I'm not sore, maybe it helped there?

[Nungali]

On 16/11/2011 at 10:06 AM, mantis said:

There was a thread on this a while back with some members recommending hard mattresses (or sleeping on the floor). My current mattress is over 10 years old and it needs to go, now. I'm thinking of getting a kind of platform frame + futon mattress or something similar. Thoughts?

 

 

Bed;  antique cedar with inlaid pearl shell and marquetry  on header and footer of  nymph playing flute .  Home built base added on top to give mattress more height .

 

Mattress; 'Clark Rubber'  new model  thin mattress, memory foam outer latex core, good price too .

[Fa Xin]

I have a friend who sleeps on the floor... he says its great for his back, but terrible for his love life.

[Armando]

During the seven years in my monastery in Kathmandu, I was sleeping in a traditional 'meditation box', and usually for no more than four hours a night.

 

Living in Germany again, I no longer do that, but I am content with a simple mat on the floor. And I still don't sleep very much.

[Pilgrim]

Living in America a King sized bed with my woman. It is a bed made of Tempurpedic foam. We sleep very well rarely disturbing one another. My biggest problem is it is very difficult to want to get up and go to work when I would rather be with her.

[silent thunder]

My wife and I sleep on a queen size, cotton outer shell, rubber internal air chamber mattress.  We each set to maximum firmness, though on occasion my gal will adjust her side to accomodate residual back issues.  The mattress rests on a platform of wooden planks.  No metal aside from a few screws in the framing.

 

When possible, I prefer to sleep in pitch dark.  I have come to deeply and increasingly appreciate complete darkness over the last decade.  We have heavy curtains in our bedroom and for the last several years, I sleep with a mask to aid in creating a light free sleeping environment.

 

Edited March 13, 2019 by silent thunder

[Pilgrim]

On 3/12/2019 at 10:05 AM, thelerner said:

I like Pine Pollen tincture from The Rural Apothecary,  Its a nice mens tonic.  For free shipping I ordered it and there California Poppy tincture.  It has no opioids, but is said to be muscle relaxant, good for sleep and general mood improvement.  Took a dropper and half last night.  Can't report anything out of the ordinary.  I did sleep well, but that does happen on its own, at least occasionally.

 

I worked out hard yesterday and I'm not sore, maybe it helped there?

I'll bet the work out helped.  You might want to look into what I describe below.

 

Recently I decided to do something about all my lucid dreaming and started learning about The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep from TWR

 

  https://www.amazon.com/Tibetan-Yogas-Dream-Sleep-ebook/dp/B006OHK2QK/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=yoga+sleep+bon&qid=1552494091&s=gateway&sr=8-1

 

I purchased the Kindle version and the audiobook for when I am driving. They are perfect companion pieces as we already have the paperback book.

 

Since I began learning sleep is much improved and I have learned allot about the nature of sleep and how it directly correlates to death as I always thought it did. This book is a magnificent masterpiece of instruction and actual techniques.

Edited March 13, 2019 by Pilgrim

[liminal_luke]

On 4/4/2018 at 4:43 PM, thelerner said:

 

At home Sterns & Foster, and have the front legs up on 3 books, so there's a slight downward tilt to the bed (ie head higher).  

 

Interesting!  I´ve been reading lately about the benefits of "inclined bed therapy" and thinking of giving it a try.  Any tips?

 

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2018/02/15/inclined-bed-therapy.aspx

[thelerner]

2 hours ago, liminal_luke said:

 

Interesting!  I´ve been reading lately about the benefits of "inclined bed therapy" and thinking of giving it a try.  Any tips?

 

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2018/02/15/inclined-bed-therapy.aspx

nope, just finding 6 books and putting them stacked in 3's under the head of the bed.  Couldn't be simpler.   I did it to relieve nose congestion and help with any acid reflux problems.  Not a powerful solution, but its so easy to implement that it seems like a no brainer. 

 

Except for my wife who doesn't like the look, thus for our new bed I need to find a commercial solution, which I'm sure is out there. 

 

Pilgrim>

Recently I decided to do something about all my lucid dreaming and started learning about The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep from TWR

 

  https://www.amazon.com/Tibetan-Yogas-Dream-Sleep-ebook/dp/B006OHK2QK/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=yoga+sleep+bon&qid=1552494091&s=gateway&sr=8-1

 

I purchased the Kindle version and the audiobook for when I am driving. They are perfect companion pieces as we already have the paperback book.

 

me> I think I have that book.  I have a bunch of books on Lucid Dreaming with limited success.  When I work on it, which is for a few months every other year, it tends to make my insomnia worse. 

An interesting project I had here was group Lucid Dreaming using Lillian Edens guided meditation on Shared Dreaming.  Again not great results, but I think the weakest link in the small group was me.  There's write up thread on it in my PPD.

Edited March 13, 2019 by thelerner

[Everything]

On 3/13/2019 at 7:14 PM, thelerner said:

nope, just finding 6 books and putting them stacked in 3's under the head of the bed.  Couldn't be simpler.   I did it to relieve nose congestion and help with any acid reflux problems.  Not a powerful solution, but its so easy to implement that it seems like a no brainer. 

 

Except for my wife who doesn't like the look, thus for our new bed I need to find a commercial solution, which I'm sure is out there. 

 

Pilgrim>

Recently I decided to do something about all my lucid dreaming and started learning about The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep from TWR

 

  https://www.amazon.com/Tibetan-Yogas-Dream-Sleep-ebook/dp/B006OHK2QK/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=yoga+sleep+bon&qid=1552494091&s=gateway&sr=8-1

 

I purchased the Kindle version and the audiobook for when I am driving. They are perfect companion pieces as we already have the paperback book.

 

me> I think I have that book.  I have a bunch of books on Lucid Dreaming with limited success.  When I work on it, which is for a few months every other year, it tends to make my insomnia worse. 

An interesting project I had here was group Lucid Dreaming using Lillian Edens guided meditation on Shared Dreaming.  Again not great results, but I think the weakest link in the small group was me.  There's write up thread on it in my PPD.

Lucid dreaming is just for the purpose of releasing resistance to your true eternal nature, and accepting that you're going to die, makes sleeping very easy. Because once you accept you are going to die, you are much more willing to let go of your insistence of being physical primarily, which means, you are literally saying to your soul, I want to re-align with you, I'm ready, show me what stands in my way. Show me my energy. Which makes dying and sleeping easy, and thus you can start allowing yourself to remember who it is you truely are as a greater non-physical consciousness which is eternal. Even while being fully awake in this physical time-space reality dream.

 

so in a sense, accepting you are going to die, is the only way for you to realise that there is no death. Thus potentially, you can allow yourself to explore this physical time-space reality in a way that works for you, without ever needing to sleep in order to allow yourself to be fully rejuvinated and re-vitalized. But sleep will always be a great source of releasing resistance to your actual true nature. Yet, it does not allow the benefit of conscious recognition of ones true nature. Where as meditation, and "lucid dreaming" is a more fully consciously allowed connection to ones true nature. And meditation being by far the greater foundational practice, as lucid dreaming is only a byproduct of meditation, which I'm sure you will realize, if you haven't done so already.

Edited March 14, 2019 by Everything