The Great Sleep Hangover of 2020

This year and all its unexpected events and occurrences has impacted every aspect of routine and daily life. It's really mind boggling to sit back and think of just how far reaching it has become.

Sleep is no exception. This has undoubtedly been a year fraught with anxiety, worry and loss of sleep. For me, I think it actually started not long after the pandemic thrust me into immediate work from home mode. The inherent night owl in me was all too pleased to slightly modify what had been the 10 pm bedtime and the 6 am alarm. It's easy for me to justify and rationalize that I can sleep in a bit more when the new commute is right within my own house. 

But that's just been one of several layers that's contributed to this issue. Over the ensuing months since March, I have felt that my mind has always been "On" and that while my body can be bone tired and crying out for sleep, the brain just won't comply. It's one of the reasons I decided to get back into writing again, to deter and distract. And if I have to be wide awake at 3 am on a work night, might as well make the most of it. 

The other component has been a weird journey with finding a new mattress. Since moving into our new place last Winter, we've had brief conversations here and there about the possibility of upgrading the mattress. It was a cheaper memory foam one from Amazon, that was surprisingly comfortable for what it was. But it was starting to sag and show signs that it's better days were in the past. 

The prospect gained serious traction when we decided to upgrade our pillows earlier in the Summer. I have a love-hate relationship with purchasing pillows, in that it is usually a wonderful experience for a time, but they quickly lose shape or support and eventually become relegated to a corner in the bedroom or stowed in the closet when the cycle starts all over again. I didn't want to do that this time around, so after reviewing and checking out Purple, we decided to go for it. The promises that they won't lose shape, are exceedingly comfortable and supportive, and have a generous 100 night trial were all factors that helped tipped the scales. 

We have loved them from night one! They are the most comfortable pillows ever. The grid technology that they're known for has not been an issue, and I also love that they are much more breathable. Already sleeping hot with the memory foam mattress, it was a nice and stark difference that while I was waking up hot over the rest of my body, my head was not. Almost six months later, this has held true and firm. I do not regret that purchase at all. 

Impressed with the pillows, we mulled over the possibility of getting a Purple mattress. The first major strike against these is that they are crazy expensive. Even with financing the mattress we really wanted was too far out of our budget. We ended up compromising to the next level down to stay within budget. This might have been the first flag, but I am not sure the difference in material would have really made much difference overall. So around Labor Day, we went for it! Excitement and dreams (haha) of a better sleep soon followed. 

It arrived about two weeks later. This thing is a beast and is heavy AF, nearly 200 pounds for the California King. Brian posted an offer on FB to pay someone to help lug it up the stairs, and his former band mate came through to save the day. I couldn't wait to climb into bed that night. It sits way higher than the previous memory foam, and just seemed so plush and inviting. 

The initial reaction was that it was weird. We were so used to the memory foam and how you almost sink into it, whereas this bed is all bouncy, and at different times, we both nearly bounced right out of the bed! The muscle memory from what we had learned on the memory foam was completely unnecessary for this bed. So that would all need to be relearned. Purple does specify that returns aren't accepted until you allow your body to adjust to its differences, at least 21 nights or so. I felt that was fair, so we gave it more time.

At first, I was waking up with back pain, and I felt that my usual aches and pains were amplified and more noticeable. I even bought a wedge pillow to place between my knees and align my spine better. That does help some, but the pain has still persisted. Brian was initially more willing to keep trying it out, until he finally agreed that his continued hip pain was not improving, and might be getting worse. At this point, I knew that I didn't like it and felt that I had actually graduated to actually avoiding the bed. It's such an odd combination of bounce and being way too firm. That bounce has also failed Purple on their claim that there's no motion transfer. You can feel every slight shift and movement, which is frustrating when there are other sleep issues and disturbances at play. 

So it was back to the drawing board for finding yet another mattress. I went back to the various sites I had previously checked out and read up on reviews. The market is so saturated and overwhelming. The more I was looking, the more ads and suggestions came out for sites I hadn't even heard of before. The overall experience left me gun shy and ultimately not wanting to buy another bed without testing it out. 

We finally went to Mattress Firm last week, and spent an hour trying out various models. Thankfully, we have the same preferences for a bed, so something that had more give, but with little to no motion transfer, and keeping cool were both our top priorities. After an hour of test driving, we decided on a hybrid plush Beauty Rest, that was already on a decent Black Friday deal. Our first mattress was a Beauty Rest, and that one lasted 10+ years, so I take that as a good omen!

The new mattress is set to arrive on the 19th. I coordinated the planned removal/refund process for the Purple this week. Can't wait for this to be done and for better sleeping nights ahead. Just before this entry, I took a much needed nap but couldn't bring myself to go upstairs. The reclining sofa has proven to be more comfortable! How crazy is that? Only eleven days to go! 😴

High hopes and fingers crossed for this one! 🤞