About Hästens
Sleep and recovery
15 articles
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Why a sauna before bed works
Your body falls asleep because your core temperature drops, not because you are tired. A sauna or a hot bath, roughly ninety minutes before bed, first drives that temperature up; afterwards it falls further and faster than it would on its own. That is why a sleep spa has a sauna and not a bar.
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The SleepSpa sleep study
Anyone can compare two beds on paper. We are going to compare them on nights: every guest sleeps a full night on one model, and with permission we record how that night went and which model was ultimately chosen. At this moment we have measured zero nights, because we haven't opened. This page exists so that you can already see what we are going to measure, and how.
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Does a Hästens help with back pain?
A bed doesn't cure back pain. What it can do is stop causing or sustaining it — and for some people that makes a considerable difference. The question isn't whether a bed is expensive enough, but whether your spine lies straight in it and whether you can change position without waking. If you have genuine complaints, see a doctor or physiotherapist first.
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The circadian rhythm: your body clock
Your circadian rhythm is an internal clock of roughly twenty-four hours that determines when you are sleepy or alert. It drives your melatonin, cortisol and body temperature, and it is reset every day by light — above all by bright morning light. A stable rhythm is the basis of good sleep; without that rhythm no bed does what it could do.
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Deep sleep and REM sleep: what happens at night
Every night you go through four to six sleep cycles of roughly ninety minutes. Each cycle contains light sleep, deep non-REM sleep and REM sleep. Deep sleep repairs the body and cleans the brain; REM sleep processes emotion and anchors memory. You need both, and in the right proportion.
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The glymphatic system: why sleep isn't an off switch
The glymphatic system is the brain's cleaning network: it flushes waste away through the cerebrospinal fluid, including amyloid-beta, the protein linked to Alzheimer's. That happens almost exclusively during deep non-REM sleep, when brain cells shrink and flow increases sharply.
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Adenosine and sleep pressure: why you get tired in the evening
Adenosine is a substance that accumulates in the brain during your waking hours and so builds sleep pressure — your natural, growing desire to sleep. During sleep, adenosine is broken down again, so that you wake up fresh. Caffeine blocks the receptors and postpones that pressure, but doesn't take it away.
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What is your chronotype?
Your chronotype is your genetically determined preference for when you sleep and when you are most alert — from the early lark to the late owl. You cannot fundamentally change it, but you can tune your sleeping times, your work and your exertion to it. Roughly half of it is hereditary.
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Bedroom temperature and humidity
The ideal bedroom is cool — around eighteen degrees — with humidity between forty and sixty per cent. The coolness helps your core temperature make the 1.2-degree drop needed to fall asleep; the right humidity keeps your airways and skin settled and prevents mould.
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The ideal bedroom: cool, dark and quiet
The ideal bedroom supports your biology on three fronts: cool, around eighteen degrees, so your core temperature can drop; completely dark, so your melatonin rises undisturbed; and quiet, to prevent micro-awakenings. Clean air and humidity between forty and sixty per cent complete it.
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Noise and sleep: making silence in a loud world
It isn't the volume of a sound that wakes you, but its sudden change. A constant background sound — white, pink or brown noise — reduces that contrast, so that a slamming door or passing car causes fewer micro-awakenings and your sleep cycles stay intact.
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NSDR and Yoga Nidra: rest without sleep
NSDR — non-sleep deep rest — and Yoga Nidra are guided protocols that bring you into a deeply relaxed, half-waking state. They restore focus, lower stress and make falling asleep easier, without your actually having to fall asleep. Ten to twenty minutes is enough.
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The evening protocol: ten, three, two, one, zero
A simple countdown to bedtime: ten hours before, no more caffeine; three hours, no heavy meal or alcohol; two hours, no work; one hour, no screens; and zero snoozes in the morning. It tackles the most common disrupters of your sleep one by one.
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Sleeping position and support: what suits you?
The right bed and pillow keep your spine in a neutral line, and what that takes differs per sleeping position. Side sleepers need pressure relief at shoulder and hip, plus a higher pillow; back sleepers more support in the lower back and a lower pillow; front sleepers a firm base and a very thin pillow or none at all.
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How to stop overthinking: emptying your head before the night
Lying awake worrying often arises because your brain keeps holding on to unfinished tasks. Writing down everything on your mind five minutes before sleep — above all a concrete to-do list for tomorrow — gives your brain permission to let go. Research shows this gets you to sleep faster than writing down what you have already done.